Proseteye

OTC @ CCC tonight. Just remember that last season OTC gave CCC it's only defeat until CCC played Chaminade in the championship game and lost in a very competitive game. I believe that both teams are as good or better than last season. I know that the Celtics are a much better unit than they were in 2022 with 3 exceptional QB's two seniors and 1 junior, any one of which could be a starter on most other teams. Think it will be a game worth watching as it looks as though the weather in Clearwater will be dry for the most part.

The Team I support, the Trinity Catholic Celtics, is IMO a team to watch this season. They went down to Key West yesterday, a distance of 470 miles, and defeated Key West in the classic. Given that Key West is not a powerhouse. But, they are a well coached team with skill players and I believe they run a wing T offense that is always difficult to defend against. The Celtic defense had some difficulty against it for the first quarter and a half until thay came up to speed and Key West was then shut down. This Celtic team is very big and very good. They are also a lot quicker than I have seen in the past and seem to have more dedication like the championship teams we used to have. They have 3 excellent QBs 2 Seniors and 1 Junior and quite a few skill players at WR and RB. The speed of these players makes the difference. Considering that their schedule for a 1S team, FSU HS, CCC, Gainesville, Carrollwood Day, Raines, Calvary Christian, St. Xavier (Cincinnati), and Buchholtz, is not a walk in the park. We shall see how it goes but I am more positive this season than I have been in quite sometime including being the runnerup in 1S last season. The smaller classes don't get much play on this forum, unless you are a Pahokee or a Madison, but the Celtics are here and have a young history of getting the job done when it counts. Thanks for listening.

The Celtics did defeat NM and Vanguard a couple of times over the years. Maybe you can ask those 7 teams why they didn't play the Celtics in 2022. Coach Brantley has always tried to play the local public schools. Could be that he offered to play them and they declined. Could be that previous 5A and 6A teams don't want to risk losing to a previous 3A team.

Should be a very good game especially with the former UCF QB Dillon Gabriel at the helm for Oklahoma. May be a high scoring affair. I think that FSU has enough to win it as Oklahoma may have one of its worst teams in recent memory. What do you folks think and why?

Don't understand "blacklisted". The Celtics have played a good compliment of Marion Country Public Schools over the years. 2021 - North Marion, 2019 - Dunnellon, 2018, 2017 - Belleview, Dunnellon, North Marion, 2016, 2015 - Lake Weir, 2012, 2011, 2010- North Marion, Forest, Vanguard. A couple of the publics have accused the Celtics of "stealing their players" which nobody was ever able to prove. I saw an equal amount of players over the years transferring from Trinity to the publics as they did transferring to Trinity. The Celtics have always been willing to play anyone and their schedules have always been filled with higher division out of district teams. Who knows how this new FHSAA structure is and how it will affect the teams we play in the future.

It's true that First Baptist has not played anyone, with the exception of Bishop Verot and a loss to Pahokee, equal to the Celtics schedule. Although the Celtic's District schedule was soft as ice cream. There was no equivilent of FSU High, CCC, Raines, Calvery Christian, and Ponte Vedra on FBA's Opponents list. That being said FBA is a good solid team with skill players that score a lot of points. They are no walkover. Celtics better be ready and hopefully have cleaned up their propensity for personal fouls that only help their opponent.

First Baptist has a minimum 7 hour bus trip to Gene Cox Stadium. The Celtics have less than 3 hours. Since the game starting time is 1 pm on Saturday I'm assuming that the FBA team and most of the Naples community will be staying overnight on Friday and maybe even Saturday. Weather report for Saturday is clear skies, sunny, with tempertures around 67 degrees at 1 pm. Perfect football weather. I've watched FBA on video and they are a pretty good well disciplined team. They played a good 11-2 Ohio team Chardon, in Ohio, very close and should have won that game. If the Celtics can stop receiving unecessary personal foul penalties maybe the opposing team would not have an easier time than they should. The Celtics certainly have all of the capabilities to defeat any team a lot easier than they sometimes do.

As I suspected JCC (Ft Pierce) gave the Celtics all they could handle. Rams have 3 or 4 D-1 commit seniors. All tied up in the 4th quarter and then Wright and Beard came through against a very tough Ram defense in the last couple of minutes. Final 22-10 Celtics. Championship will be against another pretty good team, First Baptist Academy (Naples). I think they are better than their name would indicate. QB has nearly 1800 yds passing and their lead RB has just under 1,000 yds. However, they did lose to Pahokee and an Ohio team Chardon.

Don't ususally follow Central or the higher classifications but, does Lakewood even have a snowball's chance in hell against Central? I'm thinking that if Central was being considered for the #1 team in the nation defeating a team like Lakewood in the final would not seem to enhance their chances. Except for IMG have they defeated any other team that would help them being considered for #1? They haven't even played one out of state team as IMG and STA have. Just trying to determine how the selection of the #1 team in the nation is accomplished not saying anything against Central as I support all Florida teams.

