OldSchoolLion

Somebody please help this old fart understand something. Forgive me for being out of touch. I notice a lot of kids tweet notes such as these. Is it the practice today for kids to send such tweets instead of thanking individuals in person? If so, that's really disappointing.

Why does he need to thank the STA coaching staff for the opportunity? Doesn't every kid who goes to the school have an opportunity to try out for the team? If so, what "opportunity" would be worthy of such gratitude at this stage of the game? ...just curious.

Fascinating articles below. Catholic schools are in a position to take the high ground. The DC area attempted to impose sanctions, ie sit out one year after transfer, but implementation has has been poor. Private schools, including Catholic schools, rely heavily on alumni benefactors for donations and endowments. In that sense, alumni have influence when voicing their opinions. I have done so at high levels, and I would encourage those of you affiliated with private schools to do the same. Specifically, I questioned how enabling this ridiculous merry-go-round of transfers is in alignment with the values of the religious founders of the school. As I learned, those at the highest levels of school administrations may not be completely aware of the extent of the craziness that is hs football today. Concerning public schools, I am sure there are administrative costs associated with these transfers, and as taxpayers we have a right and an obligation to make our political leaders aware of the waste of public funding to support the "campaigns" of individual athletes. In my eyes, they are using the school system. I cannot say I blame a poor kid for doing so, though. We haven't provided an alternative. It's a shame kids feel they need to go to this extent to get ahead. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/has-the-wcac-lost-its-way-schisms-grow-in-catholic-high-school-league/2016/02/19/2f8030d2-d414-11e5-b195-2e29a4e13425_story.html?utm_term=.ab0fdd8ea447https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/in-district-high-schools-athletic-based-transfers-are-becoming-an-alarming-trend/2013/12/03/629a192a-5af3-11e3-801f-1f90bf692c9b_story.html?utm_term=.ce5a61e5e4a8http://usatodayhss.com/2017/elite-high-school-football-players-transfer

...my parents always used to say "life was simpler then," and theirs did the same ...not "better," but simpler. And now I find myself saying the same. I have no idea how a young athlete today can concentrate on anything other than football when I read stuff like this.... http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/03/tennessee_sends_recruit_102_le.html ...the one boy's comment..."It was shocking and it shows me that they think highly of me and really love me. It makes me feel important." When I read that line, I thought to myself, "What would my reaction be if a guy was sending my teenage daughter 100 letters a day and she told me that he must really love me and it makes me feel important." I would be calling that guy a "predator" and calling the police. Think about it The article below makes me absolutely cringe... https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014/05/19/11-college-football-recruiting-tactics-stories-methods ...and this is progress? All of these "opportunities" are coming at a very heavy cost. Amongst teenagers, we are seeing rising suicide rates, skyrocketing opioid overdoses, increasing rates of depression, etc etc. If progress is supposed to be making their lives richer, what's wrong? Just yesterday I heard one of the top recruits in Alabama has been convicted of murder. Yes, there are a number of new "opportunities" nowadays, but some very important ones have been lost along the way, and those far outweigh any progress we have made...the ability to play simply for the joy of playing and nothing more(the essence of creativity)...not for a college scholarship, not for a highlight on the internet, or a posting on my social media site. Don't mean to sound critical of anything you said, Peezy. I find that each year I get older, things become more and more clear to me because I have more perspective. In some cases, progress is worth the cost..sometimes not. Bottom line, is hs football enriching the lives of kids at a spiritual level to enable them to grow as young men? Or is it just becoming a distraction that temporarily props up their self-worth only to let them crash later in life because that emptiness from growing up without a father was never filled? When I read about that kid in Alabama, it makes me wonder. comes too heavyComputers are progress, but they came at the cost of me working round the clock versus shutting down at 5PM.

