Who Has the Toughest Schedule This Season? Comparison of 24 Teams

[OldSchoolLion]

Below are some of the better teams in the state.  They are in no particular order other than geography and alphabetical.  Listed after each are all of their non-district games that I can find.  District games against "tough" opponents are noted in parentheses.  I have bolded the games against stronger teams(this is subjective).   

IMO, it is a toss-up between Northwestern, Central and Carol City for the toughest schedule.  I don't think any other teams come close to them.  Recognizing their brutal district schedules, they could have taken the easy way out by scheduling some powder puffs...but no way.  Even without their district games, they would have some of the toughest schedules in the state.  

Opinions anyone???

 

NORTH FL

Bartram Trail-     Apopka, St Augustine, Cocoa, Clay, Nease, Brunswick(GA)

Columbia-     Bolles, Trinity Christian, Madison County, Suwanee, Gainesville, Lee, Fletcher, Buchholz 

Raines-     Lee, White, Fletcher, Mandarin, Sandalwood, Oakleaf, LIncoln, Ribault

St Augustine-     Baker County, Ponte Vedra, Bartram Trail, Menendez, Palatka, Palm Coast

 

CENTRAL FL

Apopka-     Lakeland, Bartram Trail, Dr Phillips, Mandarin, Ocoee, Boone, Oak Ridge (Wekiva-district)

Armwood-     Tampa Bay Tech, Plant, Jefferson, Plant City, Durant (Hillsborough-district)

Cocoa-     Bartram Trail, Viera, Rockledge, Glades Central, Palm Bay, Treasure Coast, Jensen Beach, Bradford

Dr Phillips-     Apopka, Wekiva, Mainland, Lee County(GA), W Orange, Timber Creek

Osceola-     Viera, Lake Gibson, Jesuit, Lake Brantley, St Cloud, Winter Haven

Plant-     Armwood, Hillsborough, Robinson, Newsome

Venice-     Champagnat, Vero Beach, Riverview, Charlotte, Manatee

Viera-     Cocoa, Osceola, Rockledge, Fort Dorchester(SC), Merritt Island, Heritage, Palm Bay

Wekiva-     N Gwinnett(GA), Jones, Winter Park, Dr Phillips, Lake Nona, Olympia, University (Apopka-district)

 

SOUTH FL

American Heritage Plantation-     Carol City, St Joseph(NJ), Miramar, Chaminade-Madonna 

Cardinal Gibbons-     Miami Central, Milton(GA), Dillard, Douglas, McArthur (American Heritage Plantation -district)

Carol City-     Columbus, American Heritage Plantation, Southridge, Booker T Washington, American, Dr Krop (Northwestern, Central, Norland-District)

Chaminade-Madonna-     Deerfield Beach, Muscle Shoals(AL), AH Plantation, University, Booker T Washington, Piper, Northeast, Doral Academy, Flanagan

Central-      St John's(DC), St Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Gibbons, Booker T Washington, Edison, Ely (CarolCity, Northwestern, Norland-District)

Columbus-      Lake Gibson, Northwestern, Carol City, Booker T Washington, Mater Academy, Belen Jesuit,  (Coral Gables-District)

Deerfield Beach-     Chaminade-Madonna, Buford(GA), St Thomas Aquinas, Westlake(GA), Stranahan

Dwyer-     Park Vista, Atlantic, Glades Central, PB Gardens, Wellington

Northwestern-     Miramar, Columbus, South Dade, Booker T Washington, IMG, Jackson (Carol City, Central, Norland-district)

St Thomas Aquinas-     Dematha(MD), Miami Central, Deerfield Beach, Miramar, Flanagan, Piper, Stranahan, Boyd Anderson

Southridge-     Carol City, Booker T Washington, Rockledge, Dr Krop American, N Miami (S Dade-district) 

[561_Fan]

Factoring in school/roster size I would add Pahokee to this list...Vero, Atlantic (Delray), Seminole Ridge, Cocoa, and Glades Central...also plays Palm Beach Lakes/Gardens and Boynton Beach (though they aren’t championship caliber, they have the depth to cause problems later in the season).

