OldSchoolLion

The bigger point is that you seem to assume other states do not play as many OOS games as Florida because they are not as confident or bold. You obviously don't appreciate people making assumptions about Columbia...and you offer lots of reasons why they do/do not do certain things. Yet, at times, you do not hesitate to draw conclusions and judge others without having all of the facts. If you spent as much time genuinely listening and understanding as you do defending, you would be a genius. I have failed in that arena myself, at times.

I am certain there are numerous schools in other states who could say the same. Trelle spoke in another post of how the schools in Colorado are so weak. If Columbia felt a need to handicap itself in scheduling Georgia teams, we should be understanding of other states who might feel a need to do the same when coming to Florida.

Well, it's quite possible schools in some states feel the same way, and that is why they are not playing games against teams from the West Coast...not because they are skeered. Here Florida is, underpaid teachers and terrible education system, and we are boasting about how we are such badasses by running around the country playing hs football. Maybe our priorities are a bit out of whack.

So, a valid excuse for downgrading one's schedule, even a legacy program like Columbia, might be the addition of a new coach. Well, before you criticize any teams in the future, FL or OOS, I'd suggest you do your homework about them. There can be extenuating circumstances. Do you know for a fact that one of the teams playing in Disney does not have a totally green coach this year? What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

C'mon ColumbiaFan, you know darn well you would not buy that excuse today if an OOS team playing an outclassed FL team used it. If your message is that people should not jump to conclusions about scheduling without knowing all of the facts, I would suggest you start practicing what you preach buddy, because you can be pretty darn critical of OOS teams. As you just stated, nationally ranked Camden County played you the year before and Columbia is right on the GA line, so Columbia was not some unknown in Georgia. Charlton County was actually a very good small school. Although I cannot be certain, I would be willing to wager Columbia could have scheduled a more formidable foe if desired. Both North Gwinnett and Central Gwinnett played OOS games in 2009, to name a couple.

....so let's schedule a Class A Georgia team we can overpower to make ourselves feel better next year. Oops, they tied us. Maybe those little Georgia teams are tougher than we thought. FYI-I am not a Georgia homer. I did two stints there and do have tremendous respect for the state's football, though

So Columbia was "only" 8-3 in 2009, so that justified scheduling a substantially smaller Louisiana school with a historically poor record. Shame on those OOS schools who schedule our Florida weaklings to make themselves feel better. As you stated earlier in this thread, "They should treasure a opportunity to step on the field with a elite FL team, its a slap in the face that they want to handpick a easy game when we are offering them a great opportunity to see a great state bring teams at their best."

In 2009, an 8-3 Columbia team played Charlton County GA to a 48-48 tie. Columbia has well over 4 times as many students as Charlton County. In 2008, Camden County GA, a much bigger school than Charlton, beat Columbia 31-0. I guess none of the bigger schools in GA were available in 09. Shame on those Colorado schools for not pickin' a fair fight with some of our FL schools.

Just curious, in 2010 Columbia traveled to Louisiana and played a team that finished 4-6 that year. In the 6 seasons prior to that, this Louisiana team had a combined total of 21 wins. Louisiana had a number of good teams back then. Why did Columbia play them?

I thought ColumbiaFan typically uses KOC's in determination of streaks, records, etc

When we look at results of these OOS games, we need to be careful to look beyond the score and understand who is playing who. In 2010 and 2011, Columbia played a series with Brooks County, GA. Both are rural schools. Columbia had about 1800 students back then and Brooks County had about 500. They split the series. Brooks won in 2011 against a good Columbia team that beat St Augustine in the playoffs. This year, Dr Phillips, a school with about 3800 students, will face a rural Lee County, GA school with about 1900 students. In addition to the difference in student population, Dr P also has the advantage of being in a huge metro area from which they can pull transfers. If Dr P pummels them, 20 years from now ColumbiaFan Jr will be using it as an example of the superiority of FL hs football. IMO Dr P has a substantial built-in advantage.