We do have a pretty darn good Sophomore QB Preston Wright, don't we? Guy makes this team run exceptionally well. I trust him and Beard to get the job done against any team.

Is John Carroll not that competetive? I know little to nothing about them this year. Although in a so so district we did play some pretty good higher classification teams out of district. Especially giving CCC their only loss and losing to FSU High by 2 points on their field in the first game of the season.

Hmmmmm. The only other time the Celtics met the Golden Rams was in the 2020 playoffs. The Celtics won 48-0. The Rams had about the same record as they do now and the Celtics had struggled through much of that season. I think that both teams this Friday may be on the same level quality wise. From the videos I've seem the Rams have a pretty darn good QB in Maehl, a couple of decent WR's, and a tough RB in Colebrook (17 TDs). Can't see any real weaknesses. IMO the Celtics just have to play the game they are capable of and the night will end up successfully.

, etc., etc.

Ponte Vedra was 7A last season and I guess 4S is somewhere around that class this season. They played Bartram Trail and FSU HS very close. And they lost to Bishop Kenny by one point. Makes me think that they must be pretty good. Anyone know much about this team that they can share?

Hey Columbiahighfan, The Celtics will be going up to Gainesville this Friday to play the Gainesville Hurricanes. What in the world has happened to them? I thought that we may have a real struggle on our hands but am not that sure the Hurricanes are up to it. Any ideas?

They do have a few names that are unfamiliar to me. Trinity, being a parochial school, always gets students transferring from public schools or where parents that move to Ocala from other cities and states and want their son to go to a parochial school. So, the team reflects those situations. We do play some tough opponents this season in Buchholz, FSU HS, Clearwater Central Catholic, Gainesville, and Raines.

No prediction here as Kickoff Classics are just for evaluation of all the roster and nothing more. Buchholz @ Trinity Catholic this Friday. Buchholz pretty well breezed through the season and playoffs and then met STA. If anything, from my evaluation, they are an even better team than last year. I'm just curious as to how the Celtics will do against them although just a glorified scrimmage. The Celtics do have some big boys in the trenches on both sides and a couple of big RBs. Our QB is last year's backup with not a lot of playing time. Looks Ok though and hopefully will develop. Know little more than that about their chances.

Could be but I would think that Gage still was the starter at IMG ahead of this newcomer for the coming season.

I kind of doubt it, Ray. Gage played seasons with IMG when one of the top running backs in the nation Kaytron Allen was there. Gage got a lot of playing time and was in a lot of plays with Allen. Could be financial problems or maybe he just didn't care for the coaching method at IMG.

Can anyone explain the reasoning why organized practice is not allowed outside of certain specific timeframes? What is the purpose of it?

I still like, IMO, the only plausible scenario, which I believe was adapted by the FHSAA a few years back, and that was a student transferring would have to sit out sports in the year he was transferring. It didn't completely shut down transfers for sports only, but it surely limited them. I don't seriously think that the Florida Legislature envisioned students transferring for sports only when they approved unlimited student transfers anywhere in the State. Their intension was to allow students to transfer out of schools performing poorly academically to schools performing better academically.

Columbiahighfan and others There is really no comparison between public and private schools. Public schools are funded by taxes and are administered by local school boards. Private schools are funded by tuition payments and are administered by private entities. Public schools are an entitlement. Private schools are not. Public schools keep their doors open regardless of how many students they have in their buildings. Private schools stay open if and only when they have enough tuition paying students in their buildings. Private schools cannot depend on local students only due to high tuition and standards that they set. As such, they have to find students from other places. That is why there are no districts for private schools. Since public schools do not have to bring students in from other areas they can function quite well with only local students. Private schools have to bring in students from other areas in order to pay bills and stay in business. So, what would be considered "recruiting" by public schools should not be considered "recruiting" by private schools. There is also the factor that many public school students, both in and out of sports, transfer to private schools for better academic possibilities and a more comprehensive disciplinary structure. At least this is the way that I see it unfolding.

IMG recruits all of its students. They are, after all, into training future stars in various sports. What else would they be? Who tells you that they don't recruit anyone?

Apparently you did get a little excited to research the new head coach and players transferring out. Can you bring us up to date on the players that did transfer out? Any of the starters from last season? I do follow IMG although I don't get too excited. Just enjoy watching a top HS team, based in Florida, play against some of the best in the country.

Seems that all of the prior head coaches, and possibly a few assistant coaches, have gone on to College and NFL level jobs. I guess they figure if you can handle a team that maintains top level play against the best in the country then you can handle more difficult tasks. Let's face it, if you are HC of a high school team and you're offered a college or NFL position then you take it. These colleges, and later NFL teams, recruit players from IMG. Why not the coaches that groomed them. And probably doesn't take more than a season to convince them.