Perspective

If it were voluntary, which of these teams would choose to play in an elite, open division, where anywhere from half to all of the teams would compete for the ultimate state championship at the end of the season? STA Chaminade Miami Central Northwestern Columbus American Heritage Venice Apopka Osceola Norland Cocoa Mainland Armwood TBT Jesuit Berkeley CCC Lakeland Buchholz Any Orlando area teams (Seminole? Jones? Lake Mary?) Any Jacksonville area teams (Mandarin? St. Augustine? TCA?) Any other teams in the state? If you're so inclined, copy and paste this in your response and put a Y or N next to each team name indicating your opinion.

Keem, would you prefer "podunk" instead of "rural?"

THIS. ^^^ This is the exact same reason I think the open division should be voluntary and not mandatory. Let the big dogs compete against each other for the ultimate state title (and perhaps a shot at a mythical national championship), but let the other teams have their moment of glory.

I lost all respect for the University of STA when I saw and heard their coaches at a 7 on 7 tournament openly recruiting the QB from my son's team to come play at STA. They had no shame. If this is what they were doing openly, I had to wonder what else was going on behind closed doors. So, yes, they are good. They are good because they have bigger and better athletes than most every other team in the state . . . athletes that likely would not be able to attend or would not choose to attend that school were it not for football. OK, someone give me a hand off my soapbox so I don't fall and break my hip like Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

Cocoa might have an opinion on this whole "home dominance" thing.

I'm still open to the idea of an open division -- but I don't think it should be mandatory or forced on any school and it certainly should NOT be 'created' at the end of a season based on some artificial state ranking system. And while I'm not committed to a specific number of teams in the open division, I'm thinking about 15-20 (16 would probably be the perfect number). Those teams would need to make a commitment to the elite division for a certain number of years (2 or 3, perhaps more). Let them play anyone they want over the course of the regular season. Then, let them have their own playoffs. Perhaps every team makes the playoffs. Or maybe only the top half of the teams in the division make the playoffs. I don't particularly care. Either way, seeding determined by MaxPreps or some other ranking system. After 2-3 years, if a team wants to 'exit' the open division (think self-relegation), they can do so. New teams can jump in. The FHSAA can establish a criteria for determining which teams get added to compete in the open division when other teams drop back down to their regular class. In response to some of the comments above, I'm guessing a team like Chaminade would 'go open,' which, in turn, would leave the class that Chaminade might otherwise be in wide open and competitive. If other perennial powers chose to play in the open division, that would give teams in those classes a better chance at winning a state title. That should also make it easier to accept fewer classes. Perhaps Rural, 6 classes based on student population and one open division. Just my two cents.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to throw shade on Lakeland, but I would not have been surprised if I had opened up the Coaches Moving Van thread this morning and seen an opening for a new defensive coordinator at either Lakeland or Venice.

Congrats to Lakeland. Interestingly, if my quick scan of the archives is correct, Lakeland became only the second team since 1963 to win a state title while giving up 48 points or more in a non-OT game. I suspect Darter saw the first time in 2012 when Apopka topped Cypress Bay 53-50. The only other time that it happened in any game (since 1963) was in 2010 when Trinity Catholic (Ocala) beat University School (Ft. Lauderdale) 56-55 in triple OT.

Berkeley converts the 4th and 1 and is able to run out the clock and hold on to a 28-20 victory. First state title for Berkeley and head coach Dom Ciao. Congrats Buccaneers.

For anyone wondering, Berkeley's two losses came at the hands of state finalist, CCC (first game of the season; Berkeley was up but lost their star RB to the concussion protocol early in the second half and CCC pulled out the win) and a very good Calvary Christian team (a loss that Berkeley avenged in the playoffs). Berkeley is a well-coached team, fundamentally sound and isn't afraid to go old-school, with grind-it-out drives that wear out the opposing defense and take a lot of time off the clock. As I type this, Norland just scored to make it a 28-20 game with less than 5 minutes to play. Still a ball game. Do I smell OT? Or can Berkeley grind it out one more time and run out the clock?

Berkeley now up 21-7 with a minute to play in the 3rd quarter. Norland may very well run out of time. They need to figure out how to score quickly and somehow stop Berkeley from grinding out another long, clock-killing drive. I know the game's not over yet, but hat's off to Darter for suggesting that Berkeley might pull the upset here.

Thank you, Nolebull. And thank you for taking the time and effort to come up with new picks every week, calculate the results, and introduce me to teams across the state I never knew existed. And thanks to everyone that participated week in and week out to keep me on my toes. Final thanks to Josh for supporting this fun little escape from the reality of the working world. So, do I just PM you my address for you to send me my trophy and prize money?

Thank you, Keem. Much appreciated. They don't get much closer.

Nobody watches the consolation game.

If it's anything like the "crowds" I've seen in the videos of the games played so far, the answer is "no."

"Hold our beer." -- Trinity Catholic/Cardinal Mooney

Nice job. I thought it would be a higher scoring game. Fortunately (for me), the tie-breaker won't come into play.

In my opinion, you leave them out because they don't play by the same rules. They're a glorified prep school that seemingly/openly recruits athletes. So, now that I think about it, perhaps they aren't all that different than some of the other so-called state powers.

If they're making good time, they could even pick up Trinity Catholic Ocala, Hawthorne and MadCo along the way. Hmmm, I wonder if anyone has ever thought about light rail in Florida.

They just need to do it like the College Football Playoffs. That way, there will be no issues, disputes or arguments about who should be in and who gets left out.

As the end of this article points out, there are still several questions that need to be answered. At first blush, this whole concept does not appear to have been well or thoroughly thought out. I'm concerned that someone will start raising questions at the next FHSAA Board meeting and that, in their haste, they'll try to come up with something on the fly, not fully understanding or contemplating all of the unintended consequences that could result.

Dang, that's a long-azz bus ride! But smart to go up a day ahead. That'll give them a chance to stretch their legs with a walk through someplace late today, I would think.

Just saying, I called this one. I had a sneaky feeling that Chaminade would win this one, so I went out on a limb and picked them.

10 a.m. state championship games are B.S. This isn't a summer time 7 on 7 tournament.

I'm curious how and when Columbus is making its way up to Tallahassee. Bus or plane? Today?