HornetFan

A good win for Apopka. I hope they don't look past Lake Mary which has a good passing offense. I agree that an Apopka - Seminole game in two weeks would be a great game with two very good QBs leading their teams. Either team would be a great representative for Central Florida going forward.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Apopka Miami Palmetto Niceville Bloomingdale HillsboroughAmerican Heritage (Plantation) Trinity Christian (Jacksonville)Berkeley Prep Vernon Wildwood

On the average HS football team, you see all levels of talent. There are the kids who are tremendous athletes that excel above others; they get the most playing time along with the other better athletes on the team. Then you have kids who aren't stars, but love playing the sport. I doubt any of the aforementioned kids are looking for an intramural football team. They want to compete and hopefully be successful. Every team also has kids of average ability who want to be part of the team because they enjoy the sport, but they may not necessarily want to play the entire game and risk getting hurt or being embarrassed because they can't perform at the highest level. There is some prestige and level of acceptance by the student body for members of the football team and for some kids, that is enough incentive to be on the team. HS football offers some very talented kids the opportunity to attend college that may not happen otherwise. I think it's the responsibility of administrators and athletic directors, as well as the FHSAA, to provide appropriate levels where teams of varying talent can compete with like teams.

I go back a long way to the great ND teams, the great Oklahoma teams, and the great Nebraska teams to name a few, Back the, teams did not have scholarship limits and teams like Nebraska were known to sign every prospect they could with scholarship levels around 125 athletes. There was no balance in college football. I don't think ND can beat Clemson if Lawrence plays, but for that one game without him, the teams put on a fantastic show. Scholarship limits of 85 athletes has brought some level of competition, but there will always be super teams. If you have 25 five stars in your 85, you'll be a lot better than a team full of 3 stars. HS competition will never be perfect, but right now, we have such an in-balance. I watched Winter Park put running clocks on 4 or 5 opponents this season and it wasn't enjoyable. Too many kids that were reserves and wanted to see action received little playing time because that clock never stopped running in the 2nd half.

That would work for the Super Urbans, but unless you continually reshuffle teams up and down, how do you find a way to get a team like Madison County into a Division where they don't put a running clock on most teams?

I watched the Clemson - Notre Dame game two weeks ago and felt it was one of the best football games that I have seen in years. Granted, Clemson was without Lawrence, the teams were as close to equal as one could expect. They went back and forth all game with ND winning in overtime. I didn't think either team was a loser. It was a great game for fans of both teams and even fans without a rooting interest. I see very few HS games play out that way because there is such a lack of balance in talent.

The ability to tweak allows you to address participant's concerns and also assures them that they are part of the process. Allowing for input makes change an easier sell.

I like what you sent me, but that still locks teams into a fixed District in which they may not be competitive. Less classifications with the ability to move teams for competitive purposes, to me that would be a good change.

My thought is to have teams play themselves into a Division and Classification over time where they can be competitive, whether that's up or down. I think it would be good for student and fan morale to see their team playing competitive games week after week rather than being blown out or having to watch a 2nd half with a running clock. It would probably be safer for the players also.

By PC, I'm just trying to say "make everybody happy". No political discussions implied or desired.

A possible solution would be to move the teams at the end of every season, but that may be considered punitive by a school that normally performs well and just has a bad year. It would probably take a little brainstorming to work out an equitable process. In the long run, the idea would be to have teams are more equal to each other playing in the same divisions.

They don't try to pretend that they should be playing in an FHSAA District or Classification. We have some teams in Florida that want to be an IMG, but still play neighboring schools. They're wannabes but don't necessarily want to play the gest teams in the country.

Are we trying to insert "political correctness" into this?

Yes, because when you move a team up because they are successful, you drop the lowest performing team in that class drop one level. Hopefully, the teams gravitate to a level where they are competitive.

How about this: if a school wins its district, say 2 out of 3 years, it automatically moves up one classification level and the team that finished last over that same 3 year period in that district drops down one classification level. There are some large schools that are doormats year after year and show no signs of being competitive, while you have smaller schools, like Madison County that dominate in their classification year after year. It may take a decade, but I think a competitive balance that would result from moving teams up and down would be closer if schools weren't classified simply by size, but by historic performance. A state championship and/or runner-up could automatically move you up one classification, without waiting two or three years. This could help balance out recruiting.

I don't have a problem with IMG. They don't try to hide what they are and any team that schedules them should know what level of competition to expect. They're a national team and for the most part, they schedule national teams.

I don't think anyone on here would argue with you that schools in urban areas have a distinct advantage over rural area schools simply because of denser and more diverse populations. Enrollments in urban schools are usually much greater in urban areas giving those schools a much larger student population to fill out their teams; that's why we have classifications based upon student population. It's also much easier for an athlete in an urban area to choose from various schools; many rural areas have only one or two HS per county, where the urban area may have two or three schools only a few miles apart. The urban schools are definitely at an advantage,

Recruiting exists at the MS and HS level already. Kids that dominate in Pop Warner are sought out by HS coaches. In the two youth football programs that I have followed over the past 7-8 years, I have seen visits made to the youth teams by local HS coaches on an annual basis to give pep talks and speak of the merits of the local HS team. But, when it comes to recruiting, the 7v7 teams and the Florida policy of allowing students to attend any school they wish have opened up HS recruiting. The kids on "all-star" 7v7 teams recruit their teammates to join them to form a stronger team at a chosen school. The problem with recruiting is it creates such a competitive in-balance between HS teams and running clocks are becoming the norm as blowouts occur every week. More kids are going to be subject to serious injuries if the have-nots continue to play the recruiting teams. Maybe the answer is to have teams declare themselves an "open" level and play only other open level teams.

