DarterBlue2

Jones is going to win Region 2.

Interesting. The IB schools in the Orlando area, aren't exclusively so. The IB kids typically make up a 1/4 or less of the overall enrollment. Winter Park and Seminole come to mind.

We will see. A decision should be made very shortly. The talent is still in the zone. The trick is to keep it. Also, VB is still 8A. But they are now in Region 3 on the south end of the brackets.

I know. The Treasure Coast is really on the bubble between North and South. Used to be South in the early 2000s then became North for several years ending this year. But maybe this is the spark to get VB to Orlando. You never know.

Yes. This may actually benefit you as several good teams have been demoted from the South. However, you will need to get through Columbus and Deerfield. Those are tough outs.

Curious, indeed! Are all those going to become independent? I know the list is not murderers row, but still.

Great job! I think Cypress Creek may have always been in Region 2. Aside from that, everything seems right. Dade County lost a lot of 8A teams. I am a bit surprised Killian is no longer 8A.

Ric Flair was a good wrestler. Why you keep picking on FloridaTech?

I hope you are right.

Sadly, football's biggest problems are health related, not the nature of the playoff system or whether one even exists. The concussion repercussions are already affecting participation, particularly among the middle class and above. What makes this problem really serious is that there is no easy, viable solution. As a fan of the game, it has me concerned.

I respect your opinion, but in this instance disagree. By allowing the little guys to compete on the ultimate stage against the big guys, it will serve to strengthen the little guys' recruiting leverage vis a viz the big guys.

Sure, but they won't.

Not unless the winner gets the power 5 champ!

That is correct, without the QB, Mandarin loses in the third round. Carson Beck is an exceptional QB for the high school level. No, he is not my preferred type of QB as I have always preferred the dual threat type at the high school level. However, this kid does what he does so well, that I would bend over backwards to modify my offense so as to fully utilize his talents if he was on my roster. I expect him to excel at the college level if given the opportunity.

Eight teams seem about right given the nature of the game.

Would that be better or worse in your opinion? The travel would probably not be that much different. But different competition.

In 8A, the Jacksonville area gets its own district with: Mandarin, Sandalwood, Bartram Trail, Nease, Flagler Palm Coast and perhaps, Fletcher and Atlantic moving up. If this happens, then Volusia probably gets its own district with: Deland, Spruce Creek, Orange City University, and maybe Deltona and/or Mainland. This would have the effect of probably pushing another Orlando area district into Region 2. Currently three are in Region 1, with the DP district, as well as the district with Osceola and Gateway and the Polk County 8A schools being in Region 2. Lake Nona and Windemere high probably move up to 8A. If a second Orlando area district is pushed to Region 2, Osceola and Gateway may join them, with the Polk schools and possibly Armwood, if they jump 7A, being in a separate district.

Like Bishop Moore in Orlando, Columbus has an excellent coaching staff. Similar to Bishop Moore, a certain number of kids do come in to play football. However, historically, neither school has made a state championship an over arching priority. Thus, both programs (Columbus to a greater extent and for longer) have produced in their respective regions good, competitive teams without going in the direction of AHP and St. Thomas. This may or may not be changing at Columbus, time will tell. With that said, I don't deny the fact that Mandarin got several quality transfers (it was more quality in my opinion that quantity per se). However, it seems to me that they hit pay dirt with one particular player, the QB, Carson Beck. For if Apopka, West Orange or Dr. Phillips for that matter, let alone Wekiva, had this kid this past season and made the necessary adjustments to their offense to accommodate him, I dare say any of those teams would have won the state title this year with what the other talent they had. He is that good at this stage of his high school career. The other players that transferred in just cemented the title for them.

Got to try and avoid offensive contact at all costs. You are totally correct. Protect yourself but try and avoid hitting a woman. From the video which I re-watched, she was the aggressor. But he could have walked away and avoided escalating the situation.

The problem is we have become a short term society and damn the long term consequences. What Mandarin did or benefited from is what much more than half of the dominant programs over the past ten years or so have been doing whether public or private. Back in the 1980s and 1990s there was much more variety from year to year in the teams that made the state championships precisely because recruiting was not rampant. Today, most programs see it as an essential tool to be successful. Of course it corrodes camaraderie and team chemistry. But in the quest for glory such things be damned I suppose . .. I just got annoyed with Old School because he chose to single out Mandarin ignoring the rest on the pretext that they were already successful programs and, therefore, get a pass ignoring the fact that recruiting has played a major role in the success of many of them.

And that is exactly my point. All of these perennial powers have been loading up with transfers for years with a very few notable exceptions. Yet it is only when a school that does not have a tradition of doing this suddenly gets in the game that Old School gets all bent out of shape. Do I support this kind of thing? Absolutely not! However, to ignore it at the traditional powers but beat up on Mandarin who has not participated in this "game" till recently, is a hard pill to swallow. To be honest, in my opinion Carson Beck is the primary reason Mandarin won a state title this year. He is one of the rare Florida High School QB's who not only has the talent to make an impact immediately at the college level, but who has obviously been prepared to do so via proper coaching and mental preparation. Without him, there is no way Mandarin would have beaten Wekiva. And, by the way, had Wekiva made the title game, Columbus would have struggled mightily to put up more than 14 points on the board against them. That may or may not have been enough to win the title. But one thing is certain, it would by no means have been assured. Wekiva would have shut down their running game, and I have a hard time seeing the young Columbus QB having much success against them given the pressure they would have brought to bear on him.

Rick Darlington, Apopka. Took over in 1999 won the 6A title in 2001.

It seems VB's regular season record is all they got. That and then melt in the playoffs.

Sorry to say this, but I find Old School's castigation of Mandarin's State Title a bit difficult to swallow. Did they have kids transferred in? Certainly. Was this materially different than other state champs? Hardly. The fact they did it without a sustained period of of success is immaterial to the discussion in my opinion. They were a good team, period. Would I have done it that way if I were a head coach? Hard to say as I don't know the facts and circumstances surrounding the transfers they got! I don't think it would be my responsibility to tell kids they cannot come to Mandarin if I did not actively recruit them and they just liked what they saw or if family circumstances changed and that led to their attendance. I will leave it at that.

And for us older folks, the dude has a famous name from the past, too! Thanks for posting this. I may get a couple copies, one for me included, of course!