Ray Icaza

It's a tradition rich program that gets overlooked mostly since we have made multiple trips to the state finals to only have won 1 state championship. I get it and I respect that, but I joined to primarily create awareness for the program as this is the 18th STRAIGHT year we are in the playoffs. I know others have more but not many can match that. The coaching staff does a terrific job not only in the win-loss column but most importantly developing great young men. Outsiders can also claim we scoop up all the talent in Osceola county to form an All-Star team but nothing could be further from the truth. GO KOWBOYS!!

Traditionally, our offense hasn't been centered around the QB from a passing standpoint but rather a heavy running attack. Thus, it is more reliant on RB's and especially the OL. We have been playing thru most of the year without one of our starting Tackles, Marcus Ferrer (6'7" - 310 lbs) who is a D1 prospect as a junior this year. Most teams especially this late in the year are dealing with missing pieces of some type and understandably some are more important than others but you have to go with what you got. That is what we have done all year and will continue to do so as he was back for a few reps during the Lake Wales game and then got injured the following week vs Apopka with no clear idea if he will return.

Losing key players is always tough especially in your case being the QB. Looking at his stats he seems very capable as a runner and passer which you definitely needed to have any success against our defensive front. Our DL continually rotates 8-10 players throughout the entire game to keep them fresh and no team has had much success running the ball on them. Even with him, that would have been tough sledding so we shall see how things play out without him. Looks like they have had an excellent season and certainly deserved to be in the playoffs. As usual, I will be in attendance Friday.

I remember that game quite well as it was a heartbreaker. Funny you mention the 3 DL that went to the ACC but the 4th of the group, Elliott Bodre flew under the radar and led the team that year with 23 sacks. He had offers, but a medical condition sidelined his football career after HS. Great team.

That score is also reflected in the FHSAA website so would assume it is correct.

I commented a couple weeks ago that it was my belief that Lakewood had a pretty good team that wasn't reflected by their record and was poked fun at by another poster. No implication they are a top playoff team, simply they were capable of an upset here or there as they have some playmakers that can make you pay. They proved that as the 6th seed in 2A Region 2 vs Glades Central the #3 seed. Lakewood will certainly have their hands full next week against #2 seed Bishop Verot.

That is true, just depends on whether you prefer getting the top two teams to the regional finals or have one eliminate another in the early rounds allowing a chump to get to the same finals to only get whacked then. I guess to each his own.

AN OBSERVATION....... the opening round results for the 6A bracket were almost 100% correct based on the seedings from the FHSAA which some may find surprising. The lone exception in the 16 games was #5 Oakleaf defeating #4 Mandarin 17-14 which I guess falls within the margin of error. Wonder how they did in other classifications?? Do agree that this next round gets a bit trickier to predict but will interesting to follow.

On a side note with no intent to smear the QB as these issues you highlight can all be real, he did walk out on our team about mid-season last year when all his expectations disappeared after all the hype that he came in with; with no clear explanation. Curious to see where he lands next year.

DeSantis actually got his start in Little League where his Dunedin team made it to the quarter finals of the LL World Series. He went on to play for Dunedin HS where they made the state playoffs every year. At Yale, he became team Captain as an outfielder and hit over .300 all four years. I think the gentlemen with the derogatory comments about the state legislature simply is expressing a political bent as the problems with the FHSAA regarding football began a couple of decades ago as NoleBull correctly points out. FHSAA has earned a lot of criticism and there is plenty of blame to go around that has nothing to do with politics, though some suffer from the funny "SYNDROME".

No country is perfect when it comes to equality, but people are leaving their homeland in droves (over 100 countries by last count) to make their way here for a reason. I am hispanic and in our culture we have inequality based on class in most nations rather than race. These are all human failings and though racism does exist, that sin isn't limited to one skin color. We should all strive to find the best in each other rather than accentuating the bad.

Sorry, I forgot some of you have a crystal ball to "READ the ROOM"! No doubt it was probably a poor choice of words but would gets to decide intent.

We were seeded #2 in our region with Vero #1. Again, how can I be any clearer that I didn't then or don't now believe folks in the FHSAA found a way to "CHEAT" OHS in the rankings. Based on strength of schedule our 3 losses were to Lakeland (25-22) the eventual state champ, OT loss to Seminole (28-27) a game we should have won with another title contender and Jones in a game we committed 7 TO's. Wins include demolition of Rockledge who at early season was nationally ranked and demolition of Mainland, who battled Lake Wales down to the wire for a state title that year. Vero's resume was nowhere close and the final score at their house (31-7), which doesn't really reflect the dominance in the game confirms this opinion. Simply put, these rankings are flawed as 100% of posters on this forum believe and this was an example of it. Just my opinion.

Funny, I always referred to my children as monkeys and did as well with my grandkids with no racial significance to the term. We simply have gone off the rails looking for stuff that was never meant to demean. The missing element, Common Sense.

You are preaching to the choir my friend. I just gave you a strong example with our team 2 years ago supporting the fact the rankings are flawed. But just to enlighten you, the theory is stating that "CHEATING" is involved. That my friend is not FACT as these examples you spent time listing only show flaws and do not prove the other. Just this past week we beat St. Pete Lakewood, a team headed to the playoffs and dropped in the rankings so I understand the frustration.

Which happened two years ago when we were seeded below Vero (which was wrong) and had to travel there only to give them a thumping in their house before traveling to Lakeland the following week. That turned out to be a much more competitive game than the final vs Venice ....... guess that was also anticlimactic. Point being, we weren't happy with the ranking system and though I say in jest they don't like blue and gold, I really don't believe they sit in a smoke-filled room figuring out how to "CHEAT" teams like ours. I could be wrong, but now that it has happened to STA seems a clear indication it can happen to anyone. No cheating involved, just simple incompetency. And yes, lack of transparency leads to conspiracy theories but theories are not FACTS!! That is a fact.

In 5A - R4, the #1 seed is Atlantic bumping STA Raiders to the #2 seed. I imagine Atlantic has a very good team but who really believes they are better than STA?? Cases like this can be made all over the bracket board. So don't take it personal and accuse the governing body of "CHEATING" you when most likely it is a glitch in the system that has affected many adversely as opposed to singling you out.

I thought a couple of weeks ago our first round opponent might be either Melbourne or Lake Minneola but I was wrong as we do get Viera at home next Friday. They were in our district and we did put a running clock on them at their place just a few weeks back. Not saying we will do that again, but pretty certain we will reach the 2nd round and welcome either South Lake or Durant. Armwood being the #1 seed sounds like your sure pick to win this region but if we get that far we will welcome the opportunity to play them fully expecting to keep winning.

And FHSAA does have some "COJONES"!

Then having to follow up and re-calculate the seedings based on said suspensions/forfeits.

Thanks for the correction, got the date right but the wrong day of the weekend.

AMEN!!

Lastly, the irreparable damage to the kids that transferred in was inflicted by the coaches deception not the punishment that was handed down as they also know the rules.

A good prosecutor would counter argue that the real irreparable damage has already happened...... to several other schools whose season got destroyed by losing players, to the players on said team, to the players that were at TFA thinking they may be staring and lost their hopes due to the new arrivals and also to the teams they only beat thru cheating. Even key school staff (coaches/administrators) that felt they had to quit their jobs to come forward with these allegations. Gotta stay on offense.

Final rankings and brackets to be on the FHSAA website by Sunday 11/09.