DarterBlue2

I agree.

I edited DeLand to University. I know how you feel. Also, you tried to warn me about Westwood and I ignored the advice. It's all good!

I took a few, too. And a couple games surprised me.

That will not happen.

Correct. When a team is undefeated late in the season and has won most of its games comfortably, there is always the possibility they could be special.

We got a couple monsters like AHP and STA that are kinda kept in check being in with public schools. Put them alone with other privates and it could really be ugly. Nade can beat them this year but they will have a downturn at some point like they have before. And it could take away from a state final victory if people are saying STA beat a school less than one third its size. AMH plantation 2800 STA 2000 AMH Delray 1800 Columbus 1700 Trinity Ch 1400 Bishop moors 1400 Cardinal gibbons 1200 Bolles 1000 Mon Pace 900 Jesuit 800 CCC 600 Chaminade 600 Card Newman 500 I get what you are saying and I mostly agree. It would not be practical in the state of Florida to breakout the privates separately. This in not Ohio or New Jersey. I do have one question, though: If American Heritage Plantation's enrollment stats are correct, why are they in 2M? 2,800 is either 4M enrolment or at the very top of 3M. I believe its the former.

You are probably right in that if Lakeland does not win out there is likely a huge phycological component to it. From watching them on video and in person, they have the talent. But if there is a lot of self doubt, then the Gainesville team may take you out at their place. I always tend to have my doubts about Gainesville teams, mostly because they have made state title games only sporadically in the last 20+ years and when they have have lost by big margins.

Yes, DeLand is a top 10 in 4S. But Orange City was making a case for a like ranking. Not a big surprise, but they probably confirmed what the doubters thought.

Orange City University suffered their first defeat to DeLand. They contained DeLand's offense. But unfortunately, had no offense of their own.

To sum it up, Lakeland is good, but not outstanding this year.

Dillard is a solid playoff team. But you were dealt a bad hand with St. Thomas coming on the backend of a very busy week. I maintain that this St. Thomas is beatable. But my feelings are you may have to save your powder for the playoffs. If Dillard managed to beat St. Thomas this Friday given you will likely be banged up to a degree, that would be a remarkable achievement.

Tonight my beloved Apopka Blue Darters were carved up, sliced and diced, by the Lake Mary Rams. The final score was 49-21 as we scored a final touchdown on our penultimate drive to make the score look a little more respectable. This loss was the first running clock put on us (I believe) since 2005 when a very good Madison County team did the same to us at their place. And, in the interim we have played some great teams such as 2018 Lakeland and 2021 Venice. Res Ipsa Loquitur (The loss speaks for itself). I am 95% sure Lake Mary will win class 4M easily and I also believe they likely do so with an undefeated record. Even if they accomplish this feat, I am equally sure the Nay Sayers will say: 1. 4M was not good this year. 2. They would get blow out by Central, Chaminade, Norland, St. Thomas, Cocoa, etc. The above may or may not be true. We will never know. But in truth and in fact, this is a very, very good football team that is superbly coached. I would put my money that no team in the state would "blow them out." As for Noah Grubbs, I can't say enough about this young man's upside potential. Absent choosing Baseball if he's a high draft pick, or suffering a career ending injury, he will be a first round draft pick in the 2029 NFL draft.

Good luck with them. The good news is that unless you melt down, you will make the playoffs even if you don't win the district.

We did that last year and got a lot of kids banged up. I feel for you.

That's very tough to do. Hope they are not too banged up.

Congrats on the big win, Dan. Mainland vs Lake Mary the first week in November may be a battle of unbeatens. Both team have legitimate title aspirations. We get the Rams tomorrow night. I am hoping the Darters can play their best game of the season. We will need this to have a chance in this one. The problem is simple: Noah Grubbs. The solution is complex.

And therein lies the problem. We could get something infinitely worse if the methodology used is the current one, or something equally as bad.

For the top classification yes. For the other classes no. But you only get to the top class by demonstrating superior performance over a number of years.

I am inclined to agree with most of what you said, except that I don't necessarily want to separate public schools from private schools. As a society the USA is already seriously segregated economically and splitting public schools from private schools further promotes that trend. But the main point of doing away with rankings and having bigger districts and fewer classifications with district champ and runner up (with the possibility of wildcard spots) wins my vote. Unfortunately, it may be a pipe dream to think that we will ever get there as we seem to be going in the opposite direction.

But it's a chance to rise up. Personally, I would rather a promote/relegate system, with the top division be the best 32 teams in the state regardless of enrollment or whether they are public or private. This ranking of the top 32 should be based on how they perform over the prior three or four years with a weighted ranking applied to the years, the highest weight to the most current year, etc. During the regular season, these teams could play a schedule that would include at least five opponents from the top division with the remainder selected at the discretion of the school. All 32 team would make the playoffs. I am agnostic as to whether I would group them into 8 regions or whether to just have them complete their playoff schedules based on ranking at the end of the regular season with 1 playing 32, 2 playing 31, etc., with the same method being applied in each subsequent round.

See responses in red above.

I think I would need to take some of that action!

Miami Northwestern is almost certainly out of the playoffs as they are ranked 29th in 2M. If they squeak in it will be as the 8th seed in Region 4.

Dillard is currently ranked 5th in Region 3, of Class 3M. Dillard would, therefore, make the playoffs if the season ended today. But you would be on the road for game 1 unless you won your district. Overall, in your division, 3M, you are ranked 14th.

Below: https://fhsaa.com/rankings.aspx?path=football A slight improvement from the last two, but there are still significant disparities in my opinion. I am pretty certain deserving team will be left out of the playoffs. The corollary is clearly also true.