KICKOFF CLASSICS PREDICTIONS

[Jullian]

In 2019 NW played IMG the best , in recent history. They were down 3-0 at the half. A 21-0 run for IMG in the 3rd, which I believe, was started with a punt return for a TD. Bulls held em scoreless in the 2cd & 4th qtr. They lost 24-7. 

[Ray Icaza]

4 minutes ago, Beek said:

Somehow, Poinciana got our game in. Basically it was because we were so far south of Orlando. We had a long lightning delay with about a minute to go in the first half. But we waited it out and finished the game.  Poinciana 28- Avon Park 16

Congrats Coach, great start to your season and hope it provides momentum going forward. 

[PinellasFB]

11 hours ago, THIS_IS_DILLARD said:

Being that I don’t follow img , going solely off the info on here, iMG is way down this year, lost they head coach, players transferring out left and right & this could be their most beatable team in the last 5+ years & this is Venice best chance to beat them. And that central is gonna destroy them. 
 

fast forward to tonight a running clock in the third and a 41-3 final over a very good Venice team, I know @VeniceIndiansFootball is sick right now. Keep ya head up bro. You have a chance to bounce back in a big way next week vs another very very good opp. 

IMG loses its HC every year.  Never miss a beat.

[Beek]

16 minutes ago, Ray Icaza said:

Congrats Coach, great start to your season and hope it provides momentum going forward. 

Much appreciated. I really want to say something about the kids we had transfer or move in to our school. The 5 players who previously played for or went to Osceola who are now on our roster have the best character of any kids I have had in the 9 years I've been at Poinciana. Their demeanor, attitudes and being a non selfish team player are some of the best attributes I have ever seen. You guys build quality student-athletes. Not just a bunch of thugs who play football. I know these kids may have not been a big loss to your program. But it was defiantly a big gain for our program.  We also had a Quarterback from a state final four team from NC move into our zone in the last moment. What a great surprise that was!  

We now have to get them used to playing with each other and the other players on our roster. We have 17 starters who were not on our team from last fall. Kids who moved in, some transfers in and kids who worked on their academics and made it back from poor grades from covid. We played sloppy last night. We made mistakes. We were even down 16-14 with 8 minutes to go. Avon park is no joke, they are a good team. They drove us down the field methodically. But our kids kept on working and the result shows. 

[Ray Icaza]

6 hours ago, skyway said:

Yup. 

Years ago, the many haters of Lakeland here had a field day when there appeared to be evidence that a Lakeland booster seemed to have helped some kids secure an address in the Lakeland zone. Lakeland was ousted, penalized, fined and shamed everywhere for this. IMG has ALWAYS intentionally offered quality housing to its recruits IN THE OPEN. I don't recall seeing anyone criticize them for this. It's the most blatant of double standards. Nobody else in the state (except for maybe Clearwater International*) openly recruits and houses players from all over.

* it is impermissible to mention CAI recruits and houses players from all over. It is also impermissible to suggest they may be loaded this year as a result. 

Wow, you sound like a politician sugar coating the incident.   "Appeared to be Evidence", "Booster Seemed to have Helped"??  Please!!  No telling how many kids were involved that year but a thorough investigation by the FHSAA produced 6 Convictions with $10K fine for each.   If you were honest you wouldn't be calling other local schools Lakeland Haters as they just don't want anyone poaching their players.  

[PinellasFB]

6 hours ago, skyway said:

Yup. 

Years ago, the many haters of Lakeland here had a field day when there appeared to be evidence that a Lakeland booster seemed to have helped some kids secure an address in the Lakeland zone. Lakeland was ousted, penalized, fined and shamed everywhere for this. IMG has ALWAYS intentionally offered quality housing to its recruits IN THE OPEN. I don't recall seeing anyone criticize them for this. It's the most blatant of double standards. Nobody else in the state (except for maybe Clearwater International*) openly recruits and houses players from all over.

* it is impermissible to mention CAI recruits and houses players from all over. It is also impermissible to suggest they may be loaded this year as a result. 

It's the private school no rules vs public schools abide-by-the-rules advantage.  It's why the privates need their own league and should just play each other.  Water under the bridge now with the metro vs suburban deal.  

[Ray Icaza]

2 hours ago, Beek said:

Much appreciated. I really want to say something about the kids we had transfer or move in to our school. The 5 players who previously played for or went to Osceola who are now on our roster have the best character of any kids I have had in the 9 years I've been at Poinciana. Their demeanor, attitudes and being a non selfish team player are some of the best attributes I have ever seen. You guys build quality student-athletes. Not just a bunch of thugs who play football. I know these kids may have not been a big loss to your program. But it was defiantly a big gain for our program.  We also had a Quarterback from a state final four team from NC move into our zone in the last moment. What a great surprise that was!  

