skyway

To recap: you follow up the statement "...I will NEVER answer to someone like you."...by asking me to answer you. Go fuck yourself.

Good. Go Panthers!

I don't believe a single person here is a fan of St. Frances, who also won the game easily. We aren't calling out the abomination that was the officiating because we didn't get our desired outcome. And, as a Lakeland alum, I don't bring back up the play in 2017 where a WR was allowed to complete a pass to an OL who wasn't an eligible receiver and have the play stand because I hoped Lakeland wouldn't get the yards. I bring this all up because I think it's time we own reality, and seek solutions. The first step towards solutions is admitting there is a problem.

You've been offered numerous examples, both in writing and in the form of the full game with a specific time offered. The embarrassment grows worse the longer you try to defend it while refusing to watch it.

thanks to @Dan in Daytona for the link. Thought I'd put it here as well for future reference. Full game

Ask around your buddies who've officiated and caught the game. I'm quite sure they will agree with all of us commenting in this thread. I'll look to see if I can find some clips of the worst calls.

there have been many comments which help answer your question. You have to actually watch the game in question to have any clue what we speak of.

It appears Harrison DID play after all. He had been wearing #14 all season and switched to #26 last night. Weird. I stand corrected.

Bottom line: Both teams wanted to run the ball, and understood the LOS was going to be key. Lakeland could run the ball; Osceola could not. The other fun fact is that, unless Buchholz takes one of us out, there will be another rematch. There's not much use in speculating further about what might/could/should have been given that fact. And it's possible both teams played with that in the back of their minds. The playoff rematch matters more. The team with more firepower not yet seen will have an advantage. Future seasons look bright for both teams.

No, though Harrison had been performing very close to that level.

I don't have one. I'd be happy to listen to yours upon watching the game. Without you watching the game, I'll pay no attention to your opinion. I'm solutions oriented, and not interested in piling on well-intentioned people.

No doubt, if Lakeland is simply unable to call for a fair catch on the pooches, and can't field those, they'll have plenty of trouble in a rematch, too. And if the DBs who were out remain out, that's also a problem. Harrison scored two TDs last week and played zero plays this week. If he tore an ACL or something, Lakeland will be hurt. Ditto Dontay Joyner and Twan Wilson. I give credit to Osceola for playing much tougher than they seemed to last season. Last season, they seemed like a bunch of really nice guys. Tonight, as I said, they looked like the team that was going to get all of the 50/50 balls. Jakeem Jackson took two balls that should have been inconsequential for scores. He simply made the plays.

Lakeland wins 25-22. Osceola battled, and appeared more battle tested in general. Lakeland probably should have won by more, but fumbled two kickoffs and gave up a couple of improbable big plays to Jakeem Jackson. Three of Lakeland's best DBs never saw the field. Maybe the basketball player that recently came out beat them all out. Seems unlikely though. While I think a full Lakeland wins more decisively in a rematch, I have to give credit to the Kowboys for battling. And I'm quite disappointed to see Lakeland squander such WR talent. Pleuss looked rather horrible. Perhaps Castle's scheme has messed him up. Perhaps Osceola was in his head due to some things shared on this board. Perhaps he's just not that good. I think Castle's approach to offense is generally bad for modern passing QBs. I hope the experience makes Lakeland better. But, tonight, it seemed Osceola had the "clutch" quotient. Lakeland is fortunate to escape with a win.

I don't think it's helpful to have a typical ref pile on. But, I think we need to recognize that one of two things is true: 1) we witnessed profound incompetence or, 2) corruption. Did someone with ESPN/Paragon pay off the refs to keep it close-ish? Or do we have completely untrained refs due to the shortage?

Too much to comment in depth on now. Other than the usual exploitation of the awful offsides rule by Venice, there were several absolutely egregious calls against SFA. A Venice WR was running completely upright, was stripped of the ball...and then the play was called down. Several false starts by Venice weren't called. It was as bad as I can remember. And that's saying a lot given how bad the officiating often is in Florida.