HornetFan

Apopka is a solid, well coached team, but I don't think they are Orlando Metros best team. Their new QB, Andrew McClain, a transfer from Seminole, couldn't play in the Spring Jamboree, and Apopka's offense was one-dimensional throwing two passes over 3/4 of varsity play. Andrew is a good runner and a decent passer, but the reason he's at Apopka is that they had two very good QB's at Seminole and Andrew's playing time would have been severely limited. He made the right decision to transfer. It remains to be seen if Apopka will be a one-dimensional running team on offense, relying on small RB's running sweeps. Teams with talent like Seminole will take the sweep away and force Apopka to pass the ball. Then, you have go against the Henderson twins at DB, both will multiple D1 offers.

I wasn't talking about the nation; I was talking Florida. STA has barely squeaked by Edgewater in the state championship game for 7A the past two years, and STA may be the best team in SF. Seminole won the 8A state championship against a good Osceola team that beat Edgewater in their recent Spring game. Lakeland is a perennial top team in the state. Jones is a highly competitive team in Central Florida. I seriously doubt that there are 18-19 teams in SF better than those I just named, and that's just here in Central Florida. Tampa Bay and Northern Florida have some very good teams that could easily be considered for the top 20.

I believe everyone on this board knows that the 98% is a ridiculous statemen and you're making it in jest. Living in Central Florida, I don't get to see South Florida football unless it's on TV, and the last game that I saw with a SF team on ESPN two seasons ago, MC was getting bitch slapped by a team from Maryland; they weren't impressive.

Orlando City Soccer Stadium is the ideal location for state championship games: centrally located in the middle of the state, easy access by two major highways; plenty of parking. lots of hotels and other entertainment and dining venues to give people other things to do while waiting to attend games, and it's a new stadium with a capacity of about 20,000: not too big for HS championship games.

The list is heavily biased in favor of South Florida teams. If the list is really based off last year's performance, Seminole, as last year's 8A state champion, with a loaded team returning, should be ranked much higher than #6. I'm not a Seminole HS fan, but they went undefeated last season (Varsity, JV, and Freshmen). They graduated a few stars that blew out a very good Osceola team in the state championship game, but they have already replaced those players with very talented kids. Also, Osceola returns a very talented team and didn't even make the list.

I don't see how you can come up with a top 20 statewide at this time. We don't even know what effect transfers will have have on many teams. Also, here in Central Florida, some teams were playing without key players, some that have transferred in and others not playing Spring games as a precaution to allow additional time for players to recover from injury. I attended the Jamboree between Apopka, Winter Park, and Dr Phillips and what I saw were three teams missing key pieces that more than likely would have had a major impact on the scrimmage. Apopka, missing transfer QB Andrew McClain from Seminole who had to sit out because of transfer rules, was one-dimensional on offense, throwing only two passes in three quarters of varsity play (2 quarters against DP and 1 quarter against WP). Winter Park was missing Terrance Gibbs, one of top RB's in the state as they held him out as a precaution to allow his ACL, injured last August, to continue to heal. DP was without their top OT who sat out the game. It was football and it was entertaining; but it wasn't regular season, Fall football. My guess is that Spring games across the state were played under similar conditions. It's too early to rank teams.

If Dr Phillips plays Cocoa in the Fall like they played in last nights Spring Jamboree, I don't think they will give Cocoa much of a game. In varsity play, Apopka dominated them to the tune of 21-0 over 2 quarters. Then, Winter Park easily defeated them in one quarter of varsity play by a score of 12-0. Dr Phillips running game was almost non-existent and Patti, their QB, couldn't find his receivers against either team. It was a bad evening for DP.

Osceola was handled rather easily by Seminole in last season's 8A state championship game. I'm sure they would love to reverse that score with Seminole this year, but they face several challenges in this year's schedule including Cocoa, Manatee, Dr Phillips, and West Orange, before they can even think about returning to the state championship game.

The 1st half (DP vs Apopka) actually starts at 6:00pm, not 7:00pm.