[DisabledAccount]

Honestly i think we should judge the schedules by region (North, Central, South)

 

The teams in North and Central FL don't have the luxury of having 10 or more teams in FL top 25 within a 2 hour radius 

 

South Florida teams have a much easier times scheduling tough because of so many teams in close proximity 

[nolebull813]

Miami Central by far has the toughest 

[DisabledAccount]

Including oos games Miami Central best overall

 

Involving only in state games its MNW 

[DisabledAccount]

3 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

Miami Central by far has the toughest 

MNW schedule isn't that bad

 

Now if you replaced ely with IMG then yeah Central by far 

 

Edison and Jackson are probably close to balanced

[OldSchoolLion]

1 hour ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Honestly i think we should judge the schedules by region (North, Central, South)

The teams in North and Central FL don't have the luxury of having 10 or more teams in FL top 25 within a 2 hour radius 

South Florida teams have a much easier times scheduling tough because of so many teams in close proximity 

I agree it is more difficult for teams in north FL and that going to south FL is a burden.  But Tampa/Lakeland/Orlando is 2-2.5 hours, and that opens up lots of options.  Has Columbia played a regular season game south of Gainesville in the past 10 years?  Even your favorite team Bartram Trail is going to Cocoa this year.

When was the last time ya'll played a regular season game against Raines? Ponte Vedra? St Augustine?  Clay?  Bradford? University Christian?  It's not south FL, but one could build a pretty formidable schedule there if so inclined.

 

 

 

[DisabledAccount]

2 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

I agree it is more difficult for teams in north FL and that going to south FL is a burden.  But Tampa/Lakeland/Orlando is 2-2.5 hours, and that opens up lots of options.  Has Columbia played a regular season game south of Gainesville in the past 10 years?  Even your favorite team Bartram Trail is going to Cocoa this year.

When was the last time ya'll played a regular season game against Raines? Ponte Vedra? St Augustine?  Clay?  Bradford? University Christian?  It's not south FL, but one could build a pretty formidable schedule there if so inclined.

 

 

 

Bolles and Trinity Christian are far better than UC, you trying to imply that UC is a great game but Bolles and Trinity Christian isn't? 

 

Everytime Trinity Christian plays University Christian recently the result is UC getting waxed 

 

And yeah we have,  2011 and 2012 we played against vanguard 

 

In fact here's a list of some opponents since 2000

 

Mainland

Valdosta

Godby

Niceville 

Clay

Choctawatchee 

Madison County 

Jones

Land O Lakes 

North Marion 

Vanguard 

Nease (with Tim Tebow)

Fleming Island 

East Ridge 

Camden County (when they won State in GA)

Baker County 

Lincoln

Trinity Christian 

Bolles

Escambia 

 

All being in regular season 

 

Not to mention playing eventual state champ Raines in koc,  as well as in a span of 4 years we played

 

2013 Trinity Christian (eventual state champs) 

2014 West Orange (eventual 8a district champs and had win over eventual 8a champs in regular season)

2015 and 2016 against Apopka (Apopka made 8a playoffs both years)

 

So yeah Columbia has played plenty of good teams as well as playing quite a few south of Gainesville 

[OldSchoolLion]

12 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Bolles and Trinity Christian are far better than UC, you trying to imply that UC is a great game but Bolles and Trinity Christian isn't? 

as well as playing quite a few south of Gainesville 

No, am not implying that.  Am simply offering that University Christian is an option for scheduling.  

On another note....an advantage you have over teams to the south.  You've got Valdosta and Lowndes across the border and Colquitt County not too far away.  You have the potential for an OOS game against a nationally ranked team within a 2-hour drive.     

[DisabledAccount]

Just now, OldSchoolLion said:

No, am not implying that.  Am simply offering that University Christian for scheduling.  

On another note....an advantage you have over teams to the south.  You've got Valdosta and Lowndes across the border and Colquitt County not too far away.  You have the potential for an OOS game against a nationally ranked team within a 2-hour drive.     

I agree in fact I'm going to try pushing for us to get a game with lowndes or colquitt on next year scheduling cycle 

[OldSchoolLion]

15 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Bolles and Trinity Christian are far better than UC, you trying to imply that UC is a great game but Bolles and Trinity Christian isn't? 

 

Everytime Trinity Christian plays University Christian recently the result is UC getting waxed 

 

And yeah we have,  2011 and 2012 we played against vanguard 

 

In fact here's a list of some opponents since 2000

 

Mainland

Valdosta

Godby

Niceville 

Clay

Choctawatchee 

Madison County 

Jones

Land O Lakes 

North Marion 

Vanguard 

Nease (with Tim Tebow)

Fleming Island 

East Ridge 

Camden County (when they won State in GA)

Baker County 

Lincoln

Trinity Christian 

Bolles

Escambia 

 

All being in regular season 

 

Not to mention playing eventual state champ Raines in koc,  as well as in a span of 4 years we played

 

2013 Trinity Christian (eventual state champs) 

2014 West Orange (eventual 8a district champs and had win over eventual 8a champs in regular season)

2015 and 2016 against Apopka (Apopka made 8a playoffs both years)

 

So yeah Columbia has played plenty of good teams as well as playing quite a few south of Gainesville 

How many of the teams above located south of Gainesville have you played on the road during the regular season since 2008?   

