OldSchoolLion

People wanted this game very badly about 15 years ago when Mark Guandolo was at Chaminade-Madonna. The word on the street was that STA had everything to lose and nothing to gain by playing them. I guess the thought was that if STA beat Chaminade people would say it was expected and no big deal, but if they lost, it would be an upset.

Below are the counties that represent the 5 biggest school districts in the state I've taken a stab at picking the top 7 programs from each county considering results from the past 3 seasons(3-season composite record is listed after each team). How would you rank them(#1-#5) in terms of overall strength in terms of depth of "strong" programs? Compared to 10 years ago, which county(s) is on the rise? Which county(s) is backsliding? Miami-Dade Broward Palm Beach Hillsborough Orange Booker T Washington(4A) 22-15 American Heritage Pl(5A) 37-2 Atlantic(8A) 33-7-1 Armwood(6A) 38-4 Apopka(8A)30-7 Carol City(6A) 29-11 Cardinal Gibbons(5A)24-10 Boca Raton(8A)19-13 Hillsborough(6A) 20-12 Bishop Moore(5A)34-6 Central(6A) 26-8 Chaminade-Madonna(3A)28-10 Dwyer(7A)32-7 Jefferson(5A) 0-14 Dr Phillips(8A)34-9 Columbus(8A)30-9 Deerfield Beach(8A)28-8 Glades Central(4A) 22-10 Jesuit(5A)31-7 Jones(5A)24-11-1 Coral Gables(8A)25-9 Miramar(8A)22-8 Pahokee(1A) 31-8-1 Plant(7A)34-7 Wekiva(8A)25-10 Northwestern(6A)30-10-1 St Thomas Aquinas(7A)38-6 Park Vista(8A) 25-10 Tampa Bay Tech(7A) 27-9 West Orange(8A)22-14 Southridge(8A) 25-11 Western(8A)22-12 Oxbridge Academy(3A) 29-7 Tampa Catholic(3A) 23-11 Winter Park(8A)25-11

Only 2 of 15 playoff games in 3A last season were close, and one of those was Tampa Catholic vs Clearwater CC. Maybe there will not even be a close playoff game in 3A this year.

Below is a breakdown of 3-season, composite records of Orange County teams. Should help to give some perspective on depth of team talent in the county. *Teams with 3 straight winning seasons Winning Records: *Apopka(8A) 30-7 *Bishop Moore(5A) 34-6 Boone(8A) 21-14 *Dr Phillips(8A) 34-9 Jones(5A) 24-11-1 *Lake Highland Prep(4A) 19-11 Lake Nona(7A) 18-11 *Olympia(8A) 19-14 Timber Creek(8A) 18-15 *Wekiva(8A) 25-10 West Orange(8A) 22-14 Winter Park(8A) 25-11 Others: Colonial(8A) 4-24 Cypress Creek(8A) 10-22 East River(7A) 15-16-1 Edgewater(8A) 17-17 Evans(8A) 7-24 Freedom(8A) 7-24-1 Oak Ridge(8A) 17-19 Ocoee(7A) 14-17 University (8A) 6-26 Windemere(7A) 0-10

Below is a breakdown of 3-season, composite records of Hillsborough County teams. Should help to give some perspective on depth of team talent in the county. Seems like things have been fairly stagnant over the past 10 years, with no new powers emerging. *Teams with 3 straight winning seasons Winning Records: *Armwood 38-4 *Berkeley Prep 20-11 Chamberlain 16-15 *Durant 21-11 *East Bay 17-12 Hillsborough 20-12 Jefferson 20-14 *Jesuit 31-7 *Plant 34-7 Plant City 21-11 Steinbrenner 16-13 *Tampa Bay Tech 27-9 *Tampa Catholic 23-11 Others: Alonso 10-19 Brandon 16-17 Blake 13-17 Bloomingdale 14-17 Freedom 9-20 Gaither 16-25 King 5-28 Lennard 9-22 Leto 1-30 Middleton 13-18 Newsome 15-15 Riverview 11-19 Robinson 14-16 Sickles 13-18 Spoto 8-21 Strawberry Crest 2-28 Wharton 14-15

One is the North Marion Colts! Between 2005-2007, North Marion made it to the 3A state semis 3 years in a row, losing twice to St Augustine and once to Pensacola Pine Forest. Craig Damon coached at North Marion from 2000 – 2013. During his tenure, NMHS went 111-48, totaling 10 district championships and three regional titles. Damon qualified his team for the state series all 13 years, collecting 17 playoff wins in the process. He is now with the FHSAA. Good job Bocefous! Hint:A third team is from Hillsborough County.

