Jump to content

Dark horses??


DisabledAccount

Recommended Posts


I actually believe that the Trinity Catholic Celtics will surprise everyone in 3A this coming season. We have been down the last two seasons due to the shakeup in the coaching staff from top to bottom and getting the players acclimated to a wholly new system. By the time the playoffs rolled around we had mostly put it all together and gave Tampa Catholic a game. We have a good looking up and coming Jr QB in King Redd, a couple of speedy RB's, and a big returning OL. We also have a new offensive coordinator in Thomas Elliot former HC of Leeds HS in Alabama. where he won 6 state championships and set many state offensive records. This will free up coach Sturdivant to concentrate on his specialty which is defense. We, of course, will know more after the spring game and KO classic. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Atlantic could surprise. They called in some reinforcements for sure.

Definitely could be an 8A opportunity for Atlantic. I state that not only with Atlantic potentially already possibly looking stronger than last year but also on the overall regression of 8A South (particularly in Broward) to continue from last year. Atlantic definitely has a shot to make a run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually believe that the Trinity Catholic Celtics will surprise everyone in 3A this coming season. We have been down the last two seasons due to the shakeup in the coaching staff from top to bottom and getting the players acclimated to a wholly new system. By the time the playoffs rolled around we had mostly put it all together and gave Tampa Catholic a game. We have a good looking up and coming Jr QB in King Redd, a couple of speedy RB's, and a big returning OL. We also have a new offensive coordinator in Thomas Elliot former HC of Leeds HS in Alabama. where he won 6 state championships and set many state offensive records. This will free up coach Sturdivant to concentrate on his specialty which is defense. We, of course, will know more after the spring game and KO classic.

Probably a very good call as a dark horse. Agree that Trinity Catholic finished a lot stronger than they started last year ( from what I could tell). You know the capabilities of your team very well and have always called your Celtics like you see them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Probably a very good call as a dark horse. Agree that Trinity Catholic finished a lot stronger than they started last year ( from what I could tell). You know the capabilities of your team very well and have always called your Celtics like you see them.

broward any potential darkhorses you seeing from south florida?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if they would be dark horse teams but off the top of my head.....I expect South Dade, Ely, and perhaps Plantation and Dillard to perform better than last year.

 

Dillard could have a good shot of being a dark horse just because of that schedule, if they can get a winning record with it they should be battle tested come playoffs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Probably a very good call as a dark horse. Agree that Trinity Catholic finished a lot stronger than they started last year ( from what I could tell). You know the capabilities of your team very well and have always called your Celtics like you see them.

Thanks Broward. I try and do my best. Have been a fan of the Celtics since their first team in 2001 and have been with them through when they were a power and then when they were not so much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i know it may not exactly be a dark horse but i can see Ponte vedra staying at top of their district despite TCA and Bolles moving in

 

ik they may be losing their QB but they were a solid team and from what i seen are well coached so wouldnt surprise me if they fended off the new privates moving in and defend the district championship sucessfully, but could be wrong lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i know it may not exactly be a dark horse but i can see Ponte vedra staying at top of their district despite TCA and Bolles moving in

 

ik they may be losing their QB but they were a solid team and from what i seen are well coached so wouldnt surprise me if they fended off the new privates moving in and defend the district championship sucessfully, but could be wrong lol

2016 Ponte Vedra to me in their 5A State runner up from caught me off guard. I will add also that as great as the QB looked versus AHP, you could tell that PV ran a offense that caused some problems for AHP.

 

To me 2016 PV was what 2016 Venice was advertised to be - the team that will give a National Power a scare.

I expect the Sharks to do well in 2017 but I am probably underestimating them - again. Jacksonville area football has been pretty good of late overall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2016 Ponte Vedra to me in their 5A State runner up from caught me off guard. I will add also that as great as the QB looked versus AHP, you could tell that PV ran a offense that caused some problems for AHP.

 

To me 2016 PV was what 2016 Venice was advertised to be - the team that will give a National Power a scare.

I expect the Sharks to do well in 2017 but I am probably underestimating them - again. Jacksonville area football has been pretty good of late overall.

Jax has good teams but usually talent is too spread out to have ones make deep runs except for teams like university Christian (who in a very limited, nicest way of putting it, class in 2A) or teams like Bolles or tca who usually just have more talent then any team in their bracket but was glad to see a jax public besides Raines make a push and they proved a lot of people wrong

 

Last 2 years the 5a has low-key had the best title game, 5a is critized as being the weakest large class but in my opinion it might be the most underrated classification in Florida, not the best but certainly not the worst

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2016 Ponte Vedra to me in their 5A State runner up from caught me off guard. I will add also that as great as the QB looked versus AHP, you could tell that PV ran a offense that caused some problems for AHP.

 

To me 2016 PV was what 2016 Venice was advertised to be - the team that will give a National Power a scare.

I expect the Sharks to do well in 2017 but I am probably underestimating them - again. Jacksonville area football has been pretty good of late overall.

Broward, most likely Venice would have done better against an AHP than they were able to against St. Thomas. They just did not match up well against Aquinas. I feel Branden River, who Venice beat twice, would have "looked better" against St. Thomas. Matchups do affect how games play out, and Venice was too slow for St. Thomas. That said, it is not as if any 7a playoff team did materially better against St Thomas than Venice did. By playoff time, Aquinas was playing at a higher level than they did early in the season. This is evidenced by how they handled both Dwyer and Plant in the playoffs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Broward, most likely Venice would have done better against an AHP than they were able to against St. Thomas. They just did not match up well against Aquinas. I feel Branden River, who Venice beat twice, would have "looked better" against St. Thomas. Matchups do affect how games play out, and Venice was too slow for St. Thomas. That said, it is not as if any 7a playoff team did materially better against St Thomas than Venice did. By playoff time, Aquinas was playing at a higher level than they did early in the season. This is evidenced by how they handled both Dwyer and Plant in the playoffs.