[DisabledAccount]

Just now, OldSchoolLion said:

How many of the teams above located south of Gainesville have you played on the road during the regular season?   

Idk my records didn't list home or away only who we played

 

But considering quite a few of them we back to back years i would guess those were home and home series 

 

Vanguard is one ik for a fact we did home and home

 

[OldSchoolLion]

9 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Idk my records didn't list home or away only who we played

But considering quite a few of them we back to back years i would guess those were home and home series 

Vanguard is one ik for a fact we did home and home

 

I think Columbia could have one of the tougher schedules in the state without going anywhere near south Florida.  A non-district schedule like that below is as good, if not better, as most of the teams listed above.

Colquitt County or Lowndes County

Wekiva or Dr Phillips or Apopka

Raines

St Augustine 

Madison County

Trinity Christian

[DisabledAccount]

1 minute ago, OldSchoolLion said:

I think Columbia could have one of the tougher schedules in the state without going anywhere near south Florida.  A non-district schedule like that below is as good, if not better, as most of the teams listed above.

Colquitt County or Lowndes County

Wekiva or Dr Phillips or Apopka

Raines

St Augustine 

Madison County

Trinity Christian

I agree

 

But they won't drop Suwannee, Gainesville or Buchholz because they want gate games 

 

Only way we would have space to play all those listed would be if they went to regions and we were no longer forced to play Jacksonville district 

 

I keep trying to convince them to drop Suwannee and just treat buchholz and Gainesville as rivals, that would give us 4 non conference games to work with and I'm sure getting 4 of the ones above (plus maybe another in koc)  we would have a schedule we can roll with

[DisabledAccount]

If i could get rid of districts this is kind of schedule i would set up

 

 

(Koc) Dr Phillips 

Gainesville 

@Colquitt County 

Buchholz 

Lowndes

@Apopka

Bye week

@St Augustine 

@Mainland 

Trinity Christian 

@Madison County 

Cocoa

 

Year 2 can switch

 

The travel wouldn't be too bad second year

 

@ lowndes 

@Gainesville and buchholz 

@Trinity Christian 

 

So @ Dr Phillips and @Cocoa would be only travels over 2 hours but with apopka,  mainland, st Augustine, madison County and colquitt County coming to Lake City we should get solid gate on all home games so we could make up for those 2 travel costs

[Trelle]

I honestly don’t know, but do places like the ESPN/Disney sports complex or something in central FL charge a lot? Like if hypothetically speaking say a team from Palm Beach or Broward find neutral grounds there against a Columbia or Lincoln that’s a half way(ish) point so they don’t have to travel as far ever occur or get a few south teams and north teams to play there over a weekend? I know they do a lot of OOS games there but if 2 teams wanted to play is there a high cost? Just curious if anyone knows.

[DisabledAccount]

4 minutes ago, Trelle said:

I honestly don’t know, but do places like the ESPN/Disney sports complex or something in central FL charge a lot? Like if hypothetically speaking say a team from Palm Beach or Broward find neutral grounds there against a Columbia or Lincoln that’s a half way(ish) point so they don’t have to travel as far ever occur or get a few south teams and north teams to play there over a weekend? I know they do a lot of OOS games there but if 2 teams wanted to play is there a high cost? Just curious if anyone knows.

Disney complex usually hosts a few games,  in fact Columbia has played in it before (i think against mainland in late 90s)

 

But these days they tend to work towards oos games 

[DisabledAccount]

I wish the state of Florida would have a kickoff event like GA but my guess is FL don't think they could make enough money from the event 

[Guest]

8 hours ago, 561_Fan said:

Factoring in school/roster size I would add Pahokee to this list...Vero, Atlantic (Delray), Seminole Ridge, Cocoa, and Glades Central...also plays Palm Beach Lakes/Gardens and Boynton Beach (though they aren’t championship caliber, they have the depth to cause problems later in the season).

I think some people forget that Pahokee is a 1A school. Those dudes are playing 8A teams. Vero is a constant playoff team and Atlantic was the 8A state runner up last year. Oh and they also play Cocoa! Wow. To me that is a crazy schedule for a 1A school. I'm positive that those kids would play anyone. I love that about them.

[OldSchoolLion]

1 hour ago, Just A Coach said:

I think some people forget that Pahokee is a 1A school. Those dudes are playing 8A teams. Vero is a constant playoff team and Atlantic was the 8A state runner up last year. Oh and they also play Cocoa! Wow. To me that is a crazy schedule for a 1A school. I'm positive that those kids would play anyone. I love that about them.

