JDHoss

It's on our "to do" list, maybe next year if not this year. We love going to KW. We made it from The Fort in 5.5 hours last time, and that was stopping for a long lunch on Islamorada. Their stadium looks nice. I think we'll make a long weekend of it, maybe finding a Thursday game in the Miami area, then leaving on Friday morning and coming back on Monday. We've seen the Conchs play a couple of times, once at PSL West Centennial and once at Southfork. Going in September or early October, the traffic shouldn't be too bad. It won't be a high level of football, but the right opponent might give you a competitive game in a unique setting.

What do I think? I think we'll take a visit to Fran's Chicken Haven before Chaminade v West Boca, and hope to see a spectacular sunset over the Loxahatchee from the WB home side stands. I'll go with Chaminade by 2 TD. On Friday, I think we'll hit Cafe 66 in Vero for some BBQ. I'll go with Vero by a TD, especially if Monds has taken a big step forward at QB. On Saturday, I think I'll whip up something light to eat at home before the first game, and we'll grab something simple between games. I'll go with Carol City in a close one, and NW by a TD in a game that could certainly be closer.

So, our first week of games is looking like.... Thursday - Chaminade v West Boca Friday - Norland v Vero Saturday - Carol City v Lincoln Saturday - NW v Lakeland What a wonderful world we live in...

I'd guess this explains part of it. Click on the individual states to get teacher salaries and rankings. It's pretty depressing. https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank?utm_medium=paid-search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=rankings-estimates-report&utm_content=&ms=ads-rankings-estimates-report-se&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19606909831&gbraid=0AAAAAohHV9T4t3MJL2SvfUhgHNm6KzG2g&gclid=CjwKCAjw9uPCBhATEiwABHN9K6-kk_eZz3o8WH_0p68I2GXbK5-RwK51yIjeHCv92OGUIqWevw3gNRoCszQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds In addition, and again speculation on my part, but if you go to games around the state of Florida, and go to games in other southern states, the attendance numbers are in another universe. Way more often than not, the attendance for games here will be a thousand or less. Are Florida coaches required to teach a class and receive a stipend for their coaching duties? Do they receive money from booster clubs?

V-Ro isn't a bad drive from Boca, and they have a nice stadium with plenty of parking. We'll certainly be taking these games in. It's only about 35 minutes north of us.

Probably so, and a good excuse to stop by Fran's Chicken Haven in Boca Raton.

Can't wait until the schedules are complete so we can start planning our schedule. If at all possible, we want to take in Venice v Northwestern at Traz Powell.

Perfect!

We got to Coconut Creek today at 3:40 and were told the event had been moved to McArthur, so we kept going. We got there just as Miami Palmetto and Miramar were about to start. Palmetto dominated that one 21-6 in two quarters of play. Palmetto had two little RB who were cat quick with plenty of wiggle and one of them took it 70 yards on the first play from scrimmage. Up next was North Miami v Sarasota Booker. Booker dominated the LOS, but had trouble finishing drives before pushing a TD over just as the lightning horn sounded and the game was stopped with Booker up 7-0. We headed to the car and sat there for over 30 minutes. It was still lightning and the radar wasn't very promising with storms still rolling east from the Everglades, so we headed home. If Coconut Creek and McArthur got to play, it was going to be awhile. Still it was great to see some live football. We also had an early supper at Fran's Chicken Haven in Boca Raton. If you like fried chicken (who doesn't?) or chicken livers/gizzards, this is the place. They only have two (2) seat tables, but they do a MASSIVE amount of takeout and we've never had trouble getting a table. This place is a staple for us when we catch a game in southern Palm Beach or northern Broward.

We'll have to do that

Went to my first Muck Bowl last year. I wish we had known about all the food trucks. Do they do the same thing at Pahokee? I'd love to bring a couple of chairs, eat from the trucks and people watch this year. That was a great atmosphere that reminded me of a big game in my old Virginia hometown.

I see that now. I must have overlooked it earlier. Thanks! I wish it was starting at 6:00 though. We went to one at Palm Beach Gardens last year and the heat was suffocating.

Anyone know when the jamboree at Coconut Creek is supposed to start on Thursday? I've looked on the FB pages of the schools and can't find anything.

Just saw the highlights on TC Palm. We are up at my in-laws in Tennessee. Our daughter picked up her 2nd Masters from the University of Kentucky on the 9th, then we had some school programs that our grandkids were in. We're heading home in the morning, and I think we'll hit up the Coconut Creek jamboree next week with Coconut Creek, Hialeah, Miramar, Norland and McArthur.

Santaluces 15 St Lucie West Centennial 14

Has Legacy been placed in a district yet? We were out by there a week ago, and I couldn't see anything resembling a stadium, so I guess they'll share South County with Treasure Coast and Centennial.

Oh man, did they ever. Our local paper had great coverage of Virginia high school football from across the state, and they were a fascinating follow. They steamrolled everyone except one game against George Marshall that they won by 5.

I've seen it work in Tennessee and Virginia, but those were consolidations, where at least two schools were closed and a new one opened, and they were competitive to pretty good on day one. I'm not sure where exactly Legacy will draw from, but I would assume Treasure Coast, Centennial and maybe Tradition. The Becker Road area of PSL is exploding in population. I'd guess most of the kids in the area have been attending TC. I've been out Range Line Road a few times to fish at the McCarty Preserve, but I've not been able to tell if they are building a stadium or not.

According to the (PSL) Legacy school website, they will have football this year, but I don't know if it will be restricted to JV or freshmen games. No idea if they will have their own stadium or if they will share South County Stadium with Treasure Coast, Centennial and sometimes Tradition.

We went to Traz Powell last year. Loved the parking and layout, and would love to see a big game there. How does Tropical Park compare?

We went to a jamboree last year at Palm Beach Gardens with Westwood, PBG, Norland, Atlantic and Coconut Creek. Outside of the 93 degree weather at 4:00 PM, we had a great time and saw some good football.

Where at in Tennessee? We retired and moved to Fort Pierce 7 years ago from East TN.

Day and time? I'm having football withdrawals here.

Good point about the start times. When we go out to the games, we always eat somewhere first, but being retired enables us to get out a little early. When we go to a game from Palm Beach Co on southward to Dade Co, we leave The Fort a LOT early to avoid the rush hour traffic. I can't imagine what its like to live there, get off work at 5, have to battle the traffic, then get to a game. I remember going to a game at Boca Raton a couple of years ago to watch Westwood at Boca. It took us two hours and 45 minutes to get to Boca Raton HS. When we were walking towards the gate, Westwood's bus was just pulling into the parking lot. That delayed the game by 45 minutes. Going home? After we got up on I-95, it took an hour and eight minutes to get back to The Fort.

I don't know that there's anything anyone can do. Florida has a large transient population and people have very little ties to the community. Back where I grew up in Virginia, every town had a high school, and on Friday nights, football was King. It wasn't uncommon to see crowds of 5K or more for the big games, and even the teams who were struggling mostly filled their stands. I had a friend who was a teacher at Pound, VA high school. He described Pound as a town of 1800 people, and on Friday nights, 1200 of them would show up to watch a team that was going to finish 1-9 or 2-8. Today, there are less schools due to consolidation, but the crowds haven't changed much. In Florida (at least in my experience over the years), you don't have that sense of community. The closest thing I've seen in Florida to it has been at Vero (and it's starting to dwindle there), at Sebring (had a blast there a couple of years ago when they played Lake Wales), Venice, Miami NW (love their fans and plan to go back to Traz for another game next year), and the Muck Bowl was a great experience this year.