OldSchoolLion

RB D'Andre McMillian of Mainland is the real deal.  He made some fantastic plays last night and is very elusive.  The TD he scored with 90 seconds left was especially impressive, weaving his way through multiple defenders.  
Mainland had the chance to win the game.  To their credit, they hung in there and kept fighting even though they always seemed a step behind.  A few things cost them.  It just didn't seem like this team had the swag of Mainland teams of the past, especially on defense.  They have some huge O linemen, but they need conditioning...badly.  They dwarfed the D line of Bob Jones, but their lack of mobility was allowing penetration and Mainland's qb was on the run a fair bit.  
Mainland stuffed the run very well, but the pass defense...oh, the pass defense.  They just could not stop Bob Jones, who had an effective qb and an impressive 6'3" sophomore WR with great hands.  Turns out the latter is a baseball star. He was injured and out for BJ's last drive, but they still completed 2 huge pass plays without him.
Bob Jones is a solid team, but nowhere near the talent of the Milton team that beat Cardinal Gibbons.  If they put up that many points on Mainland, I worry what would happen if Mainland faced a Carol City or Central.         

Turns out Muscle Shoals' main back is "average" size but he runs like he is bigger than he is.  And have seen nothing out of their qb.  They are much more vanilla than either Bob Jones or Milton.  
C-M has some studs but despite that and good speed they are not overpowering a big Muscle Shoals D. MS has a stud at LB...supposedly one of the best in the country committed to Alabama. 

As I said before Florida brand of football is very undisciplined compared to other states we play back yard ball where other states like Texas cali ga etc they actually scheme plan and play team football.
a lot south Florida powers especially in Miami they don’t have a intense playbook at all they pretty much play heve it ball I throw it as far and as hard as I can and u use your speed to go get it 

..another concern down the road for Florida, at least certain teams, is number of kids dressing out.  Muscle Shoals would be a rural, 4A school by Florida standards but had so many more kids dressed out than "metro," 3A Chaminade.
 

Final Chaminade-Madonna 28 Muscle Shoals 21
Terrible clock management by Muscle Shoals benefits C-M at end of game
 

Chaminade-Madonna won this game, but to beat a team like this by one TD is embarrassing for Florida.  Muscle Shoals had a good defense, but was completely one-dimensional on offense.  Their running back was nothing special, and overall speed of MS offense was "slow" by Florida standards.  CM was undisciplined and made some costly penalties that allowed MS to stay in the game in the second half.  The entire game was marred by penalties on both sides.  CM likely would have lost to Bob Jones and would have gotten killed by Milton.
Although MS's defense was tough, expected CM's offense to do a lot more.  CM is missing Shaun Shivers big-time!   CM has a bigger O line than last year and still couldn't open holes.  I don't think there was one big run for CM the whole game.  CM's qb Menard has skills but outside a few long passes to Dunmore, it was pretty much bubble screens in the second half.  CM does not have the offense it did last year.  
As I said before, CM's defense can be worn down.  Their D line is not built to handle big O lines (which MS definitely had).  If MS had a big, talented back it could have been ugly.  Hard to assess CM's secondary, but we know they are talented, at least on paper.  
Between C-M and Cardinal Gibbons, I see two teams who were overhyped because of a few big-name players.  Nothing against them, they don't control that.  It's comical to hear the commentators talking about all of the offers of certain Chaminade players while the team is playing so poorly in front of everyone's eyes. HS games are becoming like a big commercial for colleges.

so my opinion wasn't enough.

Chaminade-Madonna 28 Muscle Shoals 21 7:00 left in 4th qtr
C-M drives for score Dunmore makes another key catch.  

Their trying to use their speed to their advantage their out running muscle shoals I’m sure of it 

Didn't you hear Peyton Manning is making a comeback?  He is doing it the hard way, though, starting over in high school.  He transferred from Suwannee to Stanton, so ya'll in big trouble.

Chaminade-Madonna 21 Muscle Shoals 21 10:00 left in 4th qtr
C-M could not stop run and MS scores

Chaminade-Madonna 21 Muscle Shoals 14 1:30 left in 3rd qrtr
C-M qb showed a lot of talent leading a nice drive.  

Turns out Muscle Shoals' main back is "average" size but he runs like he is bigger than he is.  And have seen nothing out of their qb.  They are much more vanilla than either Bob Jones or Milton.  
C-M has some studs but despite that and good speed they are not overpowering a big Muscle Shoals D. MS has a stud at LB...supposedly one of the best in the country committed to Alabama. 

Muscle Shoals 14 Chaminade-Madonna 14 Halftime
C-M manages to get a couple big passing plays to Dunmore and tie the score, but other than those plays C-M's offense is struggling.  C-M has big offensive line but has struggled to establish a run game.  Pretty much all running between the tackles and cannot do anything outside.  Willie Davis has had a few nice runs but is not an overpowering back.  MS does have a pretty effective run defense.  
Both teams playing very poorly...tons of penalties on both sides. Bob Jones is light years ahead of Muscle Shoals, so very disappointing C-M is struggling with this team.  Milton would have destroyed C-M.  C-M D line is getting overpowered.  With Jaylan Knighton, why did Deerfield Beach not run all over C-M?  ...maybe a red flag for Deerfield's offense. MS has no passing game, but running enough to tire out the C-M defense.  
CM looks very thin on the sideline.  Wear them down and it's over.  Unless they can get more players out, they will never be able to compete with the big boys of Dade.