We have experienced drastic changes in the past 25 years. Those changes have made some of us very uncomfortable on a number of fronts. Why would we not expect sport to change drastically as well, and likewise elicit certain mixed feelings? It has been said that sports are a reflection of the society in which we live...a microcosm. The changes we see in our game today are linked to changing values and norms in our society and underlying tensions related to those changes often show their face in sport. Our challenge is to figure out which of these changes are "good changes," and which are a warning of a future train wreck. For some of these kids, sports are possibly the only setting in which they feel empowered to express themselves and their individuality. Sometimes their behavior frustrates us, but I think we need to remember that we have created this stage for them, and some kids really take advantage of that opportunity to express their dramatic talents. As a coach, teacher or mentor, my job is to look for that creative genius in a kid and nurture it. It may manifest itself in a manner that is foreign to me. I am not a big fan of rap music, but I have come to appreciate the creativity in it, and recognized that by doing so I might make a connection with a kid and tap into that creative genius...and unleash it to do greater things . If I don't have a keen eye and open mind, I may miss that opportunity.

Who knows. Maybe this bump in the road will cause him to take a another path in life he would not have taken otherwise...and with that, maybe experience a life he never dreamed of. Life has a funny way of working things out if we have faith. Bet as he grows up ,this experience will help him to be very thankful for what he has in life. Anyone who has had to live through "bad news" on the medical front can probably relate.

Playing at Hoover-yes, I could see there being some home cooking. They are just a little too serious(and proud) about winning, if you know what I mean. Playing Valdosta, Lowndes(the concrete jungle), Colquitt County-that's like going to Boot Hill in Madison. There are also some other rural places in Georgia where it would be very tough to win. But I would say the same for a team coming to play in Polk County, the Muck, or some of the northern counties. I used to drive back and forth between Atlanta and Florida quite a bit and would make a point to stop in the Waffle House's along I-75 near Valdosta and start wars with the patrons over who was best, Lowndes or Valdosta. Them folks is serious! In Atlanta, I think you are more apt to get a fair game. Buford vs Trinity Christian was on ESPN, so would think refs would have been reasonable.

For what it's worth...I thought Centennial clearly outplayed Aquinas. St Eds 47-28 over Mainland-hard to blame a 19 point loss completely on officiating. Chaminade went up to St Eds and lost 14-7 and I was led to believe it was a fair game. Below are 14 games played in Florida versus out-of-state schools in the past decade(this is not an exhaustive list). Florida was 12-2 and won by a combined score of 341-191. Many of the OOS teams were nationally ranked. Any chance schools coming to Florida think there is some home cookin'? ...like playing in the Muck? Not that we should not have won some of those games, but 12-2 is awfully good going up against teams like these. St Thomas Aquinas 9 vs St John Bosco (CA) 3 St Thomas Aquinas 30 vs De La Salle(CA) 6 St Thomas Aquinas 42 vs Byrnes (SC) 34 St Thomas Aquinas 42 vs Camden County (GA) 28 American Heritage(PL) 21 vs Don Bosco (NJ) 0 American Heritage (PL) 31 vs Liberty (NV) 0 Dematha (MD) 23 vs American Heritage(PL) 22 Booker T 34 vs Bingham (UT) 28 Glades Central 6 vs Skyline (TX) 0 West Point (MS) 14 vs Mainland 0 Belle Glades Day 24 vs Twiggs County (GA) 12 Cocoa 14 vs Olive Branch (MS) 7 Pahokee 34 vs Wayne Hills (NJ) 23 Kissimee 32 vs Carson (CA) 13

We all would agree that kids seek attention. And what gets attention nowadays on TV?. ...the more outrageous the better, right? The boring, plain Jane bball player who minds his business and plays in workman-like fashion does not sell sneakers nearly as well as the Dennis Rodman's of the world, does he? There were probably numerous acts of good sportsmanship in the UGA-Alabama game, but who was all over the internet the next day? ...the kid who acted up on the sidelines. And parents know that kids will choose "bad" attention over no attention all day long, won't they? A big problem is the media. They glamorize looks and behaviors that stretch the limits, because that is what sells. The reason I don't care for outrageous endzone celebrations or outrageous hairdos is not an ethical dilemma of "right" or "wrong." It's the "look at me" attitude that goes along with it...something that has no place in a team sport. There is a good documentary about Brian Bosworth, one of the most famous "outrageous" college football players-crazy hair for the day and giving the finger to opposing fans. It is interesting to hear him now as an adult with a son talk about how disruptive and childish his behavior was when he was a big college start at Oklahoma. He was ego run wild, and he admits it now. What I don't care for about thingAll we can do is to reinforce the behaviors we find desirable

