DarterBlue2

I attended John's funeral service last night. It was held at the Apopka High School auditorium, which in his case, was appropriate, since he was the voice of Apopka's sports programs. His family asked attendees to wear either Tennessee Orange or Darter Blue. Most people complied. He got a nice turnout. The typical high school auditorium in Orange County public high school seats between 750 and 1,000. It's my estimate that Apopka's was over 60% full last night. Aside from the normal things that occur at a funeral, Apopka's Mayor, Brian Nelson, issued a formal proclamation on his behalf. Rather than have one individual deliver a eulogy, his consisted of: his wife, stepson and best friend since childhood, each sharing personal memories of the man and his life, some of which were touching and some funny. The event evoked both a sense of poignancy and joy at the same time. Sadness at the passing of an Apopka luminary, and joy and gratitude for the celebration of a life well lived.

Cardinal Newman vs Benjamin - Possibly the best in PBC. Deland vs OC University - Change of mind, University, the unbeaten team, in a nail biter. Columbus vs Norland - With Mendoza out, Norland wins this game fairly comfortably. Hudson vs Williston - Hard game to pick. I selected Williston just BC Pasco County football is usually pretty bad. South Sumter vs Vanguard - Another hard game to pick. I am going with the bigger school. Tampa Bay Tech vs Jesuit - Jesuit seems to be on the upswing. Western vs Miramar - If Western is to have any chance in 4M, they need to win this game. Mainland vs Osceola - I believe Mainland wins a nail biter, but would not be surprised if Osceola upsets them. Sarasota Riverview vs Manatee - Manatee loses its second game in a row to a Sarasota County team. Ft Pierce Central vs Westwood - FPC should win coming off its good performance against TC. South Dade vs Booker T - ICE Harris all the way. Buchholz vs Bartram Trail - It's looking like Buchholz may be for real. Wakulla vs NFC - I will take the Public over the Private in this one. Wekiva vs Jones - Jones dashes Wekiva's hopes of a playoff spot. Anclote vs Weeki Wachee - Both of these teams are really bad; I literally flipped a coin. This is like Colonial playing Cypress Creek. Selections are bold underscored. I have dived into the deep end since no one else wants to go first.

Them Yellow Jackets be ballin man!

If that's the case, that's terrible.

Part of the reason for that is the number of transfers in. The downside to heavily recruited kids is that they have no allegiance to the program. Take you, you are many years removed from Dillard, but you still bleed Panther Blue. That's because you probably spent your entire four years of high school there. Take a kid that's spent his football career at two or three different high schools: I will bet you that 5-10 years removed from the school he graduated from, there is no passion for the school he graduated from. I believe that the same applies to that kid now who's playing at his second or third high school. It's hard to instill the level of love and dedication to the program he would have if his dad and uncle played for the program before he did. Just saying ...

Dillard is 3M.

No doubt Central is not living up to its hype. For that, I don't blame the kids on the field. I think some of the problems stem from the fact that the coaching staff has dropped the ball to some extent. I believe that if they make an effort to right the ship, Central may still win 2M. Will this happen? To be honest I am not sure.

I think you have dropped Central too far down.

A couple other suggestions if some of the posters don't submit a game: 1. Wekiva at Jones - winner should make the playoffs comfortably; loser, especially if it's Wekiva, may be on the outside looking in. 2. DeLand vs Orange City University - this should be a competitive game. Will the maestro find a way to beat the undefeated OCU? 3. Dr. Phillips at West Orange - loser is probably out of the playoffs; winner especially if it's DP should make it. This is a traditional rivalry game that I expect to be very close.

After watching the Norland/Central game in its entirety I have the following comments which are qualified by the fact that the video quality was poor: 1. For a team that had national title aspirations, Central's kicking and punting unit is very poor. It's a far cry from what it was back in the 2010-2017 period. 2. Overall, regardless of talent, Norland seemed like the more complete team to me. 3. If they meet again in the playoffs and both are at full strength, I expect Norland will win by 10 or more. Why? Norland seemed like the better coached team to me and it will learn more from this game than I expect Central to. That's my 10 cents for what it's worth.

No. Before the 2019 season, Cake Mary, from 2019 to 2022, a team on the rise; 2023, a likely state champion.

I should have added the qualifier: "more likely than not" before 10-0 and 14-0. But yes, at this moment, I do believe they are playing the best football in the extended Orlando area among the larger class schools.

He did stats for all Apopka High sports. He was a wealth of knowledge and a mainstay on the Apopka sidelines for all our football games. While he never made big money working for the local weekly, I believe he lived a rich life doing what he truly loved. He will be greatly missed by the Apopka community.

Thursday game: Osceola at Mainland. I am going to leave the Apopka vs Lake Mary game alone on the grounds that I have a conflict of interest that would severely impair my objectivity!

He was well know and well respected. He was the quintessential "good man."

Ray, I will be honest with you, if he were my son, absent the Offensive Coordination giving me assurances that he would start his senior year, he would have transferred unless he had already decided that he did not want to pursue college football. The stakes are just too high not to do that.

Undefeated Orlando Christian Prep losing to three loss Bishop Moore is one.

I will not be one of the two. Lake Mary goes 10-0 regular season and 14-0 going into the state title game.

Understatement of the week!

That's pretty sad. Their season is going in the wrong direction. VB likely wins the district comfortably.

I left the Lake Mary game at halftime. They held a 29-0 lead over Evans when I left. With them getting the ball to start the 3rd, I saw no point in staying. While Evans is not a premium team, they had beaten Lake Brantley 48-7 and kept losses against Winter Park and Seminole relatively close. I am guessing that LM scored early in the 3rd, cleared their bench to mark the running clock and that Evans got some garbage time points. Lake Mary has far and away the best offense I have seen in 4M either live or via video. If they don't win the state title, it's because they get outscored in a game where both teams score in the region of 50 points. I really don't see any team in 4M that is going to contain them. I purposefully did not attend the Apopka game this week as I felt either APK was going to win a blowout (I take no pleasure watching us beat the sisters of the poor to a pulp), or we were going to struggle which would be extremely unsatisfying coming off our best offensive performance of the season last week against Olympia. In truth, the result against Lake Brantley 27-7 was kind of mediocre: we did not struggle, but neither did we blow them out. I can say definitively that our only chance against Lake Mary would be to go on five clock eating drives of 7 minutes or more each of which ended in 7. If we were able to do that, we would have a 50/50 chance against them by dint of keeping their offense off the field for much of the game. All we would then need is an interception or a fumble recovery and Apopka would win. Unfortunately, the odds of the game playing out that way are 5% at best. Therefore, if @nolebull813 selects the Apopka vs Lake Mary game, for the first time ever my choice will not be the Blue Darters.

I will see what I can find out over the next few days.

There's a possibility that the missing games could be in the Apopka Chief's archives.

That's probably true and they won a nail biter. I bet Dan would argue Mainland was the better team.

If you had told me you were missing a few years a month ago, I could have probably gotten John to get them for you. He was a living encyclopedia when it came to Apopka sports. But maybe you had previously contacted him, and he was short a couple of year's results ...