Sharkbait

Hey it's that time of year again "fundraising season".  I just wanted to encourage everyone to financially support your local high school football team if you have the means.  Football is the most expensive of the sports and although it brings in the most money most schools split the football gate among all of the sports.  Many schools are not very good at raising money and the players suffer when it comes to equipment, travel, food and numerous other things.  I know money can be tight so if you can volunteer time that is always a big help.  Football is all that is keeping many kids on the straight and narrow.  Some schools have strong booster programs and do good job reaching out to the community but there are others that you will have reach out to the schools. Some schools football programs are able to raise money just for football so contact the football coach rather than the front office.  Let's help these kids out.

There is just a ridiculous amount of talent in Dade County. Most states only dream of having the players in that one county.  What a blessing for folks down there to get to see those match-ups. 

There is just a ridiculous amount of talent in Dade County. Most states only dream of having the players in that one county.  What a blessing for folks down there to get to see those match-ups. 

Yeah I knew they had been good for a long time.  They would probably make the short list of greatest programs in state history.

Yeah I knew they had been good for a long time.  They would probably make the short list of greatest programs in state history.

Cocoa is definitely a product of that Merritt Island of old. Head Coach/AD. Including the original AD that hired him which changed the whole culture for the football team at Cocoa 

In the 80s and 90s Merritt Island had some great teams.

Columbia is a basically a large rural school.  It would be nice to have a classification just for those schools. Maybe do a small school rural combining some 1A -4A and a large school rural combining 5A-up rural based on county population.  

Columbia is a basically a large rural school.  It would be nice to have a classification just for those schools. Maybe do a small school rural combining some 1A -4A and a large school rural combining 5A-up rural based on county population.  

It's basically the same way in Brevard.  The newest school built was Heritage. Viera was built my sophomore year around 2005/2006 and Bayside was built around 99. Heritage and Bayside are right around the block from each other. Viera is a few miles from Rockledge, Holy Trinity and Eau Gallie

Guess we lucky to be such a large school and still have multiple generations play at Columbia lol

The main problem we have in Florida is areas are growing so fast that people don't have time to build an allegiance to a neighborhood school before there is a new one built and they are going somewhere else.  I grew up in Brandon my sister went to Brandon High my sister was a senior at Brandon and I was a sophomore at Armwood by the time I was a senior,  sophomores in my neighborhood were assigned to Bloomingdale.  My son plays for Port St Joe and it is neat to see some of these kids playing for the same team their fathers, grandfathers, and some cases great grandfathers played for.

The main problem we have in Florida is areas are growing so fast that people don't have time to build an allegiance to a neighborhood school before there is a new one built and they are going somewhere else.  I grew up in Brandon my sister went to Brandon High my sister was a senior at Brandon and I was a sophomore at Armwood by the time I was a senior,  sophomores in my neighborhood were assigned to Bloomingdale.  My son plays for Port St Joe and it is neat to see some of these kids playing for the same team their fathers, grandfathers, and some cases great grandfathers played for.

The main problem we have in Florida is areas are growing so fast that people don't have time to build an allegiance to a neighborhood school before there is a new one built and they are going somewhere else.  I grew up in Brandon my sister went to Brandon High my sister was a senior at Brandon and I was a sophomore at Armwood by the time I was a senior,  sophomores in my neighborhood were assigned to Bloomingdale.  My son plays for Port St Joe and it is neat to see some of these kids playing for the same team their fathers, grandfathers, and some cases great grandfathers played for.

The main problem we have in Florida is areas are growing so fast that people don't have time to build an allegiance to a neighborhood school before there is a new one built and they are going somewhere else.  I grew up in Brandon my sister went to Brandon High my sister was a senior at Brandon and I was a sophomore at Armwood by the time I was a senior,  sophomores in my neighborhood were assigned to Bloomingdale.  My son plays for Port St Joe and it is neat to see some of these kids playing for the same team their fathers, grandfathers, and some cases great grandfathers played for.

Good call Sharkbait....I go up to New England some years for Thanksgiving and although the game on the field is dreadful to watch ( versus FL HS FB) , the atmosphere makes up for it.  Some of those towns will pull 5-10,000  and when you have half the people sipping on spiked hot apple cider and pounding "homemade  " egg nog...people start believing the "battle of the town bridge" is all that matters right now in life.   You can't replicate that in SFL but I imagine if I traveled up US 27 a bit towards Sebring, I could perhaps sniff that atmosphere a bit....

If you want passion and atmosphere then travel to some of the rural areas of the state.  There may hot be as much raw talent on the field as you have at the sofla schools but the electricity in the air is something to behold.  When you have the whole town show up for a game from 8 months to 88 years old.  The smoke billowing from the grill with the best tasting burnt hotdogs and hamburgers you ever had. A cup of hot chocolate to take the chill off and the home team announcer getting overly excited because nephew made his first tackle. Everybody needs to catch one of these games this year there may not be a D1 prospect on the field but to the players and fans its the pride of your home town on the line. 

If you want passion and atmosphere then travel to some of the rural areas of the state.  There may hot be as much raw talent on the field as you have at the sofla schools but the electricity in the air is something to behold.  When you have the whole town show up for a game from 8 months to 88 years old.  The smoke billowing from the grill with the best tasting burnt hotdogs and hamburgers you ever had. A cup of hot chocolate to take the chill off and the home team announcer getting overly excited because nephew made his first tackle. Everybody needs to catch one of these games this year there may not be a D1 prospect on the field but to the players and fans its the pride of your home town on the line. 

If you want passion and atmosphere then travel to some of the rural areas of the state.  There may hot be as much raw talent on the field as you have at the sofla schools but the electricity in the air is something to behold.  When you have the whole town show up for a game from 8 months to 88 years old.  The smoke billowing from the grill with the best tasting burnt hotdogs and hamburgers you ever had. A cup of hot chocolate to take the chill off and the home team announcer getting overly excited because nephew made his first tackle. Everybody needs to catch one of these games this year there may not be a D1 prospect on the field but to the players and fans its the pride of your home town on the line. 

If you want passion and atmosphere then travel to some of the rural areas of the state.  There may hot be as much raw talent on the field as you have at the sofla schools but the electricity in the air is something to behold.  When you have the whole town show up for a game from 8 months to 88 years old.  The smoke billowing from the grill with the best tasting burnt hotdogs and hamburgers you ever had. A cup of hot chocolate to take the chill off and the home team announcer getting overly excited because nephew made his first tackle. Everybody needs to catch one of these games this year there may not be a D1 prospect on the field but to the players and fans its the pride of your home town on the line. 

Yet our top teams are more talented than top teams in other states
 
Intensity is in the fault of the fans not necessary the school,  our fans for example used to be loud and crazy, now they are spoiled and lazy,  half the fans don't pay attention to the game, the real fans show up when we travel which why we do better on road,  because our home fans are useless, home crowd has lacked intensity for a long time and the decline in the crowd probably could account for the decline of home field advantage at Tiger Stadium 
 
Coaching pay is bad but there are good coaches in Florida 

They have Loren Tillman now as HC, he is a solid coach and has done well in the past at Bozeman and Wewahitchka.  The past few years Rutherford has only had 15-20 players on their team but they have 53 on their roster currently.  I imagine by the end of the year Tillman will have them in contention.

Chiles was built and changed up the attendance zones.  Chiles has most of the North end of Leon county which was all Lincoln before.

A few teams up here that have peaked my interest are Godby and Rutherford both with new coaches and Gadsden County with the combined East and West squads. 

A few teams up here that have peaked my interest are Godby and Rutherford both with new coaches and Gadsden County with the combined East and West squads.