Does it matter? The travel distance between some of those teams is the same or even less than some matchups between Florida teams. I don't see any more of a disadvantage for a south FL team to play a GA team than that same S FL team playing a north FL team. Either way, the visiting team is at a disadvantage for various reasons. That said, if FL schools are hitting the road to play OOS opponents, it's time to put on our big boy shorts and stop making excuses about losing. After all, we are supposed to be so superior than just about every other state in terms of talent. Nobody is holding a gun to anyone's head to make these OOS matchups. If we are going to cry foul when we travel and lose, we should stay home and play. Otherwise, accept the risks and become so good that you can win even when the odds are stacked against you. It's a bit like the problem we have now with teams not wanting to play the FL small school powers. ie nothing to gain and everything to lose. In other words, if the home GA team wins a home game vs the visiting FL team it was "expected," so what do they have to gain by playing? If we are going to keep moving in the direction of hs football being travel ball, with teams playing multiple opponents from outside one's area, I believe we need to start accepting the "risks" of being the visiting team and move away from playing the "visitor" card whenever we lose. The kids need to learn how to win on the road, and if they are not disciplined enough to do that, they should not be traveling. Personally, I think it is a bit much to be expecting 17 year-olds to travel 500+ miles and perform well. They are kids. Let them be kids. If they are good enough, they will be doing more than their share of traveling in college ball.

...some background on a few teams I believe are overrated-not badly overrated, maybe 5-10 spots too high #14 Glynn Academy-solid program, but only played one strong team during regular season and lost by 20; lost 31-8 to #32 Benedictine at home and lost to unranked team at home #17 ELCA-Class A(out of 7 classes) power that plays a very weak schedule; have struggled against average bigger schools in the past #19 Marietta-never considered a power program-had some "bad" losses this year, ie 49-14 loss to unranked team at home-only one "quality" win #20 Stockbridge-like Cartersville, a team on the outskirts of Atlanta that always has a good record but plays a weak schedule and does not test itself against the better teams in Atlanta ..some background on a couple of teams I think are underrated-maybe 5-8 spots too low #23 Mill Creek-7A power team; 26-2 record in past 2 seasons, with 2 losses to nationally ranked Grayson and Colquitt in the playoffs; 8-4 record this year is deceiving-2 losses to Archer by a combined 9 points, lost to North Gwinett, beat McEachern #25 Tucker-recognized in Georgia as power program for a long time, normally competing for a state title in their class; two losses this year to Colquitt and Coffee

That's interesting. I would put them at #20, with the following teams ahead of them. One could argue they should be higher, but the problem is that year in and year out they do not play anyone great during the regular season. They are kind of like a Vero Beach-always a great record, but hard to gauge because of the level of competition they play. They have 10+ good teams in Atlanta they could play, but for whatever reason, they never schedule them. Marist, McEachern, Milton, Rome and Walton are all within an hour of Cartersville. So, until they prove they can beat some of the Top 20 programs, it is hard for me to put them higher. They got beat by Blessed Trinity in the playoffs this year, a solid team, but not exactly a powerhouse. There are a handful of teams on the list below that they might be close to in terms of talent, but I would give the other team the edge over them because Cartersville is not battle tested and is a much smaller school than most on the list, with less depth. In case some folks are not aware, the records of some of the Atlanta teams can be a bit deceiving. Like Miami, a number of them play each other during the regular season, so it is very difficult to go undefeated. Unlike Florida, the big school class in Georgia, 7A, is heads above all of the other classes. 11 on the list below are from 7A. 7A is extremely competitive. 11 of 15 games from the second round to the finals in 7A were decided by 10 points or less. It's very exciting because when the playoffs start it is not unusual to have 8-10 teams with a legitimate shot of making it to the finals. . North Georgia Archer Blessed Trinity Brookwood Buford Grayson Marist McEachern Mill Creek Milton North Gwinnett Rome Tucker Walton South Georgia Coffee County Colquitt County Lee County Lowndes Tift County Warner Robins