We have the so-called academies for just about every other sport, so why not football. Volleyball and soccer clubs are the development ground for top HS players in that sport. College recruiters actually farm the clubs more than the HS teams. Youth sports, including high school, have reached the level where a high percentage of your top athletes are receiving private training in their sport. Both my grandsons play HS football and they train with private coaches. The younger brother is a QB and for at least the past five years, he has attended QB camps around this country, in places like California, Texas, and Florida. He has spent a couple weeks each Summer, excluding this past Summer, at IMG Academy. He also has a private coach here locally with whom he trains 2-3 Saturdays a month, year long. The kid who plays multiple team sports is the exception now, as compared to years ago when you played a different sport each season. The training is expensive, but you can see when kids have received private training compared to kids playing on athletic ability alone. For skill position players, 7v7 has become a "must" rather than just another way to play a little more football during the year. Recruiters are at just about every weekend tournament and playing on a select "all-star" team gets a kid more exposure. Specialization has taken over HS sports.

WP moved the ball to the Apopka 40 on that drive, but QB mishandled the snap and fumbled it away. that, as well as his INT's killed any chance WP had in the game, but still the coaches left him in. Spring will be interesting. The 2nd QB graduates in the Spring if he doesn't return to Buffalo sooner, and the 3rd QB, a sophomore now, will probably be gone if he isn't named the starter in the Spring. He has grown from 5' 5" last November to 6'1" this month. Based upon "bone age", his doctor said he'll probably be bigger than his 6'4" brother (my oldest grandson, the DE). He's averaging about 3/4" a month since last November, but his brother did the same thing during 10th grade. He was approached by several HS coaches last Winter during 7v7 tournaments, and a couple have already asked him to QB their 7v7 teams this coming Winter. It will be interesting. I'd like to see him stay at WP next year if possible because they have a bunch of talent coming back.

My oldest grandson (DE broken arm) was on the sidelines last night trying to help his defensive line teammates. After the game, his guys said that Apopka was the hardest hitting team they had played all year. They said Apopka wore them down in the 2nd half. Between the interceptions on wild throws down field and a QB fumble in Apopka territory, I think WP only had one or two 1st downs in the 2nd half, and one of those was when the QB transfer from Buffalo entered the game with less than 4 minutes to go. The WP starting QB can't be more than 5'9" and it was very apparent that he couldn't see over the lines to find receivers downfield, so he just threw it as far as he could and missed open receivers at least 5 times in 1st half that were open, and he missed them by at least 15-20 yards. I don't know what game our coaches were watching, but early in the 2nd quarter, the fans in the stands were screaming for a QB change; all on deaf ears. The kid from Buffalo practically got a standing ovation when he went in with 4 minutes to go. I agree that if the Darters play against WO like they played last night, they'll move on to the next round. As for Oviedo, they don't have much other than a good QB and our pass rush shut him down (grandson sacked him twice and our DEs pressured him all night) in an easy win for WP earlier this season. I fully expect an Apopka - Seminole battle in a few weeks, and it may be epic.

An impressive win by Apopka. They first half was hard fought with WP holding a 7-3 lead. Apopka wore WP down in the 2nd half. I was at the game and the greatest fear that any WP fan had this season materialized in this game. WP went with their QB whose ability to pass downfield is terrible at best. The kid lists himself as 5'11", when in reality, he can't be over 5'9". In practice, his passes look great when there's no pass rush, but in a game, he can't see over the line to find receivers downfield. At least five times in the first half, he had receivers downfield and overthrew them by at least 20 yards each time. It was one of the worst displays of passing that I have ever seen and I'm 76 years old. Meanwhile, our 2nd and 3rd QB's who are both an honest 6'1" stood on the sideline until only 4 minutes remained. The 2nd QB is a transfer from upstate NY where he passed for over 6000 yards they past two seasons, and our coaches leave him on the sideline while the QB on the field misses numerous wide open receivers in the 1st half and throws 3 INT's in the 2nd half, and let's not forget the mishandled snap in the 2nd half that he fumbled away in Apopka territory. Take nothing away from Apopka or their very talented running QB. They came to play, and play hard they did. Apopka uses about 4 different running plays all game, but they run them very effectively and for some reason WP coaches never adjusted to take away the outside running game. WP was definitely outcoached in this game, to the point it was embarrassing. I would love to see the game when Apopka plays Seminole; that should be a great game between two excellent teams. Congrats to the Apopka Darters on a great win.

Maybe even biggest in Florida Geography, or was it Biology? Oh well, no one cares anyway.

The same thing I would do if they didn't beat Madison County; nothing, Do they give participation awards in !A; most youth leagues do?