VeniceIndianFan

Thank you. I have no contact for him outside of these boards so your insight is much appreciated. Despite what other people thought of him I always thought he was extremely knowledgeable on football around the state, even if he was a little brash at times. To say that the PrepGridiron is a train wreck would be too kind. Reading posts from that board is just a general displeasure. Columbia can certainly compete in 3S but they will face very stiff competition from Mainland and Rockledge. Naples is looking at a relatively young team this season and Lake Wales’ defense is going to require much retooling. From things he’s told me on this board, he was pursuing a sports journalism degree. If he really has discontinued writing, and that it was presumably his major source of income, I don’t know where he goes from here. Hope everything works out for him.

Visual demonstration of what Cocoa is going to do to 2S below:

Although facetious, your analysis is undoubtedly correct. The FHSAA is corrupt from top to bottom, and they want no part of trying to solve the competitive imbalance. They don't care about teams having to travel 2 hours for district games, 50+ point playoff blowouts, or kids potentially getting injured due to playing teams that are vastly physically superior. None of it. All they care about is padding their own pockets. More playoff and state championship games = more money and that's all they care about. It wouldn't surprise me if the FHSAA found a way to get a 10th classification out of all of this nonsense.

Go 15-0 with the kind of schedule Cocoa is playing and you'll have a serious argument for being top 10 nationally!

It's true to anybody that follows HSFB that Cocoa is NEVER one to back down from a challenge! But truthfully, I don't think that any team in 2S is coming within 17 points of them. Cocoa is just that good.

You can bet that that game will be much closer than last year.

Very true. I just think that there are two, maybe three teams in 2M that have the potential to stop Central this year. If they get past Northwestern they're not looking back.

I can see Cocoa's entire team being better than last year. Receiving corps is even better than last year. Every game they play is going to be competitive. Can't wait to watch them play STA!

Just edited my post realizing that I forgot to write in Pahokee as champion of 1R. Sometimes I forget that 1R is a thing lol

I don't understand how the PrepGridiron board is still alive. The owner abandoned the project 3 years ago and people spend more time talking about politics and hurling insults at each other than they do football. The moderators are complicit in it all to boot. Garbage.

Your argument is true, but the most pervasive issue when trying to crown any Florida team MNC is the West Coast Bias factor. You can't just squeak past Gorman, go 15-0 and expect those drooling fools from Maxpreps, Calpreps, etc. to crown someone not named Mater Dei or SJB National Champions. You have to beat Gorman by 17 or more to shake some sense into these people.

The SFA team that beat Central was SFA's best team in school history playing a Central team that was very good, but nowhere near as talented as their 2017, 2021, 2022, or 2023 squads. If SFA wants a rematch Central would keep the score MUCH closer or even win.

Yeah, they're loaded in their own ways, but how many of those teams are really in the cards to upset Central's best team in school history? Miami NW or Norland, sure. AHP? Maybe on a really, REALLY good night. But other than that, I don't see it happening. Central is just that good...

And Central went out to Gorman in 2017 and beat them. Central is so loaded it hurts. Central is going to beat Gorman silly.

He made a bet with @Nulli Secundus that Columbia would beat Lake Wales. He lost and disabled his account.

Not sleeping on them sir, you're definitely gonna be back in the state championship. But Chaminade is gonna be different this season. Need a lot to go your way, more than usual, to beat them this year.

Chaminade was good last year but their offensive line I felt wasn't as good as Central's, which really hurt them against Gorman. Central matches up better with Gorman than CMD does. Also, SJB and Mater Dei both need to lose a game. So does Gorman. It's not easy but it can happen.

FIFY!

From what I've heard, he created a new account on the PrepGridirion board and has been having a blast chasing Carlos Danger, RedZone, Concha, Skyway, and BufordGeorgiaWolves around like a bunch of little kids. After reading some of the garbage that flows from that board, I'm staying well clear of it.

If they go undefeated and Mater Dei, SJB, St. Frances, and IMG all lose a game somewhere, the natty is theirs.

I like Dillard to win that game, but it will be low-scoring. It's hard to defend the slip halfback veer offense. They made our defensive line look silly at times in the Spring game. And the other side of it is that their defense is always well-rested. You make one mistake, they can take 8 minutes off of the clock.

Dark horses? Alright, I'll go class by class. 1S- Hawthorne to upset Madison County 2S- Bradford to upset Cocoa. (Not going to happen) 3S- Naples to upset Mainland 4S- Manatee to upset Venice 1M- CCC to upset TCA 2M- Miami NW to upset Central 3M- Dillard to upset STA (probably the most likely one on this list) 4M- Ocoee to upset Apopka I don't think any of these will happen, but on any given Friday...

Way too early state champions predictions: 1M- CMD 2M- Central 3M- STA 4M- Apopka 1S- Madison County 2S- Cocoa 3S- Mainland 4S- Venice

Venice lost to Lakeland last season in a very fun championship game. This year, Venice is coming in with their best offensive line in school history, most experienced running back room ever, probably their best receiving corps, extremely solid QB in Jayden Glasser, and the hire of passing-game coordinator Denzel Nickerson. That's just the offense! Defensively, all 3 of Venice's starting linebackers return. Two of our starting cornerbacks, Charles Fleming and Deylen Platt return, on top of the transfer of Charles Lester III. Malakai Corbett will play safety. The defensive line now looks like a strength for Venice. The transfer of Ryan Daly and the return of Elijah Jones, on top of the emergences of Ke'Shawn Reid and Asharri Charles means that our edge rushers will be seeing far more one-on-one's than last year. So, I ask, is Venice set to take the crown from Lakeland? Or will the Dreadnaughts prevail once again to claim the 4S championship?