I found some better information. Dade and Palm Beach are about 18% Black and Broward is 25%. That is considering all age groups. But if you just look at high school age kids, Dade and Broward is at 25% and Broward is about 33%. Nonetheless, the numbers are disproportionate, as you'll see below. Not that long ago, a kid might say"I'll never play pro ball, but at least I have a shot in college." Then kids said, "I'll never play in college, but at least I can play in high school." Now some kids are probably giving up on high school football. Football is no longer a game for the "average kid," especially in talent hotbeds like Florida and California. I could see "average kids" looking at all of the superstar talent that is in our faces all the time on ESPN and recruiting websites, and saying "no thanks, I'll take up golf." And when those "average" kids are not playing, the parents lose interest in the game, and the audience for hs football becomes much narrower. High school football has become a freak show(in terms of talent levels and body dimensions relative to the "average" American kid). That's great for hardcore fans, but not necessarily great if the game wants to attract mainstream America. Just as some folks lost interest in basketball because they could not relate to 6'9" point guards, I can see that happening with high school football. I just looked at the Top 100 recruits in several defensive positions which, in the past, were possible options for shorter, smaller players. Top 100 Cornerbacks-1 White who is 6'1" tall Top 100 Safeties-4 White (only 1 under 6' tall) Top Outside LB's-15 White (none under 6'1") Top 100 Inside LB's-27 White (only 1 under 6' tall) As a 5'9" slow,White kid in Dade or Broward county with average talent, my chances of starting on defense on one of the better high school teams are likely pretty slim. In this sense, football is becoming a very specialized sport.

Hey 954gator, For a number of years I lived about 20 miles from Cartersville High. They are a good small-school program, but that national ranking was a joke (no offense to Cartersville). At best, I would put them around #20 team in Georgia. Their record is deceiving because they play a weak schedule. They do not play any of the big school powers, and I am confident they would get smoked by them if they did. I think that ranking was convenient for ESPN so that they could hype a nationally ranked team playing on TV. In our end-of-year tournament, Bartram Trail was seeded #20. If that is an accurate rating, I would expect the #20 team in Florida to smoke the #20 team in Georgia, assuming Florida is truly that much deeper. And that is the question I am raising-the depth of Florida's teams. I think if you matched the following teams below with Top 13 teams of any state, Florida would do well. But beyond these teams, I think there is a pretty big dropoff. In other words, match #15-20 Florida teams versus the same in Texas, California, or Georgia, and I am not nearly as confident. Even with the teams below, some of them are lacking enough of a well-balanced offensive attack to consistently win against Top 25 teams in the country. It seems our teams are relying more and more on dual threat quarterbacks who can dominate in most cases, but put them up against a team with a talented defense with comparable speed that can contain the qb and they are in trouble. I made a point to watch some of the top California teams on line this past season. They have some drop-back quarterbacks who can slice and dice defenses. Those kinds of guys are not that common in Florida. Even AHP's talented secondary would have been challenged by Mater Dei. Their offense was on a completely different level than anything in Florida. Dr Phillips Atlantic Venice St Thomas Aquinas Northwestern Central Carol City Armwood American Heritage/Plantation Cardinal Gibbons Cocoa Raines Chaminade Oxbridge Acedemy

