OHS KOWBOYS 46 - WINTER HAVEN BLUE DEVILS 6 (@ HALFTIME)

[Ray Icaza]

Made the drive down as I thought this game would be a little bit more competitive even though LAZ had us by +21.  Our two top RB's didn't dress as well as another RB in the mix plus down a couple of other starters, but that didn't matter with them being completely outmanned on both sides of the line of scrimmage.  They were no match in the trenches and that became obvious early on thus the halftime score.  Think we scored every way imaginable, offense, defense and special teams and though Winter Haven had defeated their first two opponents by a combined score of 80-0 that turned out to be very deceiving.  Hard to believe we have so many mediocre and downright pitiful teams out there because of the transfer situation.   Left at halftime and some of my buddies told me that our coaches virtually played everybody in the second half under a running clock.   No reason to boast winning a game like this.  On to the next. 

[Nulli Secundus]

13 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Made the drive down as I thought this game would be a little bit more competitive even though LAZ had us by +21.  Our two top RB's didn't dress as well as another RB in the mix plus down a couple of other starters, but that didn't matter with them being completely outmanned on both sides of the line of scrimmage.  They were no match in the trenches and that became obvious early on thus the halftime score.  Think we scored every way imaginable, offense, defense and special teams and though Winter Haven had defeated their first two opponents by a combined score of 80-0 that turned out to be very deceiving.  Hard to believe we have so many mediocre and downright pitiful teams out there because of the transfer situation.   Left at halftime and some of my buddies told me that our coaches virtually played everybody in the second half under a running clock.   No reason to boast winning a game like this.  On to the next. 

Be honest.  You made the drive to support your Kowboys, lol.  You did give me an idea to look at football trends in Polk County at micro level.  That will be today's project between college football.  Winter Haven is in a precarious position geographically being surrounded literally by every other program in the county.  I posted about this some time back but there are dark days ahead for the Blue Devils. 

[Ray Icaza]

7 hours ago, Nulli Secundus said:

Be honest.  You made the drive to support your Kowboys, lol.  You did give me an idea to look at football trends in Polk County at micro level.  That will be today's project between college football.  Winter Haven is in a precarious position geographically being surrounded literally by every other program in the county.  I posted about this some time back but there are dark days ahead for the Blue Devils. 

Always honest and yes, I drove down to support the Kowboys, not the Blue Devils or your Naughts.  My point is if I had known they were this bad I would have probably stayed home as I assume you saw in my last sentence that we decided to leave right after halftime.  My understanding is that Winter Haven for years has lost a lot of its talent to "OTHER" schools. Seems like after the first two games they were hoping to be on a better trajectory than they've been the last few years.  Obviously, you have much better insight to their situation than I have as it has to be awful for their supporters, parents and players. 

[Nulli Secundus]

2 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Always honest and yes, I drove down to support the Kowboys, not the Blue Devils or your Naughts.  My point is if I had known they were this bad I would have probably stayed home as I assume you saw in my last sentence that we decided to leave right after halftime.  My understanding is that Winter Haven for years has lost a lot of its talent to "OTHER" schools. Seems like after the first two games they were hoping to be on a better trajectory than they've been the last few years.  Obviously, you have much better insight to their situation than I have as it has to be awful for their supporters, parents and players. 

I was joking when I made that comment about the Kowboys, hence the lol to end that sentence.  I would hope you didn't venture into Polk to see Lakeland or Winter Haven.

I'll make this brief.  Winter Haven is in trouble!  They surpassed last season's win total with victories over Zephyrhills Christian and Lake Region but there's a great possibility they may not win another game this season.  Best chances will be against Parrish Community and George Jenkins.  I've always regarded Winter Haven as a basketball school opposed to football.  I'm not saying that they completely stink but they've certainly had more success on the court instead of the gridiron.  To put it in perspective, since 1996, the Blue Devils all-time average is just over .500, .55 to be exact.  In 29 years (completion of this season will be 30), the Blue Devils have 11 losing seasons.  Most of those seasons occurred before open transfers became legal and quite honestly, Winter Haven has had some of their best seasons since that rule went into effect.  