Current head coaches at the following south Florida high schools have all spent at least 12 seasons or more as head coach there. What are their names? North Miami Beach ????? 6 playoff victories Dwyer Jack Daniels 2 state titles Naples ????? 2 state titles Charlotte ????? 15 playoff victories Columbus ????? 21 playoff victories/1 final appearance Fort Myers ????? 9 playoff victories Monsignor Pace ????? 1 state title Gulliver Prep ????? 5 playoff victories/1 final appearance Plantation ????? 4 playoff victories

Correct answers are all listed above in the original post. Verlon Dorminey has been at Trinity for 27 seasons. Marty Lee has been at First Cost for 21 seasons. Chuck Pearson and Joey Pearson have both been at their schools for 19 seasons.

Interestingly, each of those Lakeland victories took place on a year they beat Aquinas in the final. 1996 was the first year the two met. Bet you saw that one since it was in Daytona.

The Port St Joe Sharks have won 2 playoff games in which they scored 3 points or less. In 2005, #2 ranked, 10-1 PSJ visited Mayo, FL, and took on #4 ranked Lafayette. PSJ escaped with a 3-2 victory. They eventually won the title against Fort Meade. In the second-lowest scoring playoff game in FHSAA history, Port St Joe traveled to Chieflland for the 1A Region 1 final. This was PSJ's third straight playoff game on the road, and it was played on a chilly and windy night. Late in the second quarter, Shark running back Randall Johnson exploded for an 81-yard run down to the Indian 5-yard line. As it did the entire game, the Chiefland defense held tough and stuffed the Sharks on four straight plays, taking over at the 5. Two plays later, Richard Collins fumbled the handoff from Cortez Gent, sending the ball into the end zone, and Gent fell on it for a safety with six seconds remaining. The Indians’ offense squandered every opportunity the defense gave them. In the first half, the offense lost two fumbles and botched a fake punt. Each time, the defense bailed the Indians out after a mistake, the PSJ defense responded with a stand of its own. A punt by the Sharks gave Chiefland the ball at the 49. On a pass attempt to Gent, Shark defensive back Ray Bailey broke up the play but was called for taunting, giving the Indians the ball at the 36. After three plays that produced nothing, senior Chase Harris came on for a 50-yard field goal attempt, but that was blocked by PSJ. The final score was Port St Joe 2 Chiefland 0. Even though Chiefland lost their qb in the preseason and only had one player over 230 pounds, they put up an incredible fight. PSJ eventually lost to Trinity Christian in the state semis.

JD Jones left a long time ago...others are correct

In Maxpreps' recent Preseason 100 poll, only 4 schools were from rural areas clearly outside major metropolitan areas...Longview(TX), Rome(GA), Colquitt County(GA), and Muskegon(MI) In ColumbiaFan's recent Florida preseason poll, 6 of the 50 schools were from rural areas(my definition of "rural" is subjective). Madison County, Crestview, Niceville, Columbia, Immokalee, Pahokee In years past, one would see more rural schools in the rankings. Any opinions what is happening? Are rural areas not getting the love they deserve in the polls? Are rural programs declining due to waning interest in "country" areas? Are metro areas better able to leverage transfers?

Current head coaches at the following north Florida high schools have all spent at least 12 seasons or more as head coach there. What are their names? Trinity Christian-Verlon Dorminey 7 state titles First Coast-Marty Lee 11 playoff victories; 1 final appearance Fort White-Demetric Jackson 4 playoff victories Keystone Heights-Chuck Dickinson 4 playoff appearances Lafayette-Joey Pearson 7 playoff victories Bartram Trail-Darrell Sutherland 20 playoff victories; 1 final appearance Niceville-John Hicks 21 playoff victories; 2 final appearances Florida High-Jarrod Hickman 11 playoff victories Wakulla-Scott Klees 11 playoff victories; 2 final appearances Sandalwood-Adam Geis 5 palyoff victories

