Wavebb

Before people start bashing this matchup because this years' Green Wave are very young and have no chance of winning this game, I would like to take a moment to explain how this game came about.  Tonight is Sam Sirianni Night in Fort Myers.  It is a local celebration of our long- time coach, Sam Sr.  He led the Greenies for 33 seasons, including 5 decades, before his passing in '02.  His son Sammy Jr. took over and is still the HC at this time.  Coach Smith and Sam Sr were very close friends for many years.  Coach Smith contacted us numerous times over the summer about coming over to be a part of our night to honor our former coach.  With that said, Sam Jr. finally accepted, knowing full well that this year's team would not be able to give the Raiders much of a game. It's a celebration of our '92 team that lost at STA in the state semi's for the second year in a row.
 In an effort not to make this post too long and boring, I just wanted to point out that even in this day and age, once in a while friendships and respect can still mean more than wins and losses at the high school level.  After getting to know Coach Smith and many of the Aquinas fans over the years, I have the utmost respect for the program and those close to it. I have an open invitation to Aquinas games and have seen many of their games from the sideline over the years. I knew of the school when it was Central Catholic High.  Had many friends who attended STA who were nationally ranked tennis players as was I. Jeanne and Chris Evert to name a few. So that should explain how this game came about and if I didn't explain this very well, please just reply and I will try to do better.
   

Game of the week Dillard vs Chaminade 
Sanford Seminole vs Osceola 
Jesuit vs Treasure Coast
Jones vs Duncanville TX
Apopka vs West Orange 
Lake Gibson vs AHP
Edgewater vs Don Bosco,NJ
Vanguard vs Niceville 
Clearwater Academy vs Mia Palmetto 
Naples vs Venice 
 
my predicted winners in bold 

No matter how you dice it, a very impressive win to open the season.  

Nonetheless, Lehigh seems to have done an excellent job of marketing its program to recruits. They hauled in a great class, and have secured TV games. Looks like they will continue to be a recruiting force. Eventually, they'll become so loaded they'll be hard for anyone to beat.

I think this one went a little bit differently than I thought it would go for a couple of huge reasons: 
1. Lehigh’s transfers have not gelled at all. Adding some of the best players in Lee county to what was a very effective offense last year seems like simple math, but proved otherwise. Kelton Henderson (4 star SC commit) was targeted numerous times in the pass game but hauled in only a handful of passes and had a costly fumble on a jet sweep.
2. Richard Young (5 star Bama commit) was harassed by a very quick Naples defense and finished with 19 carries  for 75 yards and 0 tds. The bulk of his production came from a long run in the first quarter and he never got going after that. The Lehigh offensive line is very big but could not get a push going at all against Naples. 
 
3. Naples feasts on big plays. Naples RBs Kendrick Raphael (3 star Iowa commit) scored 3 tds with a long run of 65 for a final line of 5 rushes for 127 yards, while his backfield partner Isaiah Augustave (4 star Arkansas commit) scored on a 53 yard run and ended with 11 for 90 himself. Naples blocked two punts and returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a TD.
Venice is up next in what I am sure will be a very competitive game. I’d like to see Naples become a little more adventurous throwing the ball, but there’s really no arguing with production.  

I’m still here. Going on vacation for the entire month of September. If I make it back in one piece, I’ll try to catch up on the rankings. If not, I’ll be back in 2023.

WHAT is the world coming to?

This should be a very good early game. Go Bucs!

This is a very interesting early season match-up for this Buccaneer homer. Legendary and three time Florida state champion Rick Darlington is back (from Alabama) and will lead the Bulldogs of Deland High against Mainland High Friday night at Daytona Stadium. Coach Darlington, an offensive play caller extraordinaire and master of the single wing has been a state scoring champion in both Florida and Alabama. But Mainland on the other hand is countering that with a defensive minded specialist, hometown hero, and best linebacker to ever put on the Mainland blue and gold, Head Coach Travis Roland. Conventional wisdom would say young coach Roland and his Bucs might have trouble adjusting and slowing down a rarely seen old school offense from the days of leather helmets, long-sleeved wool cheerleader sweaters, and megaphones. Curiosity got the best of me, and after a look and see Wednesday afternoon I came away feeling very good. This young Mainland team is loaded. Offense will lead the team early on. Receivers may be the best ever. They're big, fast, and have an attitude. The senior QB is a Spruce Creek transfer more than capable of lighting it up (scoring). O-line is young with potential and will be fine. Defensively they have big hard hitting corners. Don't remember bigger ones. Couldn't see much of the d-line or linebackers, they were on the other end of the field. Did see some big kids though. I'll only mention one. That would be 6'6" 250lb Junior LJ McCray. This is what Coach Roland told the locale newspaper earlier in the month :  
"We told him last year, ‘LJ, you’re either going to turn into a five-star (recruit) or you’re going to transfer. One of the two.’ We would look crazy if we had a kid 6-foot-6, 250 pounds and he’s not out there killing everybody," Roland said. "So he brings super versatility to us. He can go play wideout. He can play slot and h-back. He can play a true tight end position. He can also play defensive end and nose guard."
(EDIT) Game recap further down thread *

I'm told it's very good with left-handed qb Dorrian Mallory and some quick receivers.  I know of one who transferred from Fort Myers and he's the real deal

In SWF, I am looking forward to seeing how the Lehigh/Naples game turns out.  Lehigh has loads of D-1 talent including of course, Richard Young.  Naples has their share of top talent as well.  The Golden Eagles' triple option is very difficult to defend.  I think they win a close one if Young is held to a 100 yards or less. The only thing that would surprise me is if this game is decided by more than 10 points.  

