Sharkbait

Well in the larger classes you have basically a large school all star team to deal with in every class. 4A Booker T, 5A American Heritage, 6A Central, 7A STA. Not complaining but those schools are drawing from the most talent rich place in the USA and it shows. Jacksonville pools their talent to TCA, they win championships. Tampa used to pool their talent to Armwood and Plant, they won championships. The only cities in North Fla large enough to do this are Jacksonville or Tallahassee. Tallahassee doesn't have enough athletes to support several schools. Godby was getting kids a few years ago and they were in Orlando. Bottom line is you better get some talent to your program if you want to win the whole thing.

I know from personal experience what you mean, we can only get a couple of north teams willing to schedule us so we have to schedule tougher teams like we did with bolles and now Camden county

Trenton is just a little south of Gainesville so they are north Florida but I get what you saying and until this last season when we went to final 4 we were considered to no longer be true threat but problem is that the historically good programs are not holding their weight, i.e.. Lincoln, Leon, heck even a team like saint Augustine has started to show signs of decline and it's hurting the once great programs and made them average and younger teams that took their place just are not good enough to fully hold those shoes they took while south Florida teams are loaded in talent and are in full control

Here is what I got.
 
1A Madison Co vs St Joe
2A University Christian vs ????
3A Trinity Christian vs Chaminade
4A Booker T vs Raines
5A American Heritage vs Clay?
6A Miami Central vs Armwood
7A STA vs sacrificial lamb
8A ????

Broward you could probably take Madison every year in 1A and come out money ahead. Madison by their own admission was down last year and only lost to the best Trenton team they will ever have by 9 points. Madison graduated 25 seniors and have another 25 or so this year. So year in and year out they just have way more horses than most folks. To me 1A looks like this
 
Top tier
Madison Co
 
 
2nd tier
Trenton
St Joe
Dixie Co
 
3rd tier
Blountstown
Ft Meade
Pahokee
Ft White

Had to revamp the Preview Guide this year. Instead of trying to nail down every team, we selected 130 of 560 teams for featured previews. Yes it will be ambitious, but this will help feature the teams fans want to read about.
 
You can find out which teams were selected here: http://flhsfb.us/1thVfoe
 
Also the link to the first article about what we are doing is here: http://flhsfb.us/24l1mDK

Here in the panhandle for my county, Niceville is the most hated school since they win. Not just from Crestview, but other schools hate them too. That's just the price of being good though. 

Choctaw lost a few good players, I think they're rebuilding. The open enrollment law may hurt Fort Walton even more since FWB has fallen under and kids who weren't able to bypass the transfer requirement can now transfer freely to Choctaw or Niceville or Baker or even Navarre if they want to make the drive. 
 
Niceville flopped against Tate last year, which was kinda odd. But they lost a few great commits like Eli Stove and Romeo Finley, not sure who is upcoming on the school now. I gotta ask my coworker who goes to Niceville how they look this year.
 
Navarre was supposed to make it to regionals and above, but it came crashing down. Most guys should be returning so I don't know if they'll be undefeated, but they will make a splash. 

Gainesville is almost identical in enrollment to Columbia but yet we got put in 7A and Gainesville got to stay in 6A if buchulz can handle 7A then Gainesville should be in same district and I guess you can move mainland to 6A north to compete with armwood

Open enrollment is going change high school sports quite a bit.  I think a lot of the smaller private schools and public schools with historically non-competitive programs are going to have to step it up if they want to keep football going.  If a kid wants to play at the next level or just wants to be part of a winning team and they live close enough to another school that provides that opportunity you can't blame them.  In the past families have had to move to the next county or enroll in private schools but with open enrollment this changes everything.  I think we will see the rich get richer and the possibility of perennial  losers having to drop football. I guess it will all play out.

Sounds like that will help us 😉

There are definitely several big transfers that rumors are flowing about ...my lips are sealed as well until the process is official.  You could spit out 98% accurate information and you will be chastised for the 2%.  Not worth it.

I do not know much about that area, but it sounds like from what tampa1 is saying is that Armwood is recruiting in the tampa area.  I am saying when the open enrollment rule goes into effect it may add 2-4 more teams that can compete with Armwood?  Especially, given the fact Armwood has basically been a bully the last few years in that area.  

I Agree With u 100% broward Dillard had the talent in 2015 to do awesome things maybe be a top 50 team in broward or better but they were to inconsistent Trenton may not have had the athelets but I would bet their coaching Staff is more component & whenever Dillard faces a Well coached team Who take away what you do & make adjustments they Lose. Still would be a great matchup tho.

