3A Thoughts for the Wekk

[SPCjessica2004]

I was asked to post a few thoughts about the Kickoff Classic results from the past week. In general, I never recommend ranking teams off the Kickoff classic as it's impossible to know which teams are playing to win all 4 quarters or experiment with players in different positions; however, here are some thoughts I came across (Note, these are NOT rankings, just thoughts).

1) Chaminade-Madonna is the real deal and deserving of a top 10 team in all of Florida and I would wager a top 50 team in America. On paper, Chaminade-Madonna lost to Deerfield 17-7, but when it was starters vs starters the final was 7-3 Chaminade.  If the Chaminade-Miami Central game isn't on your radar for Thursday night at Traz Powell, you need to follow the results.

2) Calvary Christian (Clearwater) probably isn't ready for prime time yet.  The Warriors boasted by several huge transfers were expected to be an offensive powerhouse under Todd Yoder's Warrior program- that maybe still the case, but going against a veteran Berkeley Prep team on the road proved to much for Calvary. If not for a long drive to end the game against the Berkeley backups the final would of been 20-10 and it wouldn't have been that close as Berkeley Prep dominated most of the game. We'll find out this week if Calvary Christian is a contender or pretender as they play Admiral Farragut a highly talented 2A power that has the athletes to match Champagnat.

3) Melbourne Central Catholic knocking of Cardinal Gibbons reaffirms that the Hustlers under coach Sizemore have morphed into a power house. The talk from the South Florida area is that Cardinal Gibbons is one of the top teams in that area; however, the Hustlers hit the road and picked up a 35-33 win. I predicted the Hustlers finished 9-1 at the start of the season, but that was before they scheduled Buford, GA.  MCC travels to Buford this week and while Florida is pulling for MCC, this is probably a battle the Hustlers will come up short in- still, this is the first of 2 out-of-state games the Hustlers are playing.

4) Ocala Trinity Catholic is going to be good this year. Yes, the Celtics lost 14-3 to Bucholz, but I think in terms of 3A this is going to be an above average year of OTC who is looking to return to their glory days. Knocking off CCC/Berkeley or Tampa Catholic is asking to much of the Celtics, but OTC doesn't play them in the regular season. I think it's realistic to expect OTC to battle for a playoff spot in the top 4.

5) Clearwater Central Catholic proved Josh and FloridaHSfootball correct by ranking them in the top 3 in 3A. (I had them #4, but moved them to #3). No football program in current 3A has been a more consistent winner over the past 20 years. CCC knocked off the #1 ranked team in Pasco County and held one of the most potent offenses in the state to 6 points in the first half of their KO Classic. CCC travels to Berkeley Prep this week.

6) Tampa Catholic.  Outside of Chaminade-Madonna, I don't think you'll find a collective group of wide receivers better than Tampa Catholic's in 3A, the speed, power and coaching has the Crusaders offense likely to put up huge numbers. QB Jacob Dean and RB Jalen Bussey are going to have huge seasons. The big question regarding Tampa Catholic as it has been in years past- can they win the big game when it counts? 

7) St. Petersburg Catholic won! Okay, this really isn't a storyline and I assure you we're still in for a long season, but come- let me have my moment. The Barons under 1st year head coach Jay Davis knocked off Bradenton Christian 25-13.  I actually think SPC will win 3 or 4 games this year which is a HUGE improvement if we do.

8) Oxbridge and American Heritage are both going to be powers in 3A this year as well.   MCC is the favorite to win 3A North but Oxbridge isn't to far behind. I do think Oxbridge is missing a few pieces to win a state championship, but we'll know more after this week.  American Heriage Delray is another program that's quickly gaining attention in the shadow of Chaminade in Region 4.

[DisabledAccount]

Who you think is better out of oxbridge and MCC?

 

And who you think is best in 3a region 1?

[SPCjessica2004]

Columbia,

Right now, I think MCC is better than Oxbridge- but, it's really too early to know; however, MCC turned some heads by beating Cardinal Gibbons. They've got some serious momentum heading into Buford this week. 