We now have to get them used to playing with each other and the other players on our roster. We have 17 starters who were not on our team from last fall. Kids who moved in, some transfers in and kids who worked on their academics and made it back from poor grades from covid. We played sloppy last night. We made mistakes. We were even down 16-14 with 8 minutes to go. Avon park is not a bad team. They drove us down the field methodically. But our kids kept on working and the result shows. 

Agree, both Coach Nick as well as Coach Pinellas and their staff work tirelessly to stress discipline, good behavior, academics as well as other qualities to improve kids chances of continuing their education.  It is particularly impressive with the fact it is a TITLE 1 school, like yours and they arrive as 9th graders on campus with none of those qualities instilled in them.  I experienced this first hand when I returned a couple of years ago to sub at OHS to see for myself what is happening to our public education system.  The entire administration at that school embraces this process. Cudos to all of them for their dedication to their kids.  

[skyway]

53 minutes ago, Ray Icaza said:

Wow, you sound like a politician sugar coating the incident.   "Appeared to be Evidence", "Booster Seemed to have Helped"??  Please!!  No telling how many kids were involved that year but a thorough investigation by the FHSAA produced 6 Convictions with $10K fine for each.   If you were honest you wouldn't be calling other local schools Lakeland Haters as they just don't want anyone poaching their players.  

Point is, ANY sort of involvement in housing assistance is a scandal and met with large fines if it's any other school. IMG recruits from other schools, offers housing directly to players, and has never been fined or been in any sort of trouble whatsoever. 

[skyway]

54 minutes ago, PinellasFB said:

It's the private school no rules vs public schools abide-by-the-rules advantage.  It's why the privates need their own league and should just play each other.  Water under the bridge now with the metro vs suburban deal.  

IMG and a couple of others are in a class of their own. They offer housing to players. Typical private schools can not do this.

[Ray Icaza]

Looks like our opponent for next week, Treasure Coast rode into Rockledge last night and emerged with a victory (albeit a last second FG off a TO).  Wondering if Keem watched this game and if so what his takeaway is as both are forecast to be extremely good teams. 

[Ray Icaza]

6 minutes ago, skyway said:

Point is, ANY sort of involvement in housing assistance is a scandal and met with large fines if it's any other school. IMG recruits from other schools, offers housing directly to players, and has never been fined or been in any sort of trouble whatsoever. 

IMG doesn't compete for championships in the FHSAA, so the housing issue is irrelevant to the 463 or so schools that do want to win a championship.  You recently bragged about how Lakeland "Out Recruited" Lake Gibson for Zach Pleuss (QB) and that is the POINT!!  Get what you need by any means necessary.  

[skyway]

23 minutes ago, Ray Icaza said:

IMG doesn't compete for championships in the FHSAA, so the housing issue is irrelevant to the 463 or so schools that do want to win a championship.  You recently bragged about how Lakeland "Out Recruited" Lake Gibson for Zach Pleuss (QB) and that is the POINT!!  Get what you need by any means necessary.  

I wasn't bragging. It isn't any sort of point of pride. It's just an honest characterization of reality.

[Ray Icaza]

17 minutes ago, skyway said:

I wasn't bragging. It isn't any sort of point of pride. It's just an honest characterization of reality.

Well, I commend your admission to the REALITY of some programs.   Top programs attract top players, that is understood by all.  We just recently got a top running back from a neighboring HS, although we don't NEED him as we got excellent RB's already.  My example, you needed a QB then went and got one.  Prior to that happening, that kid had approached our staff about coming to our school as he had been playing with most of our kids in the 7v7 team for the past 5 years or so.  I have a theory of why he made the switch and went there, but it is just that.  A theory by a keen observer, not an undisputable fact. 

[Jesse]

12 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

I’m not angry with what I saw last night. I was actually happy with how our defense played. Special teams gave up a touchdown on the first play of the game and another in the third quarter. The offensive line needs to improve in a hurry. We knew that coming into the game as 4 of our 5 players were new.  The offense couldn’t stay on the field because there was almost no running room and Brook was getting pressure on almost every play, leading to fumbles and a pick-6. 

All of the Ascender’s first half points came in the first quarter. IMG’s offense was completely shut down in the second quarter. Our offense started to gain a rhythm and they put together a drive to get a field goal, and then another drive that got them to IMG’s 30 before a fumble. There was talk in the stands of a potential comeback, but IMG slammed the door on us with the fumble and then a good drive that got them into the endzone. 

In the second half IMG started running the ball just to take the air out of the game. I’m glad that Venice played IMG because they exposed a lot of areas that we need to work on. It’s all up from here. We will be better from this game, no doubt! 

Stop getting players makes your program look silly.  

