Proseteye

You never know about the Hurricanes. When they have it all together, like most years, they are very difficult to defeat. This year I believe they are definitely down as they lost a bunch to graduation. That being said, you never count Gainesville out of any game against anyone. Playing at the huge Citizen Field stadium with a packed house of rabid fans, they will be a handful regardless. Columbia will have to use all of its capabilities and not have a bunch of penalties in order to get by Gainesville. IMO Columbia should prevail. But...................................

Every time I have seen Eastside play their players are extremely athletic and fast. They remind me of Rickards from a few years ago. Kept wondering why the team I was witnessing playing against us was so inept. They too had the athletes and speed. I notice that Rickards is starting to develop into a pretty respectable team. Must have the right coaching now. If they can do it so can Eastside.

I think that most schools don't stream their home games for two reasons: The cost of the equipment. Reduction in fans attending the games @ $6 each. However, Trinity seems to have a full house regardless of streaming.

The only thing that they need is a really good experienced HC and assistants who would instill in them the benefits of staying with the school and thus making the team a respected one as they used to be. The right HC can do wonders where others have failed.

The Celtics stream their home games only. I check each away game to see if the opponent school has the game streaming.

BINGO.

Unfortunately I am not really able to drive out of town these days as my eyes are not that good anymore. I don't even go to the Celtic games out of town.

Yeah, a long drive will do that to you.

You know folks, I really feel for Eastside. A few years ago they were a powerhouse and were feared by every north central team. Then all of this transfer stuff started to happen. The Rams can't keep good players as they are consistently transferring to other area schools. I do realize that Eastside is not the best school academically, which may have a lot to do with it. But, I would think that there would be more loyalty to a team that could be built into a powerhouse once again if those players thought of the school a much as they thought of themselves.

That's a long drive for CC just for a pre season game. It's a wonder they played as well as they did against a quality IMG and on their field.

It's what I thought. TCA is still TCA. And NM, IMO, will still not be as good as last year. I expected TCA to blow them out, even though just a KO Classic.

I've got a couple of things to say for what it's worth. First of all regardless of wishing to think that the Apopka game was a "real" game. It wasn't. It was a KO Classic where most players play and different strategies are tried. As in years past, this Apopka team will not be the same team in the regular season that you guys played. Just remember that Gainesville is a 6A team. Columbia is 7A. I am sure that Gainesville will not even be the so so team they were last year as they lost a bundle to graduation including two Senior QBs, RB's, and WR's. That being said, the Hurricanes sometimes blow hot and cold. But, they have always been a well coached and talented team. During the 2015 season Vanguard blew them away. In the playoffs the quality Hurricanes took care of business against Vanguard. I would expect Columbia to win this one. But, huge Citizen Field will be packed with Hurricane supporters which will not make it easy. Take it from me as I have sat through several games at Citizen Field with Trinity Catholic, Vanguard, and North Marion. None of these three ever had it easy against Gainesville even it they won.

Although it's only a KO Classic I was really surprised that the Colts went up to Jacksonville and defeated TCA 22-20. And, every indication over the summer pointed to a Colts team that would not be anywhere near as good as last season. They have a new HC and lost a huge amount of players to graduation including most of their D-1 players. Does this foretell a tough season for TCA or a great season for NM? Or, does it foretell absolutely nothing?

Two things, Jessica. Deerfield Beach is a powerhouse 8A team. A real challenge for even another good 8A team much less a 3A team. Also, it's a KO Classic. So, doesn't really matter who wins when both teams are clearing their benches to evaluate players and formations.

Congrats on your win, Columbia. Apopka is not an easy team to beat. Well, you were almost right. The Celtics lost 26-20. Both teams are not ready for prime time, IMHO. So many penalties I lost count. I think the refs were taking themselves too seriously. Let the youngster play, for pete's sake. I don't think that Columbia or Vanguard will have too much trouble with Buchholz. They are really not that good or Trinity is really that good. I don't know which. The Celtics had too many personal fouls which cost them big time. There were times when we moved right down the field on the ground and scored easily. Then, there were other times where we just couldn't handle success, running plays that just weren't working. For some reason our top RB was not used until the 4th quarter and then he rushed for big yardage. The Buchholz QB will not take them to the playoffs. He's OK but nothing to write home about. They do have a couple of good RB's that moved the ball. Torrey Richardson jr and Khauree Sullivan did most of the groundwork. Richardson is big and fast. Bryan Jaszczak is a pretty good WR. I actually thought that we lost the game by shooting ourselves in the foot too many times. But, Buchholz won the game fair and square and just might have been the better team on this night.