 

[BrowardHandicapper]

Great read @SPCjessica2004!  I personally am a little higher on Oxbridge then rounding out the 8 spot....To me Oxbridge does not have quite the talent of last year but they might be set up better for the post-season.   Oxbridge playing that schedule last year with a roster of probably low to mid thirties was probably a bit overkill.  Depth and injuries caught up to them in the post-season but I would imagine that the players that return from last year have excellent big game experience, are very hungry, and most importantly Oxbridge should go into the post-season healthier than last year.  Should that happen, I think Oxbridge will actually bring more postseason heat  in 2017 than they did versus Chaminade in 2016. 

[SPCjessica2004]

Thanks Broward! Those weren't rankings, they were just random thoughts but I numbered them to seperate thoughts on each team. I have Oxbridge in my top 5. Right now, they're number 4 on my list.

[Cat_Scratch]

On 8/21/2017 at 10:56 AM, SPCjessica2004 said:

I was asked to post a few thoughts about the Kickoff Classic results from the past week. In general, I never recommend ranking teams off the Kickoff classic as it's impossible to know which teams are playing to win all 4 quarters or experiment with players in different positions; however, here are some thoughts I came across (Note, these are NOT rankings, just thoughts).

3) Melbourne Central Catholic knocking of Cardinal Gibbons reaffirms that the Hustlers under coach Sizemore have morphed into a power house. The talk from the South Florida area is that Cardinal Gibbons is one of the top teams in that area; however, the Hustlers hit the road and picked up a 35-33 win. I predicted the Hustlers finished 9-1 at the start of the season, but that was before they scheduled Buford, GA.  MCC travels to Buford this week and while Florida is pulling for MCC, this is probably a battle the Hustlers will come up short in- still, this is the first of 2 out-of-state games the Hustlers are playing.
 

Enjoy reading your reviews. You really should consider writing for your local sports rag.

MCC will travel to MCC... really looking to this match up. I hear Buford is possibly the 5th best team in Georgia. That's big.

Go MCC...

[Cat_Scratch]

Buford, by OleRabidOne

https://www.prepgridiron.com/topic/3079-lets-talk-img-lite/

[Zoe Boy]

2 hours ago, Cat_Scratch said:

Buford, by OleRabidOne

https://www.prepgridiron.com/topic/3079-lets-talk-img-lite/

I don't understand what the man writes 3/4 of the time!!

[SPCjessica2004]

I guess he thinks highly of Buford.

[DarterBlue2]

5 hours ago, Cat_Scratch said:

Buford, by OleRabidOne

https://www.prepgridiron.com/topic/3079-lets-talk-img-lite/

Based on his post, I have to say, he named himself well!

[DisabledAccount]

1 hour ago, SPCjessica2004 said:

I guess he thinks highly of Buford.

Not really he more of a GA homer 

 

He supports any GA school playing Florida 

[Zoe Boy]

7 hours ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Not really he more of a GA homer 

 

He supports any GA school playing Florida 

Nope. He thinks Georgia as a state should be call Colquitt County... That's all he knows..

[Cat_Scratch]

TheMaximumHornetSting

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Posted 5 hours ago

  5 hours ago, 954gator said:

Here's 2019  for Bartram Trail.  (2020 has zero listed)

http://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/Recruits?Player.Enabled=False&Recruitment.Enabled=True&PlayerSport.PlayerInstitution.Institution.Key=9427

All I'm saying is there is no guarantee when a smaller class school is matching up with a large class team.   The only team in GA that is consistently on the same talent level with the larger classes is Buford IMO.   

Buford has atleast 10 Juniors with D1 offers. As one of the Announcers stated at the Corky Kell. 