Yes! Lake Wales has made 3 state semis since 2000 and an amazing 6 semis over the past 25 years, reaching the finals in 1993 and 1994. All of these appearances took place while under legendary coach Rod Shafer. Unfortunately for them, Lake Wales has never brought home a state title. 1993 3A final vs Bolles 42-21 1994 4A final vs Alachua Santa Fe 25-6 1996 4A semi vs Bartow 13-7 2001 3A semi vs Rockledge 28-19 2009 3A semi vs Miami Belen Jesuit 21-14 2013 5A semi vs American heritage Plantation 48-16

Still looking for a right answer. All are public schools and each is in a different county of central FL Since 2000, a handful of central Florida hs teams have made it to 3 or more state semifinals, but never advanced to a final. Who are they?

"Important" is a subjective term, ColumbiaFan. Only an individual can decide what his biggest victory is in life.

The most thrilling game I remember was not a championship game. It was a game that involved the need to overcome incredible odds. Adversity defines a man as well as a team...and it does not always come at one's most glorious moment in life.

How could you forget Nease between 2005-2008 I am sorry, I could not resist, Columbia.

Great guess, but no They made it to the 7A semis in 2013 and 2014, losing to Dwyer(in OT) and St Thomas Aquinas . They came close in 2011 and 2012, losing each year in the 8A regional finals to Plant(in OT) and Dr Phillips (after knocking out...oh noooo...Vero each year at home)

Since 2000, a handful of central Florida hs teams have made it to 3 or more state semifinals, but never advanced to a final. Who are they?

...some additional data...south FL vs central FL state final result in the biggest classification over the past 30 years...winner in bold 1989 Carol City v Manatee 1990 Southridge v Evans (tie-shared title) 1992 Dillard v Manatee 1993 Southridge v Manatee 1996 Carol City v Hillsborough 1998 Northwestern v Southeast 1999 Dillard v Palm Bay 2001 Northwestern v Apopka 2002 Norland v Edgewater 2003 Carol City v Edgewater 2004 Killian v Edgewater 2006 Northwestern v Lake Brantley 2007 Northwestern v Boone 2008 Northwestern v Seminole 2009 Miramar v Deland 2010 Central v Dr Phillips 7-2 2011 Miramar v Plant 2012 Cypress Bay v Apopka 2013 South Dade v Apopka 2014 Columbus v Apopka 2015 Flanagan v Osceola 2016 Southridge v Dr Phillips 2017 Atlantic v Dr Phillips

I wonder if it could help bring back some of the great smaller town matchups we used to see in the middle classes prior to this decade.

University School, American Heritage Delray and now Oxbridge to a more drastic extent. Chaminade was close to crashing a couple of years ago and they took a hard dive after Mark Guandolo left last decade. Except for St Thomas Aquinas and Columbus, I would not be willing to bet any of the south Florida private schools will not do the same in the next 5-10 years. Things just seem too unstable with the transfer situation the way it is.

It is Tallahassee Godby. In the 2008 3A final in Orlando between Godby and Cocoa, it was scoreless after regulation. Godby scored first but the extra point was blocked. Cocoa then scored and made the extra point. Final Cocoa 7 Godby 6 Godby had made the finals by beating St Augustine 10-9 on a last minute field goal in the regional finals. 4 years later back in Orlando, Godby played Immokalee in the 5A final. Down 21-14, Immokalee made a heroic drive of 80 yard with less than 2 minutes to play and scored a touchdown in the final seconds, but an errant snap resulted in a failed conversion. Final Godby 21 Immokalee 20 This was Godby's fourth state title. Godby had made the finals after a controversial ending in a 24-20 semifinal win over Tampa Robinson in which Robinson was threatening to score in the closing seconds.

I guess one region could be STA, AHP, Cardinal Gibbons and Chaminade? If so, would kids be as interested in going to a school like Chaminade knowing the chance of a state title is greatly reduced? ...possibly similar scenarios with Jones or CCC with kids migrating to the more powerful schools in the region?

"Punishment" is one way to look at it. The other way is to look at being in the top division as one of prestige. In England, the top soccer league is the Premier League. There is a lot of prestige to be in that league. Many would rather see their club be middle of the pack in that league than at the top of the lower league.

Imagine being in a state title game decided by a last second extra point conversion. Well, one team has been in two such games. I believe they are the only team to ever be in two such state title games. Which team is it?

Deerfield has made the playoffs 3 years in a row now. The only other time in their history they did that was in the late 90's and early 00's. They lost to the eventual state champion in 2015 and 2016. And the coach is coming into his 4th season I believe, so hopefully they are on the right track.

I have been counting all games for everyone, including playoffs, so I have Dillard as 6-6 last year.

By "winning" seasons I mean more wins than losses.

Here is one way to think about it....if each team from south FL had played each of the 7 Orlando teams each of the past 3 years, that would be a total of 147 games. Who would have won the majority of those games, south FL or Orlando area teams?