...from another post The home teams in these games involving long travel seem to have a HUGE advantage. Visiting teams were 5-15 , scored no more than 24 points, and when they did win, won by 7 points or less. I cannot remember many games in which a visiting team played a nationally ranked team and blew their doors off. If Chandler had played the Bulls at Traz Powell, I am confident it would have been a completely different game. I think we sometimes forget that these are young kids, not used to travel, and likely very distracted by things other than the game. In that sense, the visiting teams often do not play up to their potential and, in some cases, the team we see is nothing like the "real" team. For that reason, unlike college, I think it is really stretching things to use these travel games to rank teams in polls. Even so, and even with some "home cookin'" on the part of the refs, I still find it surprising that in games within the past few years, the offenses of some our better Florida programs, loaded with speed and talent, have not been able to put more points on the board.

In addition to the AZ losses, the losses by Bartram Trail and Deerfield Beach were surprising for me. At least for part of the season, those were considered two of our best larger (7A-8A) schools. BT got beaten by a much smaller, public school that did not make it past the second round of their playoffs. I listened to a broadcast of the Deerfield game on line and it was worse than the score. DB got destroyed by a much smaller, all boys school that finished with a good, but not stellar record. From a team perspective, Florida is lacking depth. Think about it, our second best 7A school could not even beat a "B-" team in Georgia With as much talent as we have in Florida, I would expect the #2 7A school to be able to compete on a national level.

Hold on there, Columbia I lived in Georgia for six years-in central GA and north Atlanta-so I know the programs pretty well. I found the roster of the Georgia team https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/e36455_3e865ae98c454d70896262990c2b6bd1.pdf I would say that none of the schools those Georgia kids come from are in the top 25 programs in Georgia-maybe 2 or 3 teams from the top 50. That Georgia all-star team is the equivalent of taking kids only from southwest Florida and passing it off as a Florida all star-team. Comparing talent on the south side of Atlanta to that on the north and east sides would be like comparing talent from Naples/Fort Myers versus that in Dade and Broward. The difference is light years. I do think some of the Georgia teams do not get the love they deserve in the national polls. There are a lot of very strong teams there that fly under the radar. Florida has more depth of individual talent, but should considering we have several large metro areas and Georgia only has 1. With the exception of IMG, Georgia's best schools could give Florida's best schools all they could handle in head-to-head competition. Where you really see a difference between the two states is in Georgia's small, public schools. There are a lot of very good ones, whereas FL has relatively few. We have not seen a huge amount of FL/GA matchups over the years. Here are a few below from this decade. As you'll see, Georgia teams have done well against FL schools. This is not an all-inclusive list-might be missing some. And am only considering some of Georgia's better teams, not all. -Cartersville(4A of 7 classes in Georgia)In 2017 beat our 7A finalist Bartram Trail and Cartersville only made it to the second round of their playoffs -Buford beat Trinity Christian and Melbourne Central Catholic -Lowndes beat Plant -Colquitt County beat Plant and lost to AHP -Tucker-beat Godby and lost to BTW -Grayson-lost to IMG, beat Deerfield Beach and Miami Central Marist-beat Godby -Valdosta beat Lincoln twice -Camden County-beat numerous FL teams, including Miami Central, lost to Venice -Stephenson(only a "B-" Georgia team, not bad but not great) -lost to AHP and lost to Miami Central 21-20 in 2014, when Central won a FL state championship -Brooks County(only a "B-" Georgia team)-split two games with Madison County

...one thing all of us can do is to have more compassion-easier said than done sometimes. When I was younger, I caught a serial rapist breaking into my house to rape my mother, and I was not very compassionate at the time. I am not saying don't hold people accountable. And I am no bleeding heart liberal. I have learned through working with people with substance abuse disorders, some of whom have criminal records, that many of these folks are in a living hell and so deep in the hole that they have no idea how to even begin getting out. Likewise, I am pretty confident these kids were in a lot of emotional pain. Don't judge unless you have been there. If these were 5 year-old kids, would we be reacting differently? Sure. The irony is that many of these folks who get in trouble are still that little kid in pain, who has not ,grown up spiritually or emotionally. Look at them like that scared little kid, and it is easier to find compassion. A friend of mine does ministry in the prisons and he has inspired me to do the same. I never would have dreamed of doing that 10 years ago. But once I started working with troubled folks, my whole outlook changed. Some cannot be saved, but some can with the right support structure. We'll never know unless we can get past the contempt we naturally feel when seeing the wreckage left in their their paths.

