DarterBlue2

Dillard, I think in Dade County a larger percentage of the talent goes to a handful of public schools (currently MNW, Central, and BTW, and more recently Southridge and Miami Carol City). Aside from Columbus and a couple smaller private schools, there is not as much competition for Dade talent in the private schools, particularly in the North end of the County where a high percentage of the Dade talent resides. Yes, part of the problem is coaching at the publics in Broward, but that is not the biggest factor in my opinion. Coaches like Otis Grey have had success in the Broward public schools in the past. Just my thoughts.

Agree.

Picks in bold.

I agree with Panther Nation. I think Vero Beach wins a close game. My score: VB 35 Pahokee 30.

I get that, but it would probably be better to provide that experience in the second half of games against better teams assuming Cocoa is up by three scores or more. Not sure what playing ISB accomplishes. And I am not ragging on Cocoa. ISB seems to find a ton of nationally relevant teams willing to play them. To me the whole situation is sad.

The bigger question is: why would these powers ever agree to play ISB? Aside from a win to pad the record, this does noting for those teams in terms of even evaluating second string members on the roster.

Agreed. Especially since school takes precedence over sporting activities.

Maxpreps lists Apopka with 111. This includes: recent graduates, transfers out (including one out of state), kids that were never on Apopka's roster. It also excludes some current kids. Bottom line: Maxpreps is pretty inaccurate, at least for some schools. Not sure how they update the data, but it has flaws.

I suspect, but could be wrong, that Cocoa will be too physical for Viera.

Exactly. That is probably the only solution at this stage.

Not the case in all of these schools. A Boone High School fits what you are saying above. However, for every Boone, I can think of a ton of similar demographic schools where this is not the case. That is, the stands are empty and there is very little support. A lot depends on the particular community.

Passion needs to be instilled by the leadership. A good coaching staff works hard at finding a theme or set of values around which a team of young people can rally. Teamwork is not innate; it must be cultivated. If players feel their coaches don't care or are only in it for themselves they will not show a whole lot of caring or concern besides their own individual stats. At 15, 16, 17 or 18 you are still looking for leadership from adults. If that leadership is not forthcoming, then apathy and cynicism quickly takes over. That may be part of the problem.

I agree.

Miami Northwestern usually has very good crowd support. At least I know they did through 2008 when they were real good. Now that they are back, I would guess their support is up again. Also, the game I attended at Dillard with BH, when we met up had a nice crowd, a very good band, and decent passion. What I saw missing there was a lack of upgraded facilities and overall control of the flow of the game by the coaching staff. But I saw a lot of talent on the field. This leads me to believe that it would not be too hard to turn the program around if all parties were willing to let that happen.

Columbia, he ain't got no clue who wins this game. He just messing with you. He be a gadfly

In large, urban areas, both traffic and crime are potential issues. Still, in Orange County, there is usually a large police presence at most of the games, and, for the most part, they are generally safe. In my 19+ seasons of watching the high school game live, which has not just been limited to Apopka games but also to a majority of the schools in (Orange, Osceola and Seminole) and some in Lake, Volusia and Brevard, I have been in probably two or three situations that I found "uncomfortable." That's not bad considering I have watched over 250 games live in that time period.

I see you picked Spruce Creek to win 8A 1. I know for a fact Spruce Creek is an average team. Does this mean Mandarin and Sandalwood are pretty bad this year? I have not followed either closely; hence the question. Apopka makes a trip up to Jacksonville to play Mandarin in a couple weeks.

If Apopka got that kind of student support, we would have over 3,000 + at all home games. The students alone would make up well over 2,000 of the total.

In years when Apopka makes a deep playoff run, by the second/third round home games have 5k fans with standing room only. This year they got monitors to analyze and teach in real time. Our field is grass, but is well maintained. But I get your point, overall football at the high school level in Florida is not well supported. Part of the coaching deficit relates to the poor stipends paid. That leads to many good coaches leaving the state or jumping to college first chance they get. If the raw talent was not here, Florida would be a mediocre football state due to the lack of investment.

I think he meant every week 11 game in that district, 16 7A. But the whole situation is fluid right now. Orange County has designated October 9th, which is a Monday, I believe, as a make up date, with the October 6th games (Friday) moved to October 5. But it seems that each county is doing its own thing. And, as for games between schools that are far apart, it now seems none of those will ever be made up. Florida should consider beginning the football season the end of September instead of late August. Yes, I know that would move the season into January which would have an impact on seniors that are early college enrollees; however, beginning the season in August which is the middle of the rainy season and hurricane season, will, as often as not, perpetuate the problems we have this year, especially if we keep the new system for determining playoff teams.

It's probably a mistake on the part of Maxpreps. They do that sometimes. If the game was played, there would be corroborating sources on the Internet. I could find none. So, the game was probably not played.

I was just going by what Proset posted. I just checked and I see on High School football America that the game was listed as cancelled. Also, there are no comments about the game on the National Board. So, I am not sure where Proset got his information from. But if it is accurate, i am not surprised as I think they are beatable.

I am totally not surprised with IMG losing. I saw them on film against both East Ridge in the Spring and, more importantly, Carol City in August. Yes, I know those were supposed to be "pretend games:; but I am sorry I just did not see what all the fuss was about. For a team that is as heavily recruited as IMG is, they should be better. I think they lose three games this year.

Discuss the region and teams you know, providing as much insight as you can. If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask. There are some pretty knowledgeable posters on the board who are generally pretty helpful.

The only thing probably certain at this time is that Vero has a better chance of winning a state title, as St. Thomas Aquinas presents a far more formidable challenge than any of Vero's likely playoff opponents. Besides this, I will agree that both teams seem to be pretty good. But the season is young and has been disrupted pretty badly ... so who knows.