DarterBlue2

Suicide or high/drunk? You don't stand in the road on I-95 anywhere in the state, but least of all when you are in South Florida. Anyway, my condolences to the Cypress Bay community and his family, friends and colleagues.

Kind of funny the Miami Herald would have this in their paper. Last I looked, BR is a long ways from Dade County.

Bingo! That's it right there!

Ramone Russell had a heck of a leg. He nailed about a 48 yarder to open the scoring against Edgewater. It's a pity his career seems to have ended in high school. If I remember correctly, I am not sure that Killian got the ball past the half way line in the entire first half despite Washington's best efforts. Also, Chris Strothers, CC's undersized running back reeled off some decent rushing yards in this game. Chris came up to UCF, but never really got the opportunity to showcase his talents.

Carol City 3, Killian 0. I was at the Orange Bowl that night. The prior night I watched Edgewater dispatch unbeaten Deerfield Beach to book their Gainsville ticket.

Tim Shifflet, Winter Park; Matt Hedrick, Bishop Moore; Jim Buckridge, Timber Creek are three. And from Tampa Plant, Robert Weiner. All winning coaches, some with better records than others probably reflecting the talent at their disposal.

I just did. I had forgotten how many key, two way players that Venice team had. You would not see that today. It's a miracle they got through 15 games relatively healthy. At the time, they set the State Finals records for most points, most touchdowns and most rushing yards. Dwyer could not catch a break. Key errors, stupid penalties, and they had no answer to Venice's two headed rushing attack. Like Dan said, it did not matter whether they got salt or pepper, they could not stop either.

Coach Ensor?

I am going to guess it's just the area that the Sun operates in. It used to be that the Orlando Sentinel covered Brevard prep sports back in the early 2000s. That stopped when they stopped distributing the paper to Brevard due to Florida Today's presence in the market. But from a purely geographic standpoint, Brevard is as much Orlando area as is Volusia (which the Sentinel still covers) in my opinion.

The better team won the title. But the final result was not an accurate reflection of the difference between the two in my opinion. Dwyer melted down after Venice scored in succession early in the game and the floodgates opened.

If he is the guy I saw in the Spring game, I was more impressed with him than with Mobley at the QB position. If willing to play, I would actually have both on the field at the same time, with Mobley playing a different position. Not saying I would want that to be a permanent move, but rather one to take advantage of Mobley's athleticism to start the season while starting the better QB at the same time. As the season progressed, I would make adjustments if warranted.

Too much outside interference. Hard to keep good coaching staffs that way. Also hard to keep your better players. Some have gone to OC University and some Mainland over the years.

Good luck. I hope Columbia makes the state title game. Win or lose I know that would be a cool experience for you!

Look for Boone to be a dark horse in 8A North, this year. I was impressed by them in their spring game against Olympia. After giving up a touchdown off the opening play of the game, they shut down the Olympia offense for the three Varsity quarters and proceeded to reel off 28 unanswered points on offense. Last year, in the second round of the playoffs, they came very close to upsetting Wekiva leading inside the second half of the game. I think this year's team has a chance at being better.

I am not sure. I know a couple of them personally and have encouraged it to no avail. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

They are old like me, but unlike me they are inflexible. I was on that board as long as they were but when it was allowed to die by its corporate parent, I came over to this one.

You got to pull Silver King, Wave and Neutral over from the dead board. Then there would be some representation.

Although you don't list them in your list, Seminole High in Sanford should have a very solid, experienced but young team returning. It will feature Timmy McClain, who played his youth football in the Apopka system. Timmy, as a true Freshman was the signal caller for the Seminoles, and racked up impressive numbers as a freshman QB. Timmy was tall and lanky for a freshman and threw a very good intermediate ball last year. A southpaw, this kid has great upside potential and could have a breakout season this year. I have linked some of his highlights below: http://www.hudl.com/profile/9802347/Timmy-McClain

To start the season, Apopka will have two different guys sharing the QB duties (if you can call it that). Both are rising Juniors. 1. Jackson Darlington - Son of the HBC, Jack has been on the Varsity team since his freshman year when he debuted as a WR/TE. Last year, as a junior, in addition to WR/TE, he was also lining up in the QB role (really at FB in Apopka's single wing, but you get the point). Jackson is not as mobile as his brother Zack was. However, he is not immobile either. He is over 6 ft tall (probably in the 6 ft 1 to 6 ft 2 range (he could have grow further over the summer) and looks the part physically. https://www.hudl.com/profile/8258124/Jackson-Darlington 2. Jecoryan Davis Hamilton - Jecoryan debuted on the Varsity team in the spring of 2017 against Orange City University as a running back and in that game racked up three touchdown runs of at least 60 yards on his way to over 400 all purpose yards. So good was his performance in that game, that University of Miami which had come to see their star running back recruit in action (Lorenzo Lingard), made Davis Hamilton an offer within the next week. Last year he played primarily as a running back (tailback in the single wing offense), but also receiver and took some direct snaps during the course of the season. Physically, his build is fairly similar to Jackon, so in that sense he, too, looks like a QB. Both guys have decent if not great arms and are able to move the ball on the ground some. In the case of Davis Hamilton, while he does not seem especially fast with the ball in his hands, this is deceptive due to his rather smooth running style. http://www.hudl.com/profile/9357229/Jecoryan-DavisHamilton

I think Tarpon Springs may have gotten to the third round in 2008 or 2009 losing to Edgewater at Edgewater. The following week Edgewater lost to Niceville at home. In the state title game, Niceville got creamed by Palm Beach Dwyer which was loaded!

I am sure that's correct. This year our little 4 team district is going to be ultra competitive as West Orange has a solid team coming back and a decent track record against Apopka.

It's actually 3 of 5. Apopka beat them in the second round of the playoffs in blowout fashion in 2014 after losing in the regular season. Apopka again beat them in 2016 at West Orange. But your point is valid. In truth, Bob Head coached teams have always given Rick D some trouble.

Yes. I just need to compare it to Apopka's schedule so as to not miss a key Darters game.

You go, Columbia. BTW, I am still planning on making one of your home games. Will update you when I narrow it down to two.

Your hard work is appreciated. You have posted a lot of historical knowledge and perspective the past several months!