...appreciate the history above, 954gator. I mentioned in my initial post, "Below are the results of 20 games played in recent years by some of Florida’s top high school teams." I only went back a few years(I think until 2015, and the majority of the games you mention were prior to that). And I tried to keep the list to highly ranked opponents. And it certainly wasn't my intent for it to be an exhaustive list. I fully admit I may have missed some, wins or losses. So, my list was meant to be a "sampling" of data. If I missed a bunch of high profile, OOS "wins" since 2015, please remind me and I'll add them in and we'll see if the conclusions changes. It's quite possible if we did an exhaustive study over a greater period of time Florida might look "better." Even with the limited sample size, I thought there was enough evidence to say "Hey, we are not scoring points like you would think our high-powered Florida talent should be." Maybe our limited success is a more recent phenomenon and, if so, it begs the question, "What has changed, if anything?" In other words, have other states caught up or are Florida schools declining? If some of those games were repeated today,I think the result would be very different. For instance, if any of the Lakeland teams of the past three seasons traveled to CA and played any of the De La Salle teams of the past three seasons, I believe they would have gotten blown out. ...same thing for BTW vs Gorman.

...might want to be a bit careful with the statement about football"up north." I am a Florida native, so am not being defensive because I am a Yankee But some of my friends from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc would likely beg to differ. Most folks know about Ohio hs football, but even Indiana will pull 20-25,000 to a single state title game. Some of those Florida transplants could probably be big fans, but am not sure how well coaches and administration reach out to their local communities and draw them in to become supporters. I wonder how many of the teams that won state titles this year had some sort of community event to celebrate their achievement? There is another issue I'll put on the table that may affect participation/support levels-demographics. This is a touchy one. I recently saw a presentation of the top 25 players in south Florida in 2018. Every single player appeared to be Black. In Dade/Broward/Palm Beach counties, I believe the Black population is around 15%, so a disproportionate number of the top players are Black. Where I lived in Georgia, the population was about 50%White/50%Black. And the team rosters often mirrored that. In south Florida, we have some predominantly White/Latin schools whose teams are mostly Black. As I said, this is touchy, but it is reality. A long time ago, the NBA lost a big following when the league became increasingly dominated by Black players. Certain fans had problems relating to the game. I can see the same phenomenon occurring in areas where team rosters do not mirror the demographics. I am not saying it is right or wrong. It is what it is. Some people are naturally uncomfortable being in the minority, be it a player or a fan.

I remember working hard manual labor as a kid out in the south FL sun, not learning any skills, making 1.5 times minimum wage and being happy. A kid working at that factory I mentioned above can make about 2X minimum wage working in the cool AC and learning how to drive a forklift, a skill that he can take with him. And there is all kinds of overtime available at 1.5 times pay, or about $20/hour. My buddy said the kids will not do it. It's a college town, too, so there are plenty of kids He has signs all over town advertising jobs. I think some kids might be interested in blue collar careers if they knew how much money can be made. I am amazed at how many people assume blue collar workers make less money than white collar workers. Kids are blown away when I tell them that I had a factory with supervisors with engineering degrees bringing home about $60-70k per year, and our electricians and senior mechanics easily brought home 6 figures if they were willing to work overtime (which the supervisors did all the time but got no extra pay for it). A lot of them opened up their own little business after they retired and did home repairs, making good money. A lot of white collar jobs are going to be in jeopardy due to automation and outsourcing, but you cannot get a robot or someone in India to come fix your pipes or wire your house. I mentioned in another post that my friend's daughter did a plumbing apprenticeship for 4 years, put away about $50k, and now she is making $45k/year at age 22...and no college degree. How many 22 year-old college graduates have $0debt, $50k in the bank and a $45k/year job?