[Jesse]

2 hours ago, Jullian said:

In 2019 NW played IMG the best , in recent history. They were down 3-0 at the half. A 21-0 run for IMG in the 3rd, which I believe, was started with a punt return for a TD. Bulls held em scoreless in the 2cd & 4th qtr. They lost 24-7. 

Trinity christian beat img but everyone forgets bc img was new. Anyway these schools with privates have down years.  I'm so shocked madison has not fell off.  

[DILLARDBOYZ954]

7 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

Right, because Madison County has never gotten transfers before. 

What I will say to get the conversation back on track lol, is you guys (Venice) have a awesome live broadcast. It was my first Venice game I ever watched & score aside it was pretty good very informative broadcasters. 

[Jesse]

41 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

Right, because Madison County has never gotten transfers before. 

Little 

[DisabledAccount]

14 hours ago, FBGUY1989 said:

Personally schools should stop scheduling IMG Academy 

Maybe but it should always be up the each individual school who they play 

 

Last thing we need is the FHSAA copying California and blocking certain teams Especially when a lot of teams specifically in North Florida are cowards who won't play good teams when one comes calling

[DILLARDBOYZ954]

11 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

Sometimes there are issues with the broadcast and you’ll get an error code that says “cannot broadcast at this time,” or something like that. I’ve had to call the NFHS site to get my money back a few times. 

Not NFHS , the actual broadcasting system for Venice they were live last night on YouTube 

[DisabledAccount]

14 hours ago, KeemD321 said:

Cocoa beats Merritt Island 36 -0 in a half of play. Game got called before the second half started. 

Palm Bay scrapes by Satellite 21-7. Palm Bay scoring last with 3 seconds left after Satellite tried a fake punt with 4mins left at their own 30. 

Rockledge loses to Treasure Coast 16 to 14.

Eau Gallie beats Viera and controlled the game.

Bayside beats Seabreeze yesterday 28-14. 

Speaking of Seabreeze, their starting and 2nd string QBs both played tonight against each other for Merritt Island and Cocoa.

Honestly this isn't really an upset, I know people are super high on Rockledge but Treasure Coast is the better team 

 

I do think it's a good sign for Rockledge they were able to compete with them though

[skyway]

3 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Well, I commend your admission to the REALITY of some programs.   Top programs attract top players, that is understood by all.  We just recently got a top running back from a neighboring HS, although we don't NEED him as we got excellent RB's already.  My example, you needed a QB then went and got one.  Prior to that happening, that kid had approached our staff about coming to our school as he had been playing with most of our kids in the 7v7 team for the past 5 years or so.  I have a theory of why he made the switch and went there, but it is just that.  A theory by a keen observer, not an undisputable fact. 

Players make moves for lots of reasons. I don't know anything about him. Obviously, players "shop around". It's a wild time.

[skyway]

9 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

Lakeland would have put up a much better fight than Venice did.

Lakeland wouldn't be able to get much done on offense, save for grinding out some first downs and chewing clock. Maybe Tyler Williams or Money would make a big play or two. But, I think Lakeland's defense, if they shortened the rotation and stuck with their best 11-14 players, could hang in vs. the IMG offense. Overall, IMG is a different animal and regular HS teams shouldn't be compared to them.

Venice needs Kintigh back. Even with him, a 4-win season seems likely. The schedule is just too insane. 

[skyway]

32 minutes ago, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

I think Venice can win 6 or 7 games with a push. Naples, Riverview, Sarasota, Palmetto, IMG varsity, and Clearwater all should be wins. Miami Northwestern, CMD, and Seminole are the toss-ups with SFA as an almost certain loss. 

My guess was based on thinking one loss will come to either Naples or Riverview, but I suppose that may not happen. Flying blind on CAI, but as I've said before my prediction is they will be a beast, beat Venice and have a shot at Lakeland. 

[Ray Icaza]

2 hours ago, skyway said:

Players make moves for lots of reasons. I don't know anything about him. Obviously, players "shop around". It's a wild time.

Strange, you seem to know alot about everyone and everything else Lakeland but not the QB.  Sure!!  This difference of opinion will not be decided by you or I but others who may have an interest in this topic. 

[KeemD321]

6 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Looks like our opponent for next week, Treasure Coast rode into Rockledge last night and emerged with a victory (albeit a last second FG off a TO).  Wondering if Keem watched this game and if so what his takeaway is as both are forecast to be extremely good teams. 

Honestly it was sloppy game but a dogfight. Tied at 7 at the half and Rockledge led 14 to 13 in the 4th. Lots of penalties. Rockledge defense is pretty solid. You can catch the replay of the game on space Coast daily website or their Facebook to get a better grasp. I watched the latter part of the game due to watching the Cocoa v Merritt Island game and some of the Viera v Eau Gallie and Satellite v Palm Bay game.