Ray Icaza

Guilty as charged as I certainly did believe that TC should be favored in the game and was even more surprised by the lopsided score. As Darter mentioned, he was alone in his belief that Deland would win as everyone else put their money on TC which appeared to have been a safe bet. Obviously, the difference in the game came down to the trigger man in both running attacks and the Deland QB certainly proved to be much more dynamic than George Roberts. I was pulling for Deland so happy with the results and hope they can continue the momentum vs Venice. This will undoubtedly be a much tougher task but we have had some crazy results in the playoffs thus far.

Glad to hear that as your view is solid, though it probably won't prevent some nearby school in need of a QB to try.

You reckon they would be the only one??

You continue to confuse the argument by looking at the unincorporated areas (uninhabited) areas of our county (Osceola) with the center of our geographical area (Orlando). From Orlando to Port St. Lucie ... 125 miles as opposed to Deland 41 miles. Our news organization that follows HS sports is the Orlando Sentinel, not the TC Palm that reports on your geographical area. Hope that helps clear that up for you.

Feelings are mutual regarding malice as well as gambling. If I were a gambling man, I would have to go against my heart and put my money on TC despite the fact I will be pulling for Deland for the simple reason of cheering for our geographical region. Looking at the top predictors left for the Nolebull picks, they seem to be leaning heavily towards TC which is why they have proven to be the most accurate during the regular season.

No hate implied my friend as I have reread my post in this thread and ask you to allude where that is coming from. Outside of this thread most have seem to given the edge to Deland before even the matchup had materialized, thus my comment. The title to your post "TEACHER vs STUDENT" and its consequent follow-up of MASTER vs APPRENTICE in particular, in my simple view implies an advantage of one over the other. Your questioning my response now shows that wasn't your intent and I can appreciate that just like the respect I described for Coach Darlington. With all that said it will now be quite interesting to see the picks and consequently the results.

That element is certainly important and Coach Darlington has the rings, but my opinion after playing TC over the last several years in both regular season plus playoff games is Coach Jones is also excellent.

Not quite sure why Deland seems to getting the love in this matchup. Can they win the game? Absolutely!! Is it likely? That is a whole other question as TC has the better SOS, the higher MaxPrep rankings and finally HOME FIELD advantage. It will be a 2 hour + road trip for Deland and that usually isn't a plus in your column when you have to get off that bus to play a physical team in their backyard. All I am saying is it will be no easy task.

Based on the Orlando Sentinel reporting, it appears that RB Isaiah Thomas (1000+ yds) was a very important missing piece in their offensive attack. He was their homerun hitter all year on the ground and got injured in the Boone game the previous week. Combine that with the fact Mandarin was known for an excellent secondary all year and they forced two INT's, one which was returned for a TD. Turns out Noah Grubbs was not enough by himself to carry them to victory simply relying on the aerial attack. Losing "SPECIAL" players against top-flight teams is hard to overcome. Did not watch the game, so hopefully someone that was there can provide you some additional insight.

Seems like Vero was having some success running the ball with Osby and probably should have leaned on that a little more to relieve pressure on the QB when he was dropping back to throw. Sacks, negative plays, penalties, etc... derailed several offensive possessions. I do agree with you that it appeared Vero actually had more athletic talent than TC, but all for naught as they are tough to beat, particularly at home.

Seems like a powerful reason for Vero to schedule more than the usual 2-3 road games each and every year if they want more success in the playoffs. They very seldom beat teams of equal caliber/talent away from home. If the goal is to collect extra revenue each and every year, it sounds like the HC has decided which road to take.

Vero has been the standard bearer in that region for decades with FP Central challenging them some moons ago. However, over the past 5-6 years TC has built an excellent program like Vero has with work ethic, toughness, discipline and execution. Should be a great matchup with the fact that Vero won't be the shoo-in like in years past. They will have to earn it on the road. Good Luck to your Indians.

Skyway boasted before the official start of last season since Lakeland easily handled Venice in the spring game and then got over a dozen quality transfers from Lake Gibson, Kathleen, Bartow, Auburndale and others the outcome for that state championship was predetermined and they would running clock everyone, except CAI. The only team that would even put up a decent fight. I disputed that then, like I dispute your theories now and guess what? You were wrong as CAI got blasted and we did not. As far as the kid from N. FL, I have spoken to his father dozens of times and he told me exactly why they transferred here and the scheduled had nothing to do with it. In any event, that turned out to be so beneficial and probably a reason for our slow start out of the gate this season. So, if you are Skyway, you were full of BS last year and it appears that you haven't changed except for the name.

GOT IT! It really isn't about the schedule, rather home field advantage. Now why didn't I think of that?

Unless you are admitting that Longtime Observer went by the pseudo-name of Skyway last year on this forum, I never accused you of the level of Lakeland dominance last year. Thanks for admitting, most coaches disagree with your scheduling theory and the fact your criticism includes the Lakeland HC does nothing to support your theory. You conveniently ignored the "FACT" that last year we potentially could have won every game on that so-called gaunlet while still holding the belief that we would have benefited by having a "MORE SENSIBLE" schedule whatever the hell that means. Or the reason we chose to schedule some of the best teams in the state........because we knew we were one of the best teams in the state. As far as attracting talent from this schedule, I guess your reasoning is after all these years of being in the playoffs we finally figured out just last year we needed to schedule a gaunlet to get players. What a genius idea. I have no cynical filter, simply don't agree with your theory and tried to simply convey that no amount of your Mumbo jumbo will change my mind.