skyway

If I was a writer at some regional newspaper, I wouldn't put much effort into state rankings, either. Most of my time would necessarily be spent covering the local stories. Thankfully, the rankings have no real bearing on teams' seasons.

The writers voting in these polls often have limited awareness of the player movement/transfers impacting teams in the immediate area they cover. Which should tell you they have absolutely no clue about player movement in other areas. All that is being considered is the name brand, how the team did last year and who graduated off that team. That was sufficient in years past. Now, such an approach renders the rankings meaningless. There's just far too much transferring and stacking of the deck, sometimes at places that have little to no history like Wekiva and Western.

Sedric Irvin

I don't recall (or see in the videos) it being clear blue skies for this game

Haha yep that was a VERY cold weekend! The game the night before this (Lakeland 40, STA 6) was bitterly cold as well as you can imagine. I was sitting next to Haines City's old coach and he said to someone he thought Bartow would take out Lakeland if they played. Which is what everyone in Polk wanted after this game. Didn't happen until the opener of the next season though.

Columbia is in 6A? Must have missed it.

The large private schools want to market themselves nationwide to sell themselves to potential students. And the Dade and Broward publics are happy to take on anyone because they know they can beat anyone. That's about it for schools consistently playing OOS every year.

I remember being very worried walking into the stadium that night. Lakeland lost their three-year starting QB before this game. Then, the outcome solidified this as Lakeland's best ever team up through to 2005. Now, it's their third-best team ever. Great night for the Dreadnaughts!

Indeed. Growing up there, we always had access to both Tampa and Orlando news stations through basic TV (rabbit ears or cable). But, as you said above, this is all about the area the Orlando Sentinel deems worthy of their efforts/where most of their subscribers are from. Polk has the Ledger, so subscriptions to the Sentinel are quite low. I guess it just seems to make more sense to label the rankings "Orlando Sentinel coverage area rankings"

How closely have you followed transfers/free agency?

"Central Florida" refers only to Orlando metro area. It's odd because if one looks at a map they might think other areas would be included. That Polk County isn't central Florida, but Daytona Beach is, is a concept I simply lack the intelligence to understand.

I assume the new coach will not be running Darlington's offense. Just the shift to a new offense will cause a drop-off IMO. Unless they go with a shotgun, up-tempo scheme with simple reads. If they go with a more conventional, "pro" style offense they'll have their worst season statistically (on offense) of the last 25 years.

What? They put a running clock on every team they played from South Florida except for Central, who they led after 3 quarters. And Central was not and is not in 7A, which was what you mentioned in the original post.

We can't be sure of any of this until we get to August and see the teams on the field. But, the idea that Plantation-or any other team in 7A South (save, maybe, for Venice)- can hang with STA is laughable at the moment. Expect STA to roll to Daytona until we see something we haven't seen in a while to indicate another possible outcome. I think both Armwood and Edgewater are very real threats to Lakeland. It does look like the Naughts might be as good or better than the 2018 team, which was IMO their best ever team. But, with all of the new parts, and all of the players who were expecting to start/star that now may not be playing much, team chemistry will be a question heading into the season. If those questions are answered and they do have all the players they look like they'll have, they'll probably march to Daytona and should be the favorites over STA.

Shannon Snell of Hillsborough Terrier fame.

Good for the kid! Although the tweet does nothing to show or even suggest any actual staff members from Lakeland contacted him. Could be some random 30 year-old messaging a youth coach etc.

I'm not really a fan of the newish uniforms. I liked the old ones with "Lakeland" in bigger font across the front. Though I don't usually like any of these alternate unis designed by people with no appreciation for tradition.

It is getting insane though. The Mulberry kid isn't a huge deal as that's a small country school that is probably about equidistant from my house growing up as Lakeland HS was. But, Lake Wales is East Polk, a different place than Lakeland really. And Kendall Dennis (and at least one other starter) is from the arch rival Kathleen. It's the "in" thing to do now. But, I'm not a fan. Though I will enjoy another Lakeland-STA title game lol

Yes, we will have to see how good Dean or whoever the QB is ends up being. The lack of a stud QB has been key in them losing most of the games they've lost. The kid last year was decent, but not a gunslinger that scared you with the deep ball.

Ah dang thanks for the correction! I have no confidence whatsover in the teams in 7A south to knock off STA. Maybe I'll be wrong this year...

It appears Lakeland will be receiving several big-name transfers and several more very good HS players. If it remains this way (it isn't unheard of for kids to transfer and then head back to where they came from like Cleveland Reed a few years ago), they will be back to face STA again barring significant injuries. Lake Wales QB Chayil Garnett, 3* Auburn commit; WR Arian Smith, 4* WR and arguably the fastest player in the state; 4* CB Kendall Dennis and a few more starters from elsewhere including a couple of big lineman. This has been posted on multiple social media outlets where the players themselves are tagged, as well as on 247sports' player database. There is a Twitter post on an anonymous account mentioning other big names, but a couple of those players replied that they were not transferring. Say what you will about this-I'm not a fan- but, this super team stuff is now the trend all over the place. It happens every year in Dade county public schools, not to mention the privates. I think the only real answer is to try to shift the collective perception away from favoring building the super-team approach and towards the "make-it-where-you're-from" approach. Anyway, who does everyone like in Lakeland-STA Part IX?

No question. The goal all along has been to divert public, taxpayer $ to private Christian schools. Charter schools are mostly just part of the ploy, so as to be fit under the umbrella of "school choice". But, really, nobody gives a f*ck about school choice. They want those $ to go to CHRISTIAN schools. Period. And, given the lack of support for and/or understanding of the First Amendment, this goal seems to be merely a matter of time before it is realized. *(Hoping a Muslim or secular private school starts getting huge amounts of $. LMAO)

Are we just listing teams who have name recognition, without regard for how good they were the year the school beat them? Because there are a few other teams that could equal or surpass those listed already here.

Apparently, it was Williams out there for LW. So, where will Garnett play this Fall?

Dillard should be able to have iPads as well. It's all about school admin being reasonably responsible and having a clue about what a budget should include. Sadly, still have a lot of incompetence in education, lazy, Luddite folks masquerading as "old school".