DarterBlue2

I’ll have to get back to you. Family time first, researching non district away games for Hillsborough County high school football teams second 

Just wait till spring is over and the top RB in the area will take his talent to 1 Indian Ave. 

@nolebull813 thanks for posting this. I took the time to leaf through the yearbook. It was quite informative, especially for a man originally from Jamaica. From beginning to the end of their journey, the graduating class shrunk by more than 80%. To put that into perspective, that's an alarming but understandable rate for the times. 
I have no idea how that graduating class fared in their lives. WW2 was not that far off; the Great Depression was dead ahead; and the USA was a lot less hospitable to those of us "not blessed" with a certain ancestry. 
I don't know what motivated you to post this, but want to express my appreciation to you for doing so. 

I appreciate you for doing this, on my mother's side of the family my grandaddy went to Richardson(Lake City) and my grandma went to Gifford(Vero Beach), Gifford High is currently Gifford Middle 

Hey must be the money!!!

I thought that was weird. Usually it’s 2 and it’s forced district games that are local. I think one year they didn’t leave Sarasota County 

Last season they only had 2 

Four road games?!?!    How is Venice going to make their numbers work??  

I do like the mention of adapting the Georgia model of cross-region bracketing and think it would be worth considering for all classifications.  This would allow two teams from the same District/Region to meet in the state finals, rather than one team being eliminated in the Region finals.  If AHP and Norland (now both in District 4A-15) happen to be the two best teams in 4A this year, it would seem more desirable to have them meet in the state finals, or at least the state semi-finals.  The issue of travel has been pointed out as a deterrent to the Georgia model in Florida, but perhaps it could at least be utilized in a "North" and "South" bracket.   

I’m waiting for someone to blame this on Lakeland too. 

Isn't this basically what the Sunshine State Athletic Association did at the end of this past season -- where every team participated in some form of post-season play and the teams were grouped together based on their records/rankings?   
I'm wondering if this is a proactive effort to keep football alive and kicking in the rural areas.  Regardless, I'm not a fan of the 'bottom half' of any classification being able to compete for a "state championship."

Even if this works for the Rural class(es), I object strenuously to any such implementation in the other classes. So the intent is to have like 14-15 "state champs" with half of them coming from the lower echelons of each class? Or am I missing something? 

@nolebull813 thanks for posting this. I took the time to leaf through the yearbook. It was quite informative, especially for a man originally from Jamaica. From beginning to the end of their journey, the graduating class shrunk by more than 80%. To put that into perspective, that's an alarming but understandable rate for the times. 
I have no idea how that graduating class fared in their lives. WW2 was not that far off; the Great Depression was dead ahead; and the USA was a lot less hospitable to those of us "not blessed" with a certain ancestry. 
I don't know what motivated you to post this, but want to express my appreciation to you for doing so. 

As you know I research the history of football in the state. I have a specific folder for all the historically black football teams before 1967 when they either closed or joined the FHSAA. As I was researching the teams from Tampa (Middleton, Blake, and Thompson) I stumbled upon Booker T Washington that I had not heard of. Come to find out they are the oldest historically black school to play football in Tampa. Older than the other 3 mentioned. So as I started to research more I came across the yearbook. I was grateful to find it because not only did it confirm the 1st year they started playing football which is sometimes really hard to find, but they showed the results as well. I too caught myself reading the entire yearbook in amazement and even busted out laughing at the goofy dad jokes at the end. Lol. 

@nolebull813 thanks for posting this. I took the time to leaf through the yearbook. It was quite informative, especially for a man originally from Jamaica. From beginning to the end of their journey, the graduating class shrunk by more than 80%. To put that into perspective, that's an alarming but understandable rate for the times. 
I have no idea how that graduating class fared in their lives. WW2 was not that far off; the Great Depression was dead ahead; and the USA was a lot less hospitable to those of us "not blessed" with a certain ancestry. 
I don't know what motivated you to post this, but want to express my appreciation to you for doing so. 

I checked their yearbook. I counted 71 players with at least 24 being black. This site won’t let me upload pictures.

Miami Northwestern was and all-black segregated school and played football from 1955-1966 before integration. They never closed and kept playing till this day. 
 
Mays played football from 1953-1968 before fazing out due to desegregation. (Best season was 1966. Went 11-0 and beat Gainesville Lincoln for the Negro State Championship)
North Dade played ball from 1959-1965 before closing and the went to Carol City or North Miami High 
Miami Carver played until 1965 with Mays picking up most of the key transfers. Probably why Mays was so good in 1966. Lol. Nathaniel “Traz” Powell coached Carver from 1947-1965 winning 5 state titles before moving on to Mays after Carver turned into a middle school. 
 
Booker T Washington is the oldest of the bunch with scores for them tracing back to the 1930’s. Powell played for them in the 40’s. BTW stopped playing football in 1967 all the way to 1998 before resuming in 1999
Dorsey High played ball until 1954. They closed and Northwestern took the 2 colors (blue and gold) and the Bulls mascot. 

Thanks for bringing this up I actually thought about this 

What happened to Mays and Carver? Where did their kids go after they closed or merged into other schools? It's a pity Mays did not survive. Willie Mays was an iconic baseball player. 

Only black schools in dade during the late 60s were mays, carver, northwestern & booker t (I may be wrong because they converted to a middle school around that same time). There were some outliers but most football teams did not integrate til the late 60s.

Didn't know that, now today that game plays much differently lol

He's a high school sports fan. Kind of like me. I watch the super bowl, and the National Championship college game, and, if UCF is having a really good year, I may attend a home game as my wife is an alum. But aside from that, I watch High School sports, especially football. I guess it's because it used to reflect the game at its purest, where the great majority of the participants will end their careers when they graduate. 
Unfortunately, it has lost much of its purity over the past 25 seasons. 

He's a high school sports fan. Kind of like me. I watch the super bowl, and the National Championship college game, and, if UCF is having a really good year, I may attend a home game as my wife is an alum. But aside from that, I watch High School sports, especially football. I guess it's because it used to reflect the game at its purest, where the great majority of the participants will end their careers when they graduate. 
Unfortunately, it has lost much of its purity over the past 25 seasons. 

He's a high school sports fan. Kind of like me. I watch the super bowl, and the National Championship college game, and, if UCF is having a really good year, I may attend a home game as my wife is an alum. But aside from that, I watch High School sports, especially football. I guess it's because it used to reflect the game at its purest, where the great majority of the participants will end their careers when they graduate. 
Unfortunately, it has lost much of its purity over the past 25 seasons. 

To the contrary.  I'm all about parents and kids having all the information that they can get.  And if they want to reach out for information, that's fine.   But until the FHSAA changes the rules, it remains illegal for schools/coaches to reach out to parents and kids to encourage them to consider their school.  And that happens.   And that's wrong.