Muscle Shoals 14 Chaminade-Madonna 0    5:00 left in 2nd qrtr
C-M hits big pass play and in red zone but yards coming tough
This game is painful to watch

Muscle Shoals 14 Chaminade-Madonna 0    1:50 left in first qrtr   
CM stacking the box and get burned on pass play
Muscle Shoals Power football with big back and big Oline 

Muscle Shoals 7 Chaminade-Madonna 0    2:00 left in first qrtr   
CM Offense two straight 3-and-outs and lost fumble on first play of third 
4-star WR John Dunmore drops easy pass

Chaminade 0 Muscle Shoals 0 1st quarter
Chaminade receives...3 and out with 3 straight runs
Muscle Shoals 3 and out with 3 straight runs

First off, Bartram Trail is a nice place to watch a game; and Bad Bird was right. Their field, though grass, is in tip top shape.
Looking at the score, you would think that this game was at least as much about defense as offense, as the final score 33-28 in favor of Apopka was not an especially high scoring game. It was not, for the two team combined for probably over 1,100 yards of total offense. I know that Apopka had around 650, and while I did not keep careful track of BT's yards, they had to be well over 400. 
Batram Trail's offense has not dropped off one bit. It is at least as good as it was last year. In fact, I would argue that their running game, which compliments their passing game, is improved from last year. It is not often that a back gets over 100 yards rushing against Apopka, but their Georgia Tech commit, no 22, kept gnashing us all night.
BT's weakness is their defense. They just were not able to stop Apopka's rushing attack. 
Apopka needs to reduce its penalty output significantly. Last night we must have had over 180 penalty yards. I know that some of these were questionable, but the point is the penalties need to be reduced. 
My favorite Apopka offensive weapon, Jecoryan Davis-Hamilton was injured late in the game. From a distance, the injury looked significant. I don't know how long he will be out, but he is going to miss a few games (I believe). I wish the kid a speedy recovery. He is a joy to watch carrying, catching or throwing the ball and as long as he has the desire and does not suffer career threatening injury, his future in football is bright. 
While Apopka had trouble with BT's offense most of the night, they made a few critical stops where it mattered, not least of which on BT's final possession, when they went 4 and out and gave us the ball deep in their own half. We drove well inside their five from there but took a knee to run out the clock with 21 seconds left on the clock. Personally given how the night had progressed, I would have punched it in. But that's me, a hood kid from Kingston, Jamaica who spent many of his early adult years in NY, NY. Perhaps I lack the sensibilities of polite society.
Again, from a distance, I don't think coach was very pleased with the performance. But I am more sanguine. BT is as good if not better than last year (don't let Columbia fan fool you), and it was  a quality win over a quality team at their place. 
Despite the final score, I would rate Apopka to be at least two scores better than BT. 
 

Lol those refs at gibbons is gonna b a bus saw next week smh Dillard is gonna have over 400 yards in penalties and 5 tds call back lol watch 

Between 2004-2017, Northwestern and Catholic high school Columbus played each other 14 times.  Northwestern won 11 of those games, and 6 of those 11 wins were by a TD or less.  So, it has been a very competitive rivalry.  Columbus beat Northwestern last night, which I am sure was sweet after losing so many close games to the Bulls.
The Explorers have made the Final 4 four times this decade and despite being one of the most consistent programs in south Florida, are often overshadowed by the other big powers in Dade.  So, I thought we should give them some props today for their big win.    

I see this obsession with “gain weight gain weight!” That’s a great way to lead a kid to his grave 20+ years early. If he doesn’t have the frame to be 6’2 260 and look decent, then he ain’t a D1 OL. Have him be 6’ 235 but in shape and as strong as possible. He will be able to give you a heck of a lot more. 
The coaching difference between FL and GA is night and day and it’s directly correlated to the amount of money they make. I don’t see guys on the sideline in GA winning titles who run one coverage and have an offense with 2 plays but have the best athletes like I have down here. They have structured plans for the entire year and they leave no stone unturned to win. 

Lincoln and Palm Beach Gardens, both teams have looked good against their opponents since the KOCs and to ME the opponents are pretty decent...... 
Lincoln beat Walkula, Niceville and Bainbridge
Palm Beach Gardens beat Glades Central and John Leonard 
Don't rip me because I think that both teams have played decent opponents but the real reason is that Lincoln and Gardens are puttin up major points on the board in their contests

Between 2004-2017, Northwestern and Catholic high school Columbus played each other 14 times.  Northwestern won 11 of those games, and 6 of those 11 wins were by a TD or less.  So, it has been a very competitive rivalry.  Columbus beat Northwestern last night, which I am sure was sweet after losing so many close games to the Bulls.
The Explorers have made the Final 4 four times this decade and despite being one of the most consistent programs in south Florida, are often overshadowed by the other big powers in Dade.  So, I thought we should give them some props today for their big win.    

49-7 final for Columbia over Suwannee for 11th straight series win
 
Next up is Buchholz at citizens field next Friday