I'm told it's very good with left-handed qb Dorrian Mallory and some quick receivers.  I know of one who transferred from Fort Myers and he's the real deal

Here's a short answer:
Metro has four classifications (1-4).  Suburban also has four classifications.  Because, by definition, Metro contains all the high [density] population counties, the schools are, for the most part, going to be larger.  But, it doesn't matter.  At the end of year, come playoff time, the teams in the Metro classifications will only play other teams in their Metro classification and teams in the Suburban classifications will only play other teams in their Suburban classification.   Or, to put it another way, unless a Metro team from any classification plays a team from any Suburban classification during the regular season, they won't be playing them.  So, you don't have to worry about a 3M team playing a 3S in the playoffs -- that ain't going to happen. 
At the end of the year, there will be 9 state champions:  the four from Metro, the four from Suburban and the one Rural.  And all the fans and board posters from the four Metro champs will claim that they are the true state champ because they could whip any of the four Suburban champs.  And Jesse will still claim that Madison could beat all of them. 
As far as who makes the playoffs, within each classification, there are four regions.  Each region contains four districts.  The four district champs make the playoffs and then the four teams within the region, regardless of district, with the highest MaxPreps power ranking also make the playoffs.  District champs host the first game; after that, the host is the team with the highest power ranking as of the end of the regular season (I think) all the way until the Championship Game.
Hope this helps.     

That's a very good question.  The season is here and that is noticeably missing, lol.

I plan on going to that game.  I wonder how good Lehigh will be with all that star power.  I’ve seen them play 3 times over the years without ever seeing them win.  The last time was 2 years at Charlotte. I know it was only his sophomore year but the Tarpons pretty much shut Richard Young down.
 
I haven’t had hardly any contact with NHSBob since a Sarasota Riverview @ Naples games almost 20 years ago.  My screen name may have been different then(UncleSaluki).  Looking forward to it.

How could I forget that 1st round playoff game!  We were loaded with D1 talent and the game went down to the wire.  In regards to Young, he is fast, and really strong.  If we can slow him down we'll be OK, but if he gets into the secondary, it will be a very long night.

Yatil does have a nice home in Miami.  I haven't been there but Jammi still sees him on occasion.   He has done very well for himself.  Good luck to your Tigers this year.  My team is probably in for a down year but it's all good.   

I am too young to have seen him play but I do know the name, one of the best players to ever wear the purple and gold and probably could have ended up having a solid NFL career if his knee didn't give out on him so early in his career 
 
I heard he still lives in SFL and he's one of the few Columbia guys who made the NFL I haven't had the honor to meet personally
 
I've met Reinard Wilson, Jerome Carter, Brian Allen, Timmy Jernigan, Laremy Tunsil and Trey Marshall
 
While he didn't play for Columbia I also did get to meet Derrick Brooks and even got a signed football from him

Slightly off topic... question for ColumbiaHighFan.  Are you too young to remember Yatil Green?  He was good friends with one of Fort Myers' players, Jammi German when he came to the U.  I got to know him very well and he was a great guy.  Love high school history and at one time, Fort Myers High had the most wins in the state until Lakeland, Manatee and your Lake City guys caught us.  We're now 4th.  Take care. 

You probably won't have to be concerned about Fort Myers.  We have a very young group that might be ready next year or the year after.  We have Aquinas at home in week 2 so I'm hoping we can still field a team after that.  We need to hook-up this year.  Hope to see you soon

Hello old friend.  I see that the Golden Eagles have a very nice schedule this year.  I was at the playoff game against MNW last year and noticed their defense was young but they can still run up the numbers on offense. Playing a talented Lehigh team along with Venice, Killian and AHP in the regular season should have them ready for the playoffs.  I'm real interested in seeing how this season works out for them.  As you know, I'm a FM person first but will always be a fan of your program. Hope to see you in week 1.  Good luck this year and rep SWFL well.   
 

Im sure you guys will still have a team. I enjoyed playing the green wave back in 2019 in the second round. Great fan base they travel well. Not sure if it’s only when the team is doing good or not but for that game they came in droves 

You probably won't have to be concerned about Fort Myers.  We have a very young group that might be ready next year or the year after.  We have Aquinas at home in week 2 so I'm hoping we can still field a team after that.  We need to hook-up this year.  Hope to see you soon

Hello old friend.  I see that the Golden Eagles have a very nice schedule this year.  I was at the playoff game against MNW last year and noticed their defense was young but they can still run up the numbers on offense. Playing a talented Lehigh team along with Venice, Killian and AHP in the regular season should have them ready for the playoffs.  I'm real interested in seeing how this season works out for them.  As you know, I'm a FM person first but will always be a fan of your program. Hope to see you in week 1.  Good luck this year and rep SWFL well.   
 

You probably won't have to be concerned about Fort Myers.  We have a very young group that might be ready next year or the year after.  We have Aquinas at home in week 2 so I'm hoping we can still field a team after that.  We need to hook-up this year.  Hope to see you soon