Good luck tonight, Columbia.

Some stats for Buchholz in 2015 and current roster: *Their starting QB Jackson White graduated. Passed for 2732 yds with a .611% completion ratio. *Replaced by Sr Scott Lester. Played in 4 games with 33 passes, .545% completion ratio, 2 Int. *Torrey Richardson Sr RB 782 yds *Khauriee Sullivan Sr RB 370 yds *Bryan Jaszczak Sr WR 930 yds *Luke Wittemore Sr WR 883 yds *Barry Moore Freshman WR 773 yds (773 yds as an 8th grader) *Lost about 1/2 of their defensive producers to graduation Buchholz averaged 31 ppg and 22 ppg scored against them. From the stands I will be evaluating these players. My thoughts are two fold: Lester has at least 3 experienced WR's. If he can pass as well as White did then we may be in trouble. If he can't then I don't believe that his running game is strong enough to work against our defense. Allowing 22 ppg tells me that their defense is their weak point. Trinity has a very balanced offense and is tough to stop once they determine what their opponent's disadvantages are. All of this being said, it is only a preseason game, doesn't count, but allows the coaches to evaluate players and test out formations in real time.

Both Columbia and Vanguard can get a preview of how good Buchholz is. A tough 7A team will be comin' on down to Celtic Field to take on 3A Trinity. We have never played Buchholz so don't know what to expect. I've seen them play North Marion and they always give the Colts headaches. We are a much better team than last season so we will see.

And a pretty darn good Florida team, may I say. They are a Senior laden team with most of their players back from last year including their Senior QB who threw for nearly 3,000 yds. I hear they have a bunch of D-1 players. They went 10-3 last season in a very difficult classification. IMO they are probably as good as Cocoa although Cocoa is in a higher classification. Don't know how well they travel as I don't think they've played out of state much. Should be a good test for them against BC.

Hmmmmm. I seem to remember that IMG won that game 59-47. Apparently BC didn't light up IMG enough. Guys, IMG is a team from Florida. Let's not get too hyper about out of state teams that play IMG, no matter how you feel about IMG and their policies. IMO, we should all support Florida teams against any team from another state.

Hey Dan. How's it going in Daytona? Tell us how Mainland is going to do this year and what we have to look forward to.

Funny. Folks are saying that IMG is going to be defeated by or just barely get by some of the teams they will be playing this season. Hmmmm. This team was undefeated last season and defeated 7 out of state teams, some of which were better than or equal to the best Florida has to offer. Most of them they beat by lopsided scores. They crushed both Miramar and Cocoa, two top teams in Florida. So tell me, who is going to defeat IMG? Boyd Anderson, Oxbridge, TCA, or Chaminade? I would bet that none of them defeat IMG and maybe will not even come close. I'm not a fan of IMG one way or the other. However, I am a fan of reality. Maybe someone can explain to me how these 4 teams, or for that matter any other 4 teams in Florida, will beat IMG.

There are still a few, very few, members over on the other board, who would be satisfied with this board. Possibly they don't know that this board exists and that is why the aren't here yet. I, myself, found I could no longer be part of that other board due to the amount of people who acted like 5 years old's on a school playground. Constantly berating and making idiotic remarks toward other members that were not in the 5 year old's clique. Hopefully, those types will not migrate to this board and bring the same mindset.

A bunch of friggen busy body bureaucrats How about letting the schools themselves decide? What are these people afraid of? STA is more of a threat than IMG, if playing against a top team is a threat at all.

Columbia has Senior QB Davin Schuck 3865 Yds passing, and also Senior RB Kamario Bell 1,235 yds rushing back. What a duo they are. On the minus side most of your WR's graduated along with many defensive players. Any standout players that will be replacing those graduates?