Pipe Dreams

I didn’t over hype anyone.

DP’s offense seems to suit the QB well. Spread with a tough RB and a QB who can execute the read option well. He looks a lot like the 2017 QB who took them to a state title. No prediction, should be a close game. DP should have a good season as they seem about level with last year’s team.

Dr. Phillips has five final four appearances, two state runner ups and one state title over the last 15 years. During that time they’ve also made the regional championship game 8 times out of 15. 2024 - Final Four 2018 - Elite 8 2017 - State Champion 2016 - State Runner Up 2015 - Elite 8 2014 - Elite 8 2012 - Final Four 2010 - State Runner Up

Lake Mary has a complete team, offense and defense, led by their stellar junior quarterback. It has been great to see the Lake Mary - Dr. Phillips rivalry take form over the past few years. In Florida's Pop Warner glory days, these two programs were major rivals and always competed for Mid Florida titles and then at the state level. That great rivalry has made it to the HS level two decades later.

Congrats to the Lake Mary program on their first state title appearance. Lake Mary went up 10-0, but DP came back to take a 13-10 lead into the fourth quarter. A DP drive stalled near midfield and Lake Mary scored twice from there for the 24-13 victory. Congrats to DP on a great comeback season. I'm not sure anyone had them going this far when the season started. The QB - Anderson-Lofton, committed to Middle Tennessee and is very underrated. He has a very bright future. Also, congrats to coach Wells on his fourth final four appearance in 14 years as head coach.

Color coded by classification.

What do the colors in the map mean? I'm about to make a new map

Regions 1 and 3 are likely to be Orlando. At least 3 Orlando-area teams can compete with Venice. I never count out Columbus or Palmetto.

I tried to edit my original post listing Jones as 2A and not 4A but ads make it impossible to edit your posts. The text is not there after TFA. Many such cases!

I know there is a ton of parity in south Florida, and I have been guilty of overestimating Central Florida in the past, but I really think we have some good contenders. Across classes, I think Central Florida (Orlando-Metro plus Brevard/Volusia) could do better than ever this year in terms of total area state titles. They are also all very close in talent level, and below them there is a gap. Cocoa --- 2A Jones (Orlando) --- 4A Dr. Phillips (Orlando) --- 7A Sanford-Seminole --- 7A The First Academy (Orlando) --- 1A Lake Mary --- 7A Edgewater (Orlando) --- 5A Osceola (Kissimmee) --- 6A West Orange --- 7A Eau Gallie, Spruce Creek, and Apopka are also very competitive. There are some interesting early data points, including Osceola and Lake Mary. Both competed well out-of-area.

I've always followed the Laz Index: https://www.lazindex.com/fhsaa.php For some of the newer posters, it's usually very good as the regular season comes to an end. I believe Laz uses the spreads of all the games, and then runs some sort of Monte Carlo simulation to give each team a power rating.

Contrary to popular opinion this is the best DP offense since 2016 or 2014. Anderson-Lofton and WR 4 are gonna be a problem for teams. Defense looks good. 7A region 3 is there for DP to take. Main competition seems to be Vero Beach, Jupiter and Palm Beach Central. This felt like a final four game.

Well, well, well... DP improves to 4-0. Scoring Summary: DP 7-0 LM 7-7 LM 14-7 DP 13-14 HALF DP 20-14 LM 21-20 DP 26-21

the FHSAA - silent like a dog so far. many such cases!

Nolebull really likes to put down high school teams. He's done it for years... calling them garbage, etc... His lack of respect and sportsmanship is a given. I really hope he's in his 20's. I do agree that the classifications have been watered down and think the Metro/Suburban decision was a bad one. This is not the best DP team, but they played both Apopka (16-14) and Lake Mary (76-60) close, and avenged their earlier loss to Olympia in round 1. The Jones game got out of hand, as it was 14-10 at the half. Region 2 will probably be a 10-14 point underdog to whatever region 1 team they play.