Nulli Secundus

Depends on when the FHSAA board members change the metro/suburban criteria if it's even around after next year. However, at the current and projected growth rate, Polk should be in the million+ club by 2040.

What is also deceiving is that Polk has a larger district population than Pinellas.

Seriously, it's very telling to compare Pinellas to any county with a title, metro or suburban in which this rushed plan was conceived bring some semblance of football equality to the state. Regarding metro areas being penalized, if you would, I would really like to hear more about how metro counties (or specifically which ones) are suffering.

Phosphate - Never Citrus - Dead Railroads - Almost dead Again, it depends on your @Perspective

It won't be Lakeland for a couple of reasons even if they emerge victorious next week.

Your eyes did not deceive you. Also, Pinellas County did not sink into the Gulf as expected.

Thanks for the play by play.

Deja Vu (Lake Wales/Columbia). Ouch!

https://fhsaa.boxcast.com/#/broadcasts/r9r0zkcwywzub0cx5sdk?channel_id=vhlhvzxbguryburepez8

Fair enough!!

Reading is fundamental and I sure screwed that one up. How the hell did I get Jemalle and Cornelius mixed up? At any rate, still pulling for Hawthorne. Thanks for pointing that out.

That's foul Jullian! You can root for Lake Wales but not Lakeland. How dare you?

Green with Envy my friend!?

It could be the radiation in the water. I'll give you the short version without cliff notes, lol. Four things brought African Americans to Polk County: Spanish-American war, Citrus, Phosphate and the railroads. You have to go all the way back the the start of the Spanish-American war when the 10th Calvary (1 of 4) all black Buffalo soldiers was stationed in Lakeland. During that time, Lakeland and other outlying areas of Polk County amassed large numbers of soldiers that were awaiting deployment to Cuba. They (and their families) were set up and eventually settled around Lake Wire near downtown in what is know known as the Lake Ridge community all the way north to the Washington Park area near the hospital. This includes central city where Bryant stadium is now located all the way up to the old Tiger Town air force base on Lake Parker once stood. Just to give you an idea what I mean when I say "central city", central city Every town at the time had pockets of African-Americans that were associated with the war with the largest concentration in Lakeland & Bartow. Citrus is another not thought of industry and back then, Polk County was the largest producer of Citrus in the state all the way until a few years ago. Before other ethnicities came to be in Polk County, African-Americans were the top choice for menial back-breaking labor and picking trees all day in the Central Florida heat was about as rough as it got. That further spread African-Americans all over the county especially those with endless groves (Winter Haven, Auburndale, Haines City, Lake Wales and Frostproof). Phosphate mining was another hot industry beginning in the late 1800's and is still prevalent today starting in South Polk (Ft. Meade) and eventually working its way north to Bartow, Mulberry and parts of South Lakeland now known as Lakeland-Highlands where George Jenkins HS resides. More so than Citrus, phosphate mining was laborious work and was downright dangerous, both short and long term. Again, trying to be politically correct but what group was favored to do what others didn't want to do? The railroad industry is big business in Polk now but it was really big back in the day. When you take into account the man power to establish and maintain the rail infrastructure to move Citrus, cattle and phosphate to points north and to/from the port of Tampa, the railroad probably had the largest noticeable impact on Polk County. Bone Valley (Mulberry and Ft. Meade) consists of an intricate rail network that crisscrosses Polk County before heading west to Tampa, north to Winston in Southwest Lakeland using either the Seaboard Air Line or Seaboard Coast line where they meet at Diamond Junction in Auburndale. Polk County was one of the few places in the state where both companies were in direct competition with each other before deregulation and consolidation into what is now CSX. A few miles northeast of Winston, there was a 180 acre rail repair and refurbishing yard on the edge of downtown Lakeland bordering Kathleen Rd. That area is now home to the recently opened Bonnet Springs Park. That area is also located in central city where large swaths of African-Americans still reside generations later. Winter Haven, Lake Wales and Haines City also had burgeoning rail industries and a few have railroad museums that chronicle how the railroad impacted their communities. The next time you're in Polk County and you happen to be in a town/city and you notice railroad tracks, there's a good chance there's some African-American history behind it and it probably shows. How that translates into what you deem as continued D-1 success, I can only contribute that to the grind and historically, it wasn't hard to do being surrounded by Hillsborough, Pinellas, Osceola and Orange. No disrespect to anyone affiliated with a school in those counties. However, those are the facts. The first Lakeland school to capitalize on integration was Kathleen given their new location and proximity to the defunct all black Rochelle High School and the neighborhood in which it served. Lakeland was better in basketball and Kathleen was the football King. Fast forward a few decades and both schools have swapped roles. However, Lakeland was a little more resistant to change as it was known as the more upscale of the two. When I was in high school 91-94, a popular chant at games against Lakeland was "Sink the Snobs" as the school pulled from wealthier, more established South Lakeland neighborhoods including Lakeland Highlands until George Jenkins opened in 1993. The rest of the county for a long time were one schools towns so there wasn't a massive tug on talent like it is in Lakeland. After that, Winter Haven lost some personnel when Lake Ridge opened (1995). They have always had a decent amount of athletes but Winter Haven bleeds into Auburndale. The 2nd city to truly suffer was Haines City with the opening of Ridge (2005) and if you take a look at their records, you can see the shift when the Oak Hill community that once drove Haines City was split. What also happened around the same time (2003) is the city of Lake Wales created it's own charter school system and although in Polk County, operated independently of Polk County school district. That really made things difficult talent wise in East Polk as Lake Wales was able to take in students from anywhere but primarily up US27 into Haines City/Davenport and 540 into Winter Haven. The Blue Devils are one program I do not envy in football as they are literally smack in the middle of most of the high schools in Polk County. Winners 1973 Haines City 1974 Frostproof 1977 Bartow 1985 Bartow 1986 Lakeland 1992 Frostproof 1996 Lakeland 1996 Bartow 1999 Lakeland 1999 Frostproof 2004 Lakeland 2004 Ft. Meade 2005 Lakeland 2005 Evangel Chr. (Lakeland) 2006 Lakeland 2014 Victory Chr. (Lakeland) 2018 Lakeland Runner-ups 1967 Auburndale 1968 Kathleen 1971 Haines City 1972 Frostproof 1973 Ft. Meade 1981 Frostproof 1991 Haines City 1991 Frostproof 1993 Lake Wales 1993 Ft. Meade 1994 Lake Wales 1996 Frostproof 1999 Ft. Meade 2000 Ft. Meade 2001 Ft. Meade 2003 Lake Gibson 2003 Ft. Meade 2004 Lake Gibson 2005 Ft. Meade 2006 Victory Chr. (Lakeland) 2008 Lakeland 2008 Ft. Meade 2013 Victory Chr. (Lakeland) 2016 Lake Gibson 2019 Victory Chr. (Lakeland)