I'm in the South Florida Area...and can't call nobody pockets but I highly doubt the family's down here can afford to spend 25K a year on a private school education as well.  It's all about positioning.  It should be about putting your kid in the best possible position to play and get an education with the hopes of him moving on to play at the next level and most importantly getting a degree.  If a coach is building a program, and not a team...transfers don't mean anything just creates opportunity for someone to step up or someone else to transfer in..lol  #next man up

To answer your question about coming up through the ranks, I think that depends on the kid and their parents, Most family's in our area could not afford to spend 25K a year on a private high school education. On the flip side of that coin i have seen a few kids over the years move out of a bad situation at one school and excel at another, Sometimes all you need is clean slate and fresh start. I am not against any kid transferring schools for any reason as long as recruiting was not involved. Sometime other schools see a rival school get 3 or 4 kids and they automatically say that the kids where recruited.      

Totally agree 100%.  We are living in microwave society.  I want everything right NOW.  This phenomenon is now in the youth league and is carrying on to high schools.  It appears college recruiters are offering kids younger and younger nowadays.  If you have the prototype in the 9th or 10th grade (6ft or over 200lbs or a sub 4.5- 40) along with any type of varsity film they will offer you.  Most of the film doesn't even wow you.  I guess they look at the fact they doing it on at the varsity level at a young age they will only get better.  Where in fact most should be in the 11th grade anyway (but that's another discussion).  So knowing this as a parent nowadays would you want your child to go to the neighborhood school in play JV for two years with no film or transfer him to the school where he will play early on varsity possibly getting that college offer.  Then there is also the transfer to the powerhouse where all of the scouts are coming to, the scouts can't get everybody so they looks towards the bench.  The better the program the better the bench.  St Thomas Aquinas has kids getting offers who are not even starters or have very little film.  Again, so with knowing all of this as a parent do you put your child in the best position to get a free college education or try to teach him the value of hard work and coming up through the ranks when that is not the world we live in anymore.

No disrespect taken Zoe Boy but the 2015 team was the greatest team to ever take the field at Trenton High School and i think could have beaten a lot of teams in the 4,5,6 and even 7A classifications but at the same time some of the top teams in those classes could have been a problem. I guess we will see what we can be in 2016 after the wakulla game week 1. 

I am sure all consistently successful teams are hated on some level by nearby schools and their fans, that's just the price for being good.  Some teams are hated for dirty play and cheap shots but that usually depends on which side of the hit you are on.  I personally try not to hold anything against the teams (players and coaches) but there are teams with notoriously obnoxious fans cussing and threatening refs and opposing coaches and players and generally being rude to opposing fans, I'm sure we all know some of those teams.

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I am sure all consistently successful teams are hated on some level by nearby schools and their fans, that's just the price for being good.  Some teams are hated for dirty play and cheap shots but that usually depends on which side of the hit you are on.  I personally try not to hold anything against the teams (players and coaches) but there are teams with notoriously obnoxious fans cussing and threatening refs and opposing coaches and players and generally being rude to opposing fans, I'm sure we all know some of those teams.

The 2015 Trenton team was unbelievably good. People get hung up on classification but there are 1A schools that can compete with anybody.  The problem is in 1A it may be 10 years or more before there is another team that good.  If you haven't watched them in person there is no way you can appreciate how good they are.  I know our boys played 3A and 4A playoff teams this year and dominated them our only two losses were to Trenton and it was over in the 2nd quarter of both games. They had size, speed, quickness, depth and great coaching. You still have a lot of 1A schools that are having to start 8th graders and dressing 15 kids but the top ten programs should not be dismissed just because they are smaller schools.

The 2015 Trenton team was unbelievably good. People get hung up on classification but there are 1A schools that can compete with anybody.  The problem is in 1A it may be 10 years or more before there is another team that good.  If you haven't watched them in person there is no way you can appreciate how good they are.  I know our boys played 3A and 4A playoff teams this year and dominated them our only two losses were to Trenton and it was over in the 2nd quarter of both games. They had size, speed, quickness, depth and great coaching. You still have a lot of 1A schools that are having to start 8th graders and dressing 15 kids but the top ten programs should not be dismissed just because they are smaller schools.

The 2015 Trenton team was unbelievably good. People get hung up on classification but there are 1A schools that can compete with anybody.  The problem is in 1A it may be 10 years or more before there is another team that good.  If you haven't watched them in person there is no way you can appreciate how good they are.  I know our boys played 3A and 4A playoff teams this year and dominated them our only two losses were to Trenton and it was over in the 2nd quarter of both games. They had size, speed, quickness, depth and great coaching. You still have a lot of 1A schools that are having to start 8th graders and dressing 15 kids but the top ten programs should not be dismissed just because they are smaller schools.

FHSAA has S. Walton at 679 in the 2015 population report, which is still far more than 600, even with the 10% deal (is that still in effect?)... and I'm not sure I would say four schools is several. In addition to S. Walton, there is Baldwin (605), Newberry (631), and Taylor Pierson (618), all of which are within the 10% parameter.