OldSchoolLion

I just randomly picked 50 years

ColumbiaFan has failed to mention all of the controversial recruiting and subsequent wins by Columbia in the early days. Columbia was a losing program until one day players from nearby Suwannee started transferring in. While everyone else was riding donkeys, these transfer players would pull up to school on their fancy thoroughbreds and designer boots courtesy of the booster club.

Sorry to burst anyone's bubble here, but St Thomas Aquinas has won about 530 games just in the past 50 years. THAT's impressive. If they had been playing football for 100 years at that level, who knows how many wins they would have.

Gatorman told me that Gainesville High has way more wins than Columbia.

A muscular, 170-pound kid is a BIG kid by "normal" teenage standards. Combine that with outstanding fundamentals, superior tacking skills, and dawg mentality and you've got a formidable linebacker that can take down a much bigger rb. It's BS to think one needs a 220-pound linebacker in high school today.

Only once in the history of FHSAA football have 5, playoff-eligible football teams finished the playoffs undefeated in the same year. What year was it and who were those great teams? In possibly the second best year ever, 4, playoff eligible teams finished the playoffs undefeated in the same year. What year was it and who were those great teams?

Not as many as Columbia. That is all you need to know.

You got it! Lincoln featured a young Antonio Cromartie. It was a tight game at half, but Lincoln pulled ahead and STA ran out of time. Both STA and Lincoln finished 14-1 that year.

Wow, Wharton was recruiting in the Northeast. And they talk about private schools!

The other team that beat a 14-0 STA squad in a state final featured a future hs All-American and Pro-Bowler who caught a TD and had a couple of flashy punt returns versus the Raiders

That a very good guess, but 1991 was back in the days when teams normally only played 14 games at most. STA was 13-0 coming into the FWB game.

No problem looking things up if you are inclined to do so! 5 is not correct, but that's a good guess! Pine Forest defeated a 14-0 STA team in the 2000 4A final. Very good! Lakeland faced a 13-0 STA team in 2005, so that's not quite correct.

Goo bama

Looking at their record before 2002, am not sure they thought football was important then either.

Pine cone liquor...very warm, robust, with just a buttery high note of all weather coolant.

St Thomas Aquinas has won 11 state titles. How many of those involved a perfect, undefeated season? On two occasions, STA came into a state title game with a perfect 14-0 record and was defeated. What two teams handed STA those defeats?

YOU make it funny my friend.

I just looked at the state finals played from 1988 and prior. Some of them were played at neutral sites, but most were played at one school's home field. Of the latter, looks like home team won 49 times and visitors won 42 times, so very close. Surprised me, because back in the day some of those finals involved some substantial travel and I would have thought the home team would have won more often than they did.

Below is the current FBS AP rankings. How many of these teams were ranked in the 1995 end-of-season AP poll? See if you can guess without looking up the answers and we'll see who comes closest. 1 Alabama 2 Notre Dame 3 Ohio St 4 Clemson 5 Texas A&M 6 Florida 7 Cincinnati 8 BYU 9 Miami 10 Indiana 11 Georgia 12 Iowa St 13 Oklahoma 14 Coastal Carolina 15 Marshall 16 Northwestern 17 USC 18 Wisconsin 19 Oklahoma St 20 Louisiana 21 Oregon 22 Tulsa 23 Washington 24 Iowa 25 Liberty

Back in the 1970's, Kissimmee was the sticks and folks did not consider it part of Orlando (Apopka was the same way). It may as well have been an island. Maybe some of that old mindset is still around, and Kissimmee is still looked upon as being on the "outside." just guessing. As far as not getting recognition...anyone who knows FL hs football knows Osceola and recognizes them as a great program. They are routinely ranked in the polls. I would imagine some of the younger fans today don't know the history.

That's an interesting point. Maybe more emphasis today is placed upon teams from the large metro areas. It's funny because back in the old days teams from the Panhandle were getting more national recognition than other parts of the state..

At #2, parked behind Deerfield Beach, we have Tampa Jesuit. Jesuit won a controversial state title over Kathleen in 1968. Trailing by a point and down to their last play, Jesuit's coach Bill Minihan called for his famous Holy Roller trick play. Jesuit's entire offense came on the field dressed as priests. Terrified of eternal damnation, Kathleen's defense kneeled, allowing Jesuit to score. Jesuit made it back to a final in 1992, but lost to Pasco. Jesuit has been knocking on the door, though, making 4 Final 4 appearances in the past 5 seasons. They have a chance to make the Final 4 once again this Friday when they host Jones.

The answer to the second question is ....Osceola won a state title in 1998 against Estero and has appeared in 4 other title games. The Kowboys have made 9 Final 4 appearances.

At #3 is Columbia. Columbia won the Class A state title in 1967. Pictured below was that team's stud 1-star qb(they only gave out two stars back then) Biff Gatahata donning the famous Tiger stripes. Columbia has made 33 playoff appearances since then, including a 1997 title game appearance, where the Tigers lost to Carol City. It has been a long wait for the Tigers, who still have a chance to make it this year.

Vero Beach is at #5. Vero won its only title at the Citrus Bowl in 1981 versus Panama City Mosley. They have made 5 Final 4 appearances since then, but were not able to line up correctly on every play and failed to make it through to a final. They did come close, losing by 10 or fewer points each time. 3 of those 4 losses took place in Miami. There last state semi appearance was in 1998, when they lost a heartbreaker to Southeast. Vero has a chance to advance if they can beat yet another Miami-Dade team.