That has been the norm of STA of late. By week 10 or November they seem to step it up. I would also add that 2016 AHP probably finished stronger then they started as well.

 

When I watched Venice play STA, they looked like they wanted to go home. There was no fight or punch back - pretty much from the get go.

I understand AHP was not STA but I saw a hungrier team in Ponte Vedra versus a national power with similar circumstances- the cards heavily stacked against them.

 

Venice- Better versus AHP ...Yes. But, for what it's worth, I don't think Venice would have mustered much versus AHP in December either....At least not like Ponte Vedra did.

 

Ponte Vedra looked like they belonged in a 5A State Championship game. Teams like Mater Academy, Dwyer, and Venice do not look like 7A caliber state reps to me. All three of those 7A South teams would have been wrecked by the almost every other South classification rep last year. Do you think Venice, Dwyer, Mater Academy type teams could have banged with Southridge, Carol City, AHP, BTW?

Ponte Vedra showed they could hold their own. I can't say the same for Venice. I just feel Ponte Vedra and perhaps Lake Gibson were the skeptics worse nightmares year. Skeptics have been skeptical of Venice of late year after year and that is a battle that the skeptics are getting the last laugh.

 

Until Venice can at least put a scare on STA which has been done by several South Florida teams the last few years, they are going to dismissed as fools gold to many.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree broward

 

Ponte vedra and lake Gibson proved they deserved to be there and put up one heck of a fight despite being given basically no chance by experts in those games

 

If there was a deserving team to receive honorable mention in those title games its those 2

 

Venice looked hot all year but clearly brought their worst against the toughest game and most important game of season and were clearly outmatched

 

Lets hope someone can put a scare in sta because them rolling through playoffs and state has gotten old and stale, wouldn't you agree broward?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree broward

 

Ponte vedra and lake Gibson proved they deserved to be there and put up one heck of a fight despite being given basically no chance by experts in those games

 

If there was a deserving team to receive honorable mention in those title games its those 2

 

Venice looked hot all year but clearly brought their worst against the toughest game and most important game of season and were clearly outmatched

 

Lets hope someone can put a scare in sta because them rolling through playoffs and state has gotten old and stale, wouldn't you agree broward?

Braden River put up a fight in 2015 to STA, to a degree. Sometimes it is just matchup as Darter pointed out...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.



  • Posts

    • Here’s a scenario that will cook your noodle. There’s an 11th grader at a D rated public school. Lives in a bad neighborhood with a single mom and a bunch of siblings. Dirt poor, and struggle just to eat and keep the lights on. He can’t get a part time job to help out because he has to watch his little siblings while his mom works.    The school he plays for has poor attendance at the football games, and is always bad. He is a super star for them and tons of new bandwagon fans start to attend the games because they are good and he is the reason. School is making tons of new money.    Season is over. Back to reality for him. School year is over. Summer hits. Some “runner” on behalf of the rich local private school “offers” his mom, him, and all his siblings a way out of poverty. New place to live, food on the table, and an opportunity to get a quality education and maximize exposure for all the top colleges to see. A once in a lifetime opportunity to get his family out of poverty. What say you? Does he say no and continue to barely survive, or does he take the deal? 
    • To make it short and sweet. I am against breaking the rules. If there is a rule that seems outdated or unfair then it should be amended/changed/repealed with majority rule 
    • I am a huge proponent of innocent until proven guilty, and due process with credible evidence. I support a credible investigation, and not some witch hunt by disgruntled folks both near and far from the program. Let’s hope they can get to the bottom of this quickly 
    • Thanks for admitting that you do not know why they transferred or the several others that mysteriously transferred to that school (not a known powerhouse).  Thanks for also agreeing you specifically have to ask all the kids that left for seemingly inexplicable reasons why.  That happened as a matter of fact which raises suspicion thus the launch of an investigation by the FHSAA who hopefully will ask YOUR question as well as many more to get to the bottom of it.  Any fair-minded person should readily support this investigation.  If you don't support and admitted you don't know the facts, you are basically guilty of what some are accusing you of.  I would hope you would like to know the TRUTH as opposed to simply attacking the messengers.  
    • Nolebull, so here's the scenario:   A coach or a booster from a high school in Florida approaches a kid who plays football at a different school and offers that kid and/or that kid's parents a boatload of benefits (money, an apartment, or anything else that would, under existing rules, qualify as an "impermissible benefit").  Let's break this down:  it's OK for the kid and his family to accept the impermissible benefits as long as they believe that they're making the 'best decision' for their family.  And it's OK for the coach or booster to provide such impermissible benefits because that somehow improves the kid's chances of succeeding as an athlete and/or student.  Wait, it's not just "OK" for the coach or booster to do that, they should be encouraged to do that because that's the only way they'll be able to keep up with all the other coaches and boosters that are breaking the rules by providing impermissible benefits to other kids.  Have I got that right?  Do you want to do away with all the rules involving recruiting, benefits, transferring, etc. or just keep the rules in place, but not enforce them?   #Lordoftheflies
  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...