Fun fact about PLOK county. Either you misspelled on purpose or it took you all day to come up with that little quip. Either way it's pathetic. Their state representative is what started this open enrollment crap that ruined hs sports with easy transfers. This is America. Contact your local representative and start the process to repeal it. Then again since no one here knows what your school or county affiliation is, maybe your local rep doesn't have the pull to do so. Isn't that what any good representative is supposed to do for their constituents? Given the gravity of what actually happened and the subsequent fallout that affected Lakeland High School, I can't say I blame her even though Lakeland wasn't the catalyst, just the more popular choice. People like you who don't have an ounce of a clue blindly perpetuate the lie that Lakeland went after and recruited the 5 (eventually downgraded to 3) athletes to come to Lakeland when the guardians were found guilty of falsifying addresses so they could enroll at LHS illegally is laughable at best. Had Lakeland knowingly committed such an egregious act, none of the coaches including Castle, possibly the principle would've survived it. Another fun fact, they somehow got their county and lee put in the suburban when their population is bigger than other metro counties and pulled the old switcheroo between the first proposal and the one that actually passed to dodge st Thomas Aquinas and other metro teams. Screw them and I hope Venice beats them by thirty. FHSAA board of directors. As you can see, no one from Polk County is represented. Try again. Regarding STA, why the hell would Lakeland dodge a program that it has a winning 6-2 advantage over? Maybe you're pissed because whatever your imaginary program is can't beat the Raiders.

Yes, it was 2010. That's when players were found guilty of falsifying addresses to move several blocks east into Lakeland's schools zone.

Since 1963, Polk County has been represented in the state finals 42 times. The most in any given year has been 3 teams 4 times (1996, 1999, 2004, & 2005) with Polk taking 2 of 3 in each of those years. In contrast, Polk has sent 2 teams to the title game 6 times (1973, 1991, 1993, 2003, 2006 & 2008) and lost all but 2 games. Two teams in the finals has not been kind to Polk County. Will 2022 be different or does history repeat itself? When 3 Polk schools play for the title - 67% win rate 1996: Lakeland over STA, Bartow over Bolles, Union County over Frostproof 1999: Lakeland over Rutherford, Frostproof over Trinity Chr., North Florida Chr. over Ft. Meade 2004: Lakeland over STA, Ft. Meade over Blountstown, Armwood over Lake Gibson 2005: Lakeland over STA, Evangel Chr. over Graceville, Port St. Joe over Ft. Meade When 2 Polk Schools play for the title - 17% win rate 1973: Haines City over Atlantic, Blountstown over Ft. Meade 1991: Santa Fe over Haines City, Jefferson County over Frostproof 1993: Bolles over Lake Wales, Baker County over Ft. Meade 2003: Armwood over Lake Gibson, Trinity Chr. over Ft. Meade 2006: Lakeland over STA, FAMU over Victory Chr. 2008: STA over Lakeland, North Florida Chr over Ft. Meade Lakeland and Lake Wales should be afraid, VERY afraid, lol. @VeniceIndiansFootball & @Dan in Daytona

NOPE! Cocoa wins.

I'm going with former Ft. Meade standout Coach Ingram and pull for Hawthorne.

I don't know very much about either team so I'll go with name recognition. OTC it is.

Pulling for the Blue Darters. I hope Orange County does not go up in smoke.

Both programs have been here before so home field won't be that much of an issue. How close this game will be comes down to penalties and mistakes. With that being said....

Going with the Orange and Black. @Dan in Daytona can hoist that 2003 trophy whenever he wants.

I'll jump on the bandwagon and go with Central.

Although I'm rooting for CCC, Pinellas County sinks into the Gulf before they win this game.