DarterBlue2

Dillard has the best shot of the three, but is not automatically in the playoffs. They will face the winner of the first game and if they win they are district champion and will not have to play a second game. However, if Dillard loses to the winner of the first game, they will play the loser of the first game for the runner up spot. So it is not a done deal. Check the home page of this site for the rules.

Good post, Broward. I agree with you. They were about to be ratted out and came clean in the nick of time, so as to speak. I do have two comments, though. First, it is not clear they win state. They have looked vulnerable this year, and there are some good teams in 3a that have a chance of taking them down. Second, given they are a private school, I assume the infraction was to use an overage player, as the privates can pretty much recruit whomever they wish from whatever part of the county or for that matter, state. It should be interesting to hear which player was involved and what the actual infraction was.

The way Vanguard has been winning tells me this team is for real regardless of its competition. I feel they have a great chance of getting to Orlando this year. In the 17 seasons I have taken an active interest in Florida High School football, this is the first time I can remember Vanguard being so good. Good luck to you the rest of the way. This could be a very exciting journey for Vanguard fans and alumni!

Good game for Dillard. Regarding the shootout, though, I thought if in the second game Dillard lost, that they would have to play the first game loser for the runner up spot. Do I have this wrong? I realize drawing the first round bye is a big advantage as you would only need one win to be District champion. But I did not realize that if you lost, you would automatically get the second playoff spot.

Going back to the spring scrimmage, and I know this is not a good basis and was a long time ago, from what I saw, Lake Gibson was a decent team which I said at the time would probably be a playoff contender. They legitimately beat Osceola in two quarters, but struggled with Apopka's single wing, which scored almost at will against them. They had a couple good athletes and overall met the eye test. Having said that, did I see them at that time being a legit deep playoff team? No. I saw them as a potential second round, possible third round kind of team. I am going to stick with this assessment for now, till I see them against the winner of Armwood/Hillsborough. Could they pleasantly surprise me? Absolutely. But for now I am not sold. I think Charlotte is a solid team, but will get beat during the course of the playoffs. I have no opinion on Clearwater and Port Charlotte, and think Crestview will get beat soundly by Niceville, who I see as a deep playoff threat.

Having seen Dillard live once, I can say they are a decent team that in some brackets could make it to the third round (probably not facing the district of death in the first and second rounds, though). To be honest, I was surprised by Boynton Beach's win oaver Boyd. If it were a fluke, I think Dillard takes this game. However, if Boynton is as good as that victory, then Dillard is going to have its hands full. This game will say a lot about what 2016 Dillard is in addition to determining whether you make the post season.

Your three bold faced games are top notch. If I were in South Florida, I would probably attend either the Edison/BTW or Columbus/Coral Gables game. But Flanagan/Chaminade is a great game also. I am stuck with Apopka versus the 2 win Evans. On Friday, the lineups get better, though. I will probably watch one of the 8a, 2 games, as the second place there is up in the air.

In the Orlando area, in no particular order: 1. Jones High 4-6 in 2015 to 8-1 in 2016. Its been several years since Jones was relevant and its nice to see the turnaround. 2. Ocoee High 5-5 in 2015 to 5-3 and a District Championship and first time playoff birth this year. It may not seem like much but since losing its first two games, one in blowout fashion to Apopka, they have played a lot better, albeit in a relatively weak district. 3. East River High 1-9 in 2015 to 6-2 and a certain playoff birth in 2016. They are having their best season since the school opened. I doubt any of the above teams will make noise beyond the second round of the playoffs, but based on the recent past, they are all having good to great years!

I believe the winner of the Venice/Braden River rematch, will give STA a good game. These are two quality teams. However, since I think either would travel to STA, perhaps it would be asking too much.

Mainland has a lot of talent within its borders. Seabreeze does not. It is more like a Lake Brantley in Seminole County talent wise. However, the difference is that Brantley has a nice program from youth football up that caters to its system. So, the kids enter Brantley for their next chapter. When Marc Beach was at Seabreeze, he implemented the spread and attracted some good athletes to compliment what they had within their Zone. However, Beach got frustrated due to salary and an inability to beat Mainland, as well as other issues. So he departed to Georgia. Since he left, they have struggled. Mainland, on the other hand, has a coaching staff chock full of alumni, who are committed to the school. So, they don't have any trouble keeping their talent at Mainland. In fact, they are one of the most unlucky teams in the state. Had Mainland been in 8a or 5a over the period that they kept losing to Central, their is little doubt in my mind that they would have won at least one State title.

This game was over by the middle of the second quarter. At the half, the score was 42-0. Oak Ridge scored an 87 yard touchdown pass to start the third; Apopka ran the ensuing kickoff back 90 yards for a touchdown; then in the latter part of the 4th, Jackson Darlington ran in a QB keeper for the final score. This was a much different game from last week when Apopka was in a dogfight and struggled to win. Apopka had an easy win, and it is quite likely the second/third string would have beaten this Oak Ridge team. The gap in ability among schools is pretty amazing. With one game left against 2 win Evans, it is safe to say Apopka will have its first unbeaten regular season under Coach Darlington. Kind of hard to believe when considering the three state titles he has won here.