..getting off topic here, but.... We hear a lot about unemployment metrics, but we don't hear as much about this in the chart below. Who cares how many people are working if they cannot live off of the wages. On another note, I have a friend who manages a food processing facility with 1200 employees. Nearly everyone who works in the factory is an immigrant. He is so desperate for workers, he is paying to fly people there from Puerto Rico and put them up in hotels with a per diem, just so he can keep his lines running. The workers make well over minimum wage and get excellent benefits. Could be a great summertime job for a kid. He said he has only a handful of "Americans" working there and has had little luck getting any of the "natives" to work there. All of the factories in that area have the same problem. I was involved with manufacturing sites in 3 different states and saw the same thing. I know I am generalizing, but the kids do not want to work in factories. It's ironic, but even if we "bring jobs back," we are increasingly lacking people with the skills and desire to work in them. We need to go back to exposing kids to "blue collar" careers and stop the ridiculous "college or nothing" mentality to which we have evolved.

A critical aspect of martial arts is control. A famous instructor actually had his students do drills in which they practiced the ability to "flip the switch," one second being in "fight" mode and then quickly transitioning to a calm state. Police dogs are no different. Ever notice how they can "flip the switch" and go from "attack" to "passive" mode on command? They practice that a lot, and obviously it is pretty important for the dog to listen when his master calls him off. When I see something like this video, I see an utter lack of control on multiple fronts. When people bring me "bad" dogs to train, I tell them that many, if not most, behavioral problems are an "owner" issue. The "owners" in this case are the parents and coaches. Guaranteed, this is not the first time such overly aggressive behavior has been exhibited, and it was not nipped in the bud. We train for aggression in football. Just as much training needs to be put into discipline and restraint. Isn't it ironic that the "teachers" of these kids on the field often show utter lack of restraint? ..and we expect the kids to act differently.

...and St Joseph's is all-male, too. FYI-I did not double the numbers of the all male schools above. Interestingly, Mainland traveled to St Eds and played them the week after St Eds beat Cocoa. Mainland lost 47-28. I guess Mainland had a population around 2000 then. And they were ranked pretty high that year. Theironly other loss was to Central in the playoffs. Of the two variables, school size and home-field advantage, I think the latter plays a bigger role(assuming we are talking a "strong" smaller school team). If Chandler played Northwestern at Traz Powell, I think it would have been a very different game. Dr Phillips is the poster child for a "big" school with 3800 students. I can think of a number of teams about half their size that I would pick over Dr P if the smaller school had home field advantage. I guess we do need to be a bit careful when using school populations for comparisons, because that assumes proportionately sized rosters and a "depth" advantage for the larger school.. I'd be willing to bet there are teams in Texas with fewer students than Dr P that dress out more kids. Going back to the original point, we have sent teams from 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A and 8A up against out-of-state opponents and in many cases struggled to put enough points on the board to win games. It's surprising when we are supposed to have the best overall talent and speed in the country.

...the dynasties in Florida football-Bolles, Aquinas, Lakeland, Armwood, Manatee.... What do they have in common? ...one thing for sure, and that is a coach who was there for a LONG time building up the program. And, in most cases, it took them a while before they were winning state championships. Look outside the state at programs like Mater Dei, Don Bosco, De La Salle...again, legendary coaches with long tenures. I believe this is one reason private schools sometimes have an edge. The "family" feel at these places often enables them to retain coaches who feel a great investment in the school, far beyond just a job. In some cases, it is like a vocation. And these coaches are masters at emphasizing the fundamentals. How many times have we seen a much more talented team get absolutely dismantled by a smaller opponent who plays very disciplined football, ie Dematha beating Central in 2015 and St Joseph beating Deerfield Beach this year. Unfortunately, in today's world of "win all or nothing" and instant gratification, with players and coaches moving much more frequently, I think we will see less of these great dynastiessustained.