Winter Haven is THE OLDEST public school (founded 1886) in Polk County never to have made an appearance in the FHSAA state finals since 1963 followed by Mulberry (founded 1914).  The only other public schools that have not made a finals appearance are relatively new;

• 1994 George Jenkins (drew students from Lake Gibson, Kathleen, Lakeland & N.W. Bartow)
• 1995 Lake Region (pulled large swaths of Winter Haven and portions of N.E. Bartow)
• 2005 Ridge (Overflow from Haines City)
• 2008 Tenoroc (Lake Gibson, Lakeland, Auburndale)
• 2021 Davenport (Ridge and Haines City)
• BBB (opening in Polk County side of Poinciana 2026 to relieve Haines City).

One could even make the point that for every new school that opened, existing schools experienced a drop in talent which directly translated into on-field results, or lack thereof.  That might be my next research project, lol. Back to Winter Haven, there are roughly 2 private/charter schools WITH football programs that siphon just enough talent that could possibly make an impact if they were wearing Blue Devil jerseys.  When you factor in the proximity to other programs that can at the very least put together a winning program, the Blue Devils are doomed.  

Prior to open transfers, Winter Haven's biggest threat when it came to retaining football talent was Lake Wales. The Lake Wales charter system began back in 2004 and with the Highlanders under that umbrella, they could easily accept players from the entire county with Winter Haven being the closest stop.  Now with legal transfers, Winter Haven loses talent in every direction at will.

[Ray Icaza]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge of Polk history, especially when schools opened and grew.   Over the years we haven't played Winter Haven much and probably a bit more against Auburndale that seems to share the "SAME TOWN" with them.  I know our basketball team participates in summer leagues down there that include Winter Haven and Bartow that have been very good in that sport.  Sad of their history in football while having a nice facility for their home games in Dennison Stadium with excellent seating on both sides of the field.  Funny how Polk and Osceola being adjacent counties, similar in geographical size that share farming, cattle, citrus, etc... in the past yet Polk developed about a dozen towns while Osceola only two.  Fascinating. 

[Nulli Secundus]

5 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Thanks for sharing your knowledge of Polk history, especially when schools opened and grew.   Over the years we haven't played Winter Haven much and probably a bit more against Auburndale that seems to share the "SAME TOWN" with them.  I know our basketball team participates in summer leagues down there that include Winter Haven and Bartow that have been very good in that sport.  Sad of their history in football while having a nice facility for their home games in Dennison Stadium with excellent seating on both sides of the field.  Funny how Polk and Osceola being adjacent counties, similar in geographical size that share farming, cattle, citrus, etc... in the past yet Polk developed about a dozen towns while Osceola only two.  Fascinating. 

You're welcome.  Believe it or not, I learn some things as well.  It's one thing to have a belief or suspicion about topics.  It's totally different when there's evidence to clearly illustrate what that looks like in terms of performance.  When I stated I'll keep it brief, it truly was brief as I just gathered W/L records for WH.  What I'm working on now is gathering all the Polk County schools, then looking at their overall performance at home and away against other Polk Schools and across the state.  It's a massive undertaking when starting from scratch.  I give @LAZ @LAZINDEX @LAZL @nolebull813 @Joshua Wilson and everyone here I missed for compiling and maintaining data because it is a lot of work to say the least.

Winter Haven is in a unique position to have success in both boys and girls basketball.  Bartow almost had a 3-peat a few years ago but to your point, Bartow and Winter Haven have been among the more successful programs on the court.  Regarding Dennison stadium, I remember playing junior high ball against Westwood in that stadium.  Very intimidating at that age and undoubtedly the largest stadium I played in while in junior high.  I remember thinking their stadium looks better than Bryant.  It certainly has the potential and I truly believe that if Blue Devil football had a little more success, Dennison stadium could easily rival Bryant stadium.  Towering stands on both sides that go from endzone to endzone.

Regarding how Polk and Osceola diverged trajectories, I can only guess that Osceola capitalized on tourism opportunities that Polk didn't have access to.  We couldn't keep Cypress Gardens and Circus World (later Boardwalk & Baseball) open for those that remember, lol.  In Polk, rail and phosphate mining played a huge role in Polk County's growth. Rail goes through all 17 cities/towns and were used to move all types of good, mainly phosphate and citrus.  Although lots of rail has been pulled over the decades, Polk still have has over 300 miles of active rail lines for phosphate operations.  Both industries are still highly visible today especially around SR 60 and points south including  Mulberry, Bartow and Ft. Meade.  Portions of Lakeland now sit on reclaimed land, particularly Lakeland Highlands and East Lakeland where Coronet Mining Company use to have a facility and is where Tenoroc High School gets its name (Coronet spelled backwards).