Madison County is another small school that has played some really aggressive schedules over the years.  Look at the teams they have traveled to outside their area, bolded below.    

FYI-during this time frame they are 6-0 against a certain routinely ranked school nearly quadruple their size and have outscored them 194-87 in those games.  I am not saying who, though. Darn, somehow I cannot delete this icon below.

 

2017 @Wakulla, Columbia, @Dunnellon, @Rickards

2016 @Wakulla, Rickards

2015 Wakulla, @Brooks County(GA), Rickards, 

2014 Tampa Catholic, Brooks County(GA), Gainesville, @Pace, Deland, N Miami Beach

2013 @Gainesville, @Tampa Catholic, @Deland, Pace, @Baker County

2012 @Edgewater, Gainesville

2011 @Colquitt County(GA), @Gainesville, Pine Forest

2010 Leon, Columbia, Godby, @Lincoln, @Lake Gibson, Osceola

2009 @Leon, @Columbia, @Godby, Lincoln, @Osceola 

2007 @Coffee County(GA), @Wakulla, @Godby

2006 Coffee County(GA), Columbia, @Mainland, @Apopka 

2005 Valdosta(GA), @Columbia, Mainland, Apopka

2004 @Valdosta, @Columbia, @Lincoln

[DisabledAccount]

13 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Madison County is another small school that has played some really aggressive schedules over the years.  Look at the teams they have traveled to outside their area, bolded below.    

FYI-during this time frame they are 6-0 against a certain routinely ranked school nearly quadruple their size and have outscored them 194-87 in those games.  I am not saying who, though. Darn, somehow I cannot delete this icon below.

 

2017 @Wakulla, Columbia, @Dunnellon, @Rickards

2016 @Wakulla, Rickards

2015 Wakulla, @Brooks County(GA), Rickards, 

2014 Tampa Catholic, Brooks County(GA), Gainesville, @Pace, Deland, N Miami Beach

2013 @Gainesville, @Tampa Catholic, @Deland, Pace, @Baker County

2012 @Edgewater, Gainesville

2011 @Colquitt County(GA), @Gainesville, Pine Forest

2010 Leon, Columbia, Godby, @Lincoln, @Lake Gibson, Osceola

2009 @Leon, @Columbia, @Godby, Lincoln, @Osceola 

2007 @Coffee County(GA), @Wakulla, @Godby

2006 Coffee County(GA), Columbia, @Mainland, @Apopka 

2005 Valdosta(GA), @Columbia, Mainland, Apopka

2004 @Valdosta, @Columbia, @Lincoln

Yeah our last win against Madison was 1966 but then again we didn't play between that game until 2003

 

But that winning streak ends next month 

[OldSchoolLion]

13 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

Yeah our last win against Madison was 1966 but then again we didn't play between that game until 2003

 

But that winning streak ends next month 

...interesting fact.  Only 2 teams in the past 15 years have allowed 21 points against Madison County and won(Deland and Pace).  If Columbia gets in a shootout with them, they will likely lose. 

In the past 6 games, Columbia only held Madison County below 21 once, and still lost 19-0.  Everyone knows how to beat Madison County...stop the run...but much easier said than done.   

[KeemD321]

Rockledge has a pretty good schedule for themselves this year as well. The BBQ Bowl against Cocoa is gonna be another war. The flames of the Rivalry on the field competition wise is a wildfire again. Back to the glory days.

https://mobile.twitter.com/coachkd15/status/1022936614350323713/photo/1

[DisabledAccount]

47 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

...interesting fact.  Only 2 teams in the past 15 years have allowed 21 points against Madison County and won(Deland and Pace).  If Columbia gets in a shootout with them, they will likely lose. 

In the past 6 games, Columbia only held Madison County below 21 once, and still lost 19-0.  Everyone knows how to beat Madison County...stop the run...but much easier said than done.   

In the first half we did stop the run 

 

The only big plays in the first half were pass plays,  if they can't pass on us they have no chance of winning in Lake City 

 

Mark this down 

 

Our rush defense will stop them

[OldSchoolLion]

41 minutes ago, KeemD321 said:

Rockledge has a pretty good schedule for themselves this year as well. The BBQ Bowl against Cocoa is gonna be another war. The flames of the Rivalry on the field competition wise is a wildfire again. Back to the glory days.

https://mobile.twitter.com/coachkd15/status/1022936614350323713/photo/1

Man, Rockledge fans in for a treat...Viera, Bolles, Miami Southridge and Palm Bay all at home.  Bet there are not too many teams in the state with two good teams from other areas of the state visiting them.