The Winter Park HS football spring game is this Wednesday night, 6PM at Home! The Cats will play a jamboree format against Dr Phillips and Apopka. Game schedule: 6PM- DP vs APK Halftime DP vs WP Halftime WP vs APK

Do you have proof that Edgewater is recruiting? I know two kids that were approached before last season by Edgewater players suggesting that they transfer to Edgewater. Are coaches sending texts to players? I would hope that Edgewater coaches are not dumb enough to invite kids and put it in writing. Are players showing up at the practices of teams and telling them that they need to come to Edgewater? See answer to 2nd question above. Recruiting among players is common during the 7v7 off-season. Here in Orlando and I would imagine in other metropolitan areas within the state, these schools are close to each other, often only a few miles apart, and it's not unusual that the kids know and are friends with kids from other teams, especially those they play with on 7v7 all-star teams. They see the building of super teams in the NBA and other professional leagues and feel it's fine to recruit to build a dominant team.

Who is the Toho QB that is transferring to Edgewater? Mascoe took Osceola to 8A final against Seminole this past season. Toho backed out of Spring game with Apopka; what's happening to that team?

Dr Phillips is playing in a Spring Jamboree with Winter Park and Apopka this coming Wednesday.

Assuming the QB transferring is Chad Mascoe; highly rated, but he seems to search out a new team every year. I was wondering who Edgewater would recruit to fill their QB vacancy.

Don't overlook Dr Phillips, played in Orlando.

New Spring Jamboree: Winter Park, Dr Phillips, and Apopka For reasons unknown to me, Kissimmee Tohopekaliga has cancelled its Spring game with Apopka, so now instead of Winter Park and Dr Phillips only playing each other in their Spring game, we now have a Spring Jamboree with three of the better Central Florida teams playing two quarters against each other at Showalter Field in Winter Park on Wednesday, May 19th starting at 7:00pm. It should be an entertaining evening of high school football.

When players on a neighboring team tell their friends and teammates that they were approached by elite Edgewater players to jump ship to Edgewater, it's pretty hard to close your eyes and say they are not "Recruiting". Neither player jumped, but they mentioned kids from other schools that did transfer. This happens every year throughout the state, but few people want to acknowledge or talk about it.

If they follow recent "talent acquisition" measures of past few seasons, the "R" word is not out of the question. With the relationships that elite players are developing on all-star type 7v7 teams in the off season, players rather than coaches are doing the recruiting. It will be interesting to see if Edgewater comes up with a transfer to fill their QB vacancy.

This will tell a great deal about Edgewater going forward. They are losing several star players, including their only experienced QB, to graduation. Osceola is moving up in class and returns Chad Mascoe, their highly rated QB. Unless Edgewater pulls several new players out of their hat, I think Osceola will dominate this game.

They will graduate three of their top players in Christian Leary, Tommi Hill, and Canaan Mobley, with Mobley being their starting QB. I don't see how they'll replace those three from their current roster, especially QB where the backup appears to be undersized and inexperienced. Unless the transfer/recruiting process works more than a few miracles, I think Edgewater's Fall schedule has the potential for as many as 5 losses. They have a great coach, but he can't run or pass the ball for them. I see only 3 easy wins on their schedule (East Ridge, Winter haven, and Ridge Community).

I heard that a couple of Cocoa starters are seriously considering a move to Orlando area. Can't mention names or destination school until confirmed they are coming.

Andrew McClain, younger brother of Timmy McClain (Sanford Seminole), transferred from Seminole to Apopka in January and should be a good fit at QB for the Darters. Andrew will be a senior in the Fall; he has good size and runs well. He's an adequate passer with a strong arm.

Besides Eustis (3-4 last season), Mt Dora (1-7, beat Eustis for their only win) and Tavares (3-5) join the two new teams. It should be a good opportunity for the new schools to be competitive in their first year.

I believe that the two new schools have been placed in a 5A District with Eustis and two other Lake County schools to form what will probably be the weakest 5A district in the state.

I know that the FHSAA considers the two terms to be completely different, but often they are one in the same.