[DisabledAccount]

1 hour ago, Cat_Scratch said:

TheMaximumHornetSting

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Posted 5 hours ago

  5 hours ago, 954gator said:

Here's 2019  for Bartram Trail.  (2020 has zero listed)

http://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/Recruits?Player.Enabled=False&Recruitment.Enabled=True&PlayerSport.PlayerInstitution.Institution.Key=9427

All I'm saying is there is no guarantee when a smaller class school is matching up with a large class team.   The only team in GA that is consistently on the same talent level with the larger classes is Buford IMO.   

Buford has atleast 10 Juniors with D1 offers. As one of the Announcers stated at the Corky Kell. 

Bartram don't have a good defense 

 

We put up 33 points with over 5 players out and a backup qb

 

The love fest for bartram trail is insane, they aren't any more of contenders than past 2 years and of all the north 7a teams listed as contenders would be the worst matchup for sta in orlando for that very reason 

[Proseteye]

Let's face it, until some school gets an unlimited sports budget and can recruit like IMG, there is no Florida team that can seriously contend with STA. This is not finding fault since they're a private school and can pretty much do whatever they want. This is somewhat strange as there are quite a few OOS teams that can compete with them and even defeat them 50% of the time. Supposedly Florida has the best HS athletes, so I'm told. So, don't understand the reasoning. Is it possibly the discipline that STA adheres to?

[Zoe Boy]

8 hours ago, Proseteye said:

Let's face it, until some school gets an unlimited sports budget and can recruit like IMG, there is no Florida team that can seriously contend with STA. This is not finding fault since they're a private school and can pretty much do whatever they want. This is somewhat strange as there are quite a few OOS teams that can compete with them and even defeat them 50% of the time. Supposedly Florida has the best HS athletes, so I'm told. So, don't understand the reasoning. Is it possibly the discipline that STA adheres to?

It's a reason they don't go undefeated every year.. The problem is nobody can beat the in 7A.. Honestly move them to 8a or down to 6a or combine 8a and 7A and they wouldn't be as dominant...

[SPCjessica2004]

I received an interesting message yesterday from a Tampa Berkeley Prep fan pointing out to me that their OT Nicholas Petite-Frere was ranked the #1 Offensive Tackle in America by 247 and that Berkeley deserves more praise from others and myself.

Berkeley Prep is ranked #4 in the AP Poll for 3A,  #13 in the Spectrum Sports poll which covers Pasco, HIllsborough, Polk, Manatee, Pinellas counties. Josh has Berkeley at #6 in 3A. Max Preps has Berkeley Prep in the low 80's in the State. There are other polls that have them in the top 5 of 3A and the Tampa Bay Times has a few of their players in their top 100 in their coverage area, including Petite-Frere who is their #1 ranked player.

That's a remarkable amount of praise for the program. How much more praise do you want young Buc? (See what I did there?)

But, I'll humor the young fan. Of all the polls out there, the most favorable to Berkeley Prep is the Florida AP Poll. There are 3 teams ranked above the Buccaneers:

Chaminade-Madonna, Oxbridge Academy, Melbourne Central Catholic. 

I would have Berkeley Prep as a 7-10 point underdog against Oxbridge and MCC and probably a 21-28 point underdog to Chaminade.  I think most other people somewhat familiar with the programs would set a similar line with Berkeley.

Overall, I disagree with the Berkeley Prep fans take they aren't getting enough "love" from the media, especially considering the praise they've received in the rankings.



 

[DisabledAccount]

1 hour ago, Zoe Boy said:

It's a reason they don't go undefeated every year.. The problem is nobody can beat the in 7A.. Honestly move them to 8a or down to 6a or combine 8a and 7A and they wouldn't be as dominant...

It's not that no one in 7a can beat them it's that no one can beat them on a consistent basis 

 

Sooner or later they will not win 7a despite what people hope for 

 

But i agree, sta should be moved up to 8a, having them as only private in 7a dont make sense, 8a has a lot of teams that could probably challenge them, in north and south region 

[DisabledAccount]

4 minutes ago, SPCjessica2004 said:

I received an interesting message yesterday from a Tampa Berkeley Prep fan pointing out to me that their OT Nicholas Petite-Frere was ranked the #1 Offensive Tackle in America by 247 and that Berkeley deserves more praise from others and myself.