Dr. Phillips will win their first two playoff games. The Tampa/Sarasota district is just too weak. After that, it gets cloudy. They could lose in the: third round (Vero/Osceola/FPC); semifinal (Apopka/Seminole/Jax team); or in the final to Flanagan/South Ridge/Miramar/Coral Gables. My take, or rather my son's take, on Dr. Phillips is that they have always lacked the kind of mental toughness that it takes to go all the way. Thus, when they meet teams of similar talent they choke. Of course, if you consistently produce or end up with top talent, sooner or later, you have your turn. The question is when? I totally get Dan's perspective on Phillips. While Mainland did not destroy them this year or last, the result was really never in doubt after a quarter. In that sense, though they may have equivalent talent, they are not Mainland.

Miramar should be above at least Boyd Anderson and McArthur.

It would be ironic. But while I agree the new format should be better overall, I also believe there will be unintended consequences from it. Certain types of schools that have historically been mid tier in their regions may/will have a hard time getting games, as the top teams will either opt for very soft schedules to pad their records or very tough ones to get as many points as possible, assuming they fail to win their districts. At the end of the day, no system is perfect and none can account for the rises and declines in a team's performances as the season wears on. These often result from injuries/teams getting key players back, and in some cases young teams maturing overnight.

They want a chance to atone for their many defeats. I can understand that. And both are less than a full schedule of games after the Mainland/Cocoa game fell through.

Venice returned 17 or 18 starters from 2015's team that was decent. This was going to be a very good Venice team from the get go.

I expect Branden River to handle Palmetto easily. If I am wrong, I will be the first to acknowledge it. BR has not fallen off much, if at all, from last year.

Sanford Seminole should beat at least one of those teams if not both. Were it not for problems keeping its kids at home, Sanford Seminole would probably be the second best team in Greater Orlando year in and out.

I agree. Both the North and the South seem down. It is one of the reasons I am still optimistic about Apopka's chances. The other is, I know the team's potential vis a viz last year's.

I am very high on Braden River. I feel very strongly they would beat, Lakeland, Tampa Bay Tech, and Dwyer. In 8a, Apopka is not playing like the number 1 team right now. However, I do strongly believe that this Apopka team has the potential to up its game. So, I won't beef with you giving them the number 1 slot. Just saying if they don't catch a fire like they did in 2014, the year could end in disappointment.

Your topic title is deceptive as I though at first you were listing 25 South Florida teams as the 25 best in the state. While I would agree that a disproportionate percentage of the top 25 are probably from SF, no way are the top 25 South Florida exclusively. Looking at your list of SF top 25, I think Miami Northwestern and Coral Gables are a bit too high. I also think Central, though eliminated, belongs high on the list of the top 25. Certainly top 10.Olympic Heights is probably also too high. For the bottom half of your list, I defer due to insufficient information on my part. Teams from the rest of the state belonging in a statewide top 25 in no particular order: 1. Mainland 2. Venice 3. Vanguard 4. Niceville 5. Apopka 6. Seminole 7. Braden River 8. Jesuit 9. Trinity Christian 10. Cocoa 11. Plant 12. Bolles I can see a compelling case for ten of the remaining 13 slots to be filled by South Florida teams (St. Thomas, American Heritage, Central, Carol City, Miami Northwestern, Flanagan, Oxbridge, Dwyer, Deerfield Beach, Booker T. Washington,Miramar), With the remaining three to be filled from: Naples, Crestview, Cardinal Gibbons, Sebastian River, Charlotte, Edison, Coral Gables, South Ridge or Dr. Phillips.

I agree that that BR touchdown could, probably should, have been called back. Perhaps, in perspective, the crew just was not the best; moreso than any intentional effort to influence the outcome of the game. I would also make the long drive for the rematch, should it occur, if the team I root for were to lose in the first round. The atmosphere at Venice is good, and the game was well worth the price.

Adults need to have a better sense of perspective and emotional control. No need for intentional death to rear its head at a youth football practice. I am told that betting takes place on youth football in South Florida. I hope that had nothing to do with this coach's execution.

There were three calls I especially did not like: 1. 4th Quarter chop block called against the defense of BR resulting in a Venice first down. 2. Defensive pass interference call against BR when the BR defender stepped in front of the Venice receiver and was pushed by him. 3. What looked like an intentional face mask on the BR running back that was only spotted five yards. Aside from these there were a couple others that from my angle looked wrong, but I did not especially take exception to them. In a close game, though, a call or two can have a big impact. Now I will admit that although I did not have any pony in the race, I sat on the BR side as by the time I got there the Venice home stands were full. So I could have been subconsciously influenced by BR fans taking exception. But I will stand by the three above.

It was an awesome game, marred slightly by some questionable calls that may have affected the final outcome. BR put themselves behind the 8 ball falling two scores down early but fought back. As a neutral observer, I actually though BR had the better overall team, but Venice the best athlete on the field. If they played ten times, I could easily see them splitting the verdict. Should be a great second round playoff match. Both Venice and Braden River have very solid teams and were it not for Aquinas, each would have a great chance of winning a state title this year. I was privileged to see two very dramatic games this week, Apopka/Wekiva being the first.