Answers are in the original post. 3 on the list have been at there school 20+ seasons. Bill Castle-42 seasons Earl Garcia-25 seasons Dan Burke-22 seasons

Most of those big-name private schools we hear about in California would be 4A or 5A if in Florida. For instance, St John Bosco and De La Salle would both be 4A. IMO some of those private schools would have given Gibbons or AHP all they wanted last season. No doubt, Gibbons' games against AHP were very impressive and Gibbons looked great on paper. But what great teams did they dominate on the field last year? They barely beat Rockledge in the playoffs. For that reason, I am not convinced they would run every other 5A-level school in the country off the field. AHP struggled with Immokalee, and I feel certain Gibbons would have as well. Immokalee is tough because they are a rural school in an impoverished area and those kids are tough as nails. There are many "Immokalee's" in the South....schools you may have never heard of before. Rural places where the kids know their only way out is football. Rome GA was one of only a handful of rural schools that made the national rankings and they were nasty last season.

Florida private schools are in a unique position. We have some relatively large private schools in huge metro areas in a state with very liberal transfer rules. The potential exists to build "superteams" unlike any other place I know of in the South. And the kids want to come because on top of good football they can get a good education. In Georgia, am aware of only a couple private schools that play in the larger classes with the public schools. Gwinnett County in metro Atlanta has half the population of Broward County. They have 11 players in the ESPN 300 and the following public schools, all of whom have been nationally ranked over the years, are in that county. For the most part, there are only Christian schools in Gwinnett County and football is not there thing. If there was a St Thomas Aquinas-type school in Gwinnett where the kids had access like they do in south Florida, they could easily build a program that could rival Florida's best private schools with the talent they have. Archer Brookwood Buford Grayson Norcross North Gwinnett Parkview

In 2014 a "good" Madison County beat a "good" Brooks County Georgia team. The following year, Brooks County beat MC. Like MC, Brooks County is a rural school. In 2016, a "good" Niceville team beat a "good" Mississippi team. In 2014, a "very good" Niceville team that made the 7A state semis lost to a "very good" Clay Chalkville Alabama team by score of 44-23. That Alabama team would be 4A in Florida. I am sure we could find more examples of B+ Florida schools playing B+ schools from surrounding Southern states in which the results were mixed. Relatively speaking, the number of such games is very small and it is impossible to draw valid conclusions. One thing is for sure. There are enough examples of such FL teams being beat that one cannot say definitively that Florida is heads above the other Southern states. IMG and the Broward private schools are a totally separate critter and it is difficult to compare them versus anyone outside of Los Angeles. There is nothing like a Broward County in the Southern states, unless you consider consider Texas or parts of Louisiana. Outside south FL, the South is mainly Baptist, so one finds smaller Christian schools where football is not necessarily a priority. If anyone doesn't believe me, try driving around Alabama and see how many Catholic churches/schools you find.

I could not blame a person for saying the whole idea of playing OOS games at a high-school level is dumb, especially when teams in FL have all they want in terms of competition right in their back yard. We should accept the Disney games for what they are... a bunch of B- teams getting together to play some ball in a fun setting. Different people have different motivations for playing in these games, I'm sure. Bottom line, are the kids having a good time and gaining a memory they will have for life. The rest is a big ego trip. Are the OOS coaches sending the wrong message by not forcing themselves to play a tougher opponent? I can think of a lot of "messages" being sent today in hs football that are far more harmful, ie the transfer mentality in Florida. Since 2008, STA has played more out-of-state teams than teams from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties combined. How about the message that sends concerning the importance of local rivalries and community engagement? There are mixed messages all over the place.

...some nasty teams, so no shame in losing Osceola 97, 98, 99 Lakeland 96, 04, 06

ColumbiaFan....I am pretty sure this whole affair at Disney is about making money and the sponsors could care less who played as long they made money. You are looking at this from a hardcore fan-of-the-game perspective. Our opinion does not matter any more! It is all about commercialization. Get used to it. I do not see things getting any better.