Berkeley Prep is ranked #4 in the AP Poll for 3A,  #13 in the Spectrum Sports poll which covers Pasco, HIllsborough, Polk, Manatee, Pinellas counties. Josh has Berkeley at #6 in 3A. Max Preps has Berkeley Prep in the low 80's in the State. There are other polls that have them in the top 5 of 3A and the Tampa Bay Times has a few of their players in their top 100 in their coverage area, including Petite-Frere who is their #1 ranked player.

That's a remarkable amount of praise for the program. How much more praise do you want young Buc? (See what I did there?)

But, I'll humor the young fan. Of all the polls out there, the most favorable to Berkeley Prep is the Florida AP Poll. There are 3 teams ranked above the Buccaneers:

Chaminade-Madonna, Oxbridge Academy, Melbourne Central Catholic. 

I would have Berkeley Prep as a 7-10 point underdog against Oxbridge and MCC and probably a 21-28 point underdog to Chaminade.  I think most other people somewhat familiar with the programs would set a similar line with Berkeley.

Overall, I disagree with the Berkeley Prep fans take they aren't getting enough "love" from the media, especially considering the praise they've received in the rankings.



 

Most fans will always see their team as team as the top and anything else as a snub

 

If the Berkley fan wants to state their case that fan is more than welcome to join up and do so, maybe getting a view from their side could convince people 

[Zoe Boy]

2 hours ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

It's not that no one in 7a can beat them it's that no one can beat them on a consistent basis 

 

Sooner or later they will not win 7a despite what people hope for 

 

But i agree, sta should be moved up to 8a, having them as only private in 7a dont make sense, 8a has a lot of teams that could probably challenge them, in north and south region 

Ok no one in 7A can't beat them consistently.. But in 6A or 8A they would lose a game or 2 most years... Like this year Besides their secondary that is awesome, they not better then last years team that lost 2 games... 

 

[Cat_Scratch]

4 minutes ago, Zoe Boy said:

Ok no one in 7A can't be them consistently.. But in 6A or 8A they would lose a game or 2 most years... Like this year Besides their secondary that is awesome, they not better then last years team that lost 2 games... 

 

I agree with Zoe here, STA would dominate any class they play in. They are just that kind of team. They SHOULD play IMG for in state bragging rights. justsayin...

[DisabledAccount]

9 minutes ago, Cat_Scratch said:

I agree with Zoe here, STA would dominate any class they play in. They are just that kind of team. They SHOULD play IMG for in state bragging rights. justsayin...

I feel sta could out coach img

[DisabledAccount]

17 minutes ago, Zoe Boy said:

Ok no one in 7A can't beat them consistently.. But in 6A or 8A they would lose a game or 2 most years... Like this year Besides their secondary that is awesome, they not better then last years team that lost 2 games... 

 

I could see them falling in 7a this year 

 

I had same feeling with Central, BTW and armwood last year 

 

There a reason sta has never won 4 straight state championships despite being perhaps the most consistently loaded team in Florida for past 2 decades 

 

All great runs end eventually, this ain't California or some state in the mountains that you can win 100 games in a row or 7 or 8 titles in a row 

 

Too much talent for extended runs by Florida teams to sustain for a long term run like other teams in weaker states have

[Cat_Scratch]

6 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

I feel sta could out coach img

I wanna see the game happen... I don't know who would  win...

[Cat_Scratch]

4 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

I could see them falling in 7a this year 

 

I had same feeling with Central, BTW and armwood last year 

 

There a reason sta has never won 4 straight state championships despite being perhaps the most consistently loaded team in Florida for past 2 decades 

 

All great runs end eventually, this ain't California or some state in the mountains that you can win 100 games in a row or 7 or 8 titles in a row 

 

Too much talent for extended runs by Florida teams to sustain for a long term run like other teams in weaker states have

The only team I see that has a tiny chance is Plant. Would like to see Venice get er done but I just don't see that happening.