skyway

I was just curious about quality control. Of course these aren't full-time, professional refs. But, their can be a wide disparity in quality. You'd hope the better refs are the ones working this time of year.

ah that's right. Couldn't remember if that was home or away.

Was STA's last home playoff loss in 1998?

Both teams have been scheming for the other for the past 12 months. Can't wait for this game! https://www.tampabay.com/sports/high-schools/2018/11/22/plants-game-planning-for-lakeland-starts-well-before-the-playoffs/

I think where you've had to play in previous weeks playoff games should matter. If you had to play on the road last week as a district champ, you should be able to host this week.There shouldn't be any set of circumstances where a district champ could end up stuck playing on the road three straight weeks, as could happen with Plant.

Anyone know how they go about assigning refs for playoffs? Is there an evaluation system in place to assign the "best"? Or is it just a local/proximity matter?

Haha, I think his record and resume speak for themselves. But, maybe Weiner will get the honor next time.

In each of the five games, Plant held Lakeland's offense mostly in check. Last season was the only time Lakeland had any sort of sustained success running the ball, with Demarkcus Bowman going over 180 yards on 18 carries. But, Plant still managed to pull out a 13-10 victory. My best guess as to why this is the case is Weiner cooks up some great game plans, either through complexity or deception, and Castle manages his QBs too tightly, usually not letting them check out of bad plays. Below is a really interesting interview with Weiner.

Maybe the tiebreaker should go to the stadium where there haven't been any shootings.

Just would be nice to know for sure, and be able to help out if needed! As it is now, it is a complete mystery as to whether we'll be able to watch Friday. Probably will, but if they won't announce anything, we can't be sure. Oddly, looks like I'll have no problem viewing the state finals from my home in Los Angeles. Too bad for the people in Florida who don't have Spectrum.

First, let me say I'm not defending this system. It's easy to see some f*cked up things. But, problem is, people ALWAYS think/say they're getting screwed over if they don't like an outcome. Just look at our political races. Everyone is accusing everyone else of screwing them over. You name the team, and, if they don't like an outcome, they're telling everyone they got screwed. You read a recap of a game from a fan who's team lost it is 99.9% certain they will say the refs screwed their team.

Football folks tend to be control freaks. They want to "get it right", and they're convinced that they themselves are always right. It's why you see every other play in the college game stopped for review, even though 9 times out of 10 the conclusion to be drawn is "I can see it either way". And it's why everyone always bitches about how to run the postseason. Fact is, in most cases, there is no way to subjectively get it 100% correct, 100% of the time. Strength of schedule in high school football is much harder and much closer to impossible to evaluate then most care to admit.

Well, I hope you're right. But, it says a lot that someone who follows it as closely as you still isn't 100% certain it will be streamed. Nobody really seems to know and nobody seems to have any sort of way to help get it streamed! I'm sure there are some Plant folks as well who won't be be able to make the drive but would happily chip in to have it streamed.

Schools and/or the FHSAA should make it possible for fans to chip in towards the fee for broadcast rights. Schools could sell online viewing "tickets" for $10 and people like me could purchase to gain viewing access. My guess is that, with the entirety of the world being the possible marketplace, schools could sell 50 such tickets, which would cover the $500 fee. Or, if they sold, say, 25 tickets, that would wipe out $250 of the fee and then a sponsor could cover the rest. This should be pretty basic stuff. I just see a bunch of old geezers sitting around without a clue on this. If no one sponsor comes forward with $500, the rest of us just get stuck not able to watch the games. I'm most interested in Lakeland games. So, take this week's Plant game. As is the case every week, nothing is announced with regards to whether the game will be streamed. So, we have no clue as to whether there will be a broadcast. People like me (living in California) are unable to do anything to support the webcast. I don't have a business I'd want to run ads for, so a sponsorship would be ridiculous. As would paying $500 lol. But, if there was an obvious link made available, people like me, people living in Tampa who wouldn't be able to make the drive to Lakeland etc would have the option to chip in $10 to towards streaming the game. Maybe, just maybe, in time this could even turn into a profit-making venture?? But this is all probably too hard for the geezers

Would be great for TV ratings. But I think more computer rankings should be used for the seeding. Would make for great TV too. You could project all of the data points, maybe have a showcase of the computer programs used, introduce the engineers who developed the computer program, interview them. All kids of things! And then maybe, if there's time, you could maybe even show some football.

Ya know, seems EXACTLY like what many want to do with college football.

For Lakeland's sake, the play-calling had better lean towards the guy that averaged 10 yards a carry last year as a sophomore vs Plant. I don't think Plant can consistently stop Bowman if Lakeland goes under center and brings the TEs inside. At least not without making for some easy deep balls vs. single coverage. But Plant can and will stop Lakeland if they get cute and bring too large of a playbook that the kids aren't able to execute sharply. I sense Castle takes the mental end of things personally and wants to outsmart Weiner. Bad idea IMO. They need to simplify things and take advantage of their physical advantages.

Not likely to happen in this political climate. What you describe-preset attendance boundaries in the name of equality, dismissal of the "free market" in regards to programs distinguishing themselves and increasing demand for their product by not letting families go where they please- all will be deemed "socialist". And then some f*cksticks will start talking about Venezuela and, well, that's the ball game. *I'm not saying your ideas are bad or wrong.

Part of me thinks this all started when Lebron went to the Heat! This idea of super teams caught on and has only spread. I do think the future of high school football is very much in doubt. You already have the injury risks, which appear to be far greater than we used to think with the CTE stuff. Now, you've got a handful of super dominant teams just destroying badly outmanned teams. More and more kids are going to start to think, if they aren't in that elite group with college scholarships and beyond as possibilities, why bother playing? We could see a dearth of players and teams. And then schools will decide it isn't worth the financial investment to field teams. We could end up with a handful of academies like IMG playing nationally and that's it.

Venice seems very tempo-dependent. As with most all of these teams, early in games before defenses fully adapt, is when they will be most dangerous. Later, they may wane. If someone can disrupt them early, get a couple stops and scores themselves, I think Venice could be in trouble. Easier said than done. But, either Venice gets off to a GREAT start and gets up 14-21 pts on STA OR they get running-clocked.

From the Florida Times-Union: " One of the few on Columbia’s side not complaining about the apparent discrepancy was head coach Brian Allen. ″[The referee] explained it to me, so I don’t think the down was wrong,” Allen said."

Plant has to be the favorite vs. Lakeland again. They've won the last two years and Weiner is four for five vs. Castle. Save for a couple deep balls in 2015, Lakeland's offense has generally done very little against Plant. Last year, they COULD have done much more. Bowman and vertical routes were very hard for Plant to stop, but Castle over thought things and tried too much cute stuff his players weren't as comfortable with. If this Kathleen game is any indication of the game plan for Plant-mostly shotgun, TE split out-forget it. It'll be 2009 all over again.

*Though not that surprising. Officiating can be downright terrible these days.

Bummed to see Columbia knocked out. But, if they really got cheated out of a down-when Lee seemed like they couldn't stop them-that would be infuriating.

Well, my understanding is Viera's press box blared music all night over the loud speakers all game. Sounds like you had a couple of political campaigns doing their thing.