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Kudos to Forest Hill


OldSchoolLion

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Between 2006-2013, I believe Forest Hill won only 6 regular season games.  Since 2014, the 7A Falcons have won 25. Last year, they played in only their third playoff game in school history.

But they could never beat district foe, Dwyer, right?  Well, in 2015, playing #1 state-ranked Dwyer, Forest Hill was ahead 10-7 in the closing minutes of the game.  Dwyer needed a fantastic catch on a 4th down conversion to keep alive a drive that allowed them to score a winning TD with only one minute remaining.

Forest Hill is off to a 2-0 start this season and could very well be undefeated when they face off with Dwyer next month.  Regardless of what happens, it has been a great turnaround for the Falcons.  Props to the players and coaching staff.

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To go one step further, they lost 37 straight games at one point. For a long time, the school struggled to keep students at Forest Hill. The losses many contended were from the changing demographics of Forest Hill as Jones and Smith left and replaced with Gonzalez and Martinez who were not interested in football. The current coach has been Head Coach since 2013 and on staff the 2011 season. It helps to have some continuity which is what a lot of teams lack. It also helped when the Athletic Director Kurt Van Valkenburgh (former DC at Florida Athletic University) came in and cleaned up the mess as players grades were doctored before him. The new AD (since 2015) focused on new equipment for the weight room and had been a strength and conditioning guy for Palm Beach Atlantic University and Forest Hill.

While the community often looks inward (former players, alumni, people with connection to area), I think one of the things that has helped Forest Hill has been a disconnect to the past. The Head Coach played high school football in Pennsylvania and worked at several high schools in the Treasure and Palm Beach areas. It gives him an outsider perspective. Same as the AD.

http://highschoolbuzz.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2009/10/23/forest-hills-37-game-losing-streak-ends/

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7 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

I gave you ours a few weeks ago

 

I forgot to ask did you see anything interesting in those results 

Yeah. Remember I found some scores that wasn't even on there. 

I want to know what's up with the game against the Cuban team. This is the only one so far I heard vs a Cuban team. 

I found results vs Puerto Rico, Antilles, Panama, Mexico and Canada but when Columbia played a team from Cuba it might be the one and only 

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12 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

Yeah. Remember I found some scores that wasn't even on there. 

I want to know what's up with the game against the Cuban team. This is the only one so far I heard vs a Cuban team. 

I found results vs Puerto Rico, Antilles, Panama, Mexico and Canada but when Columbia played a team from Cuba it might be the one and only 

I might have to go digging into that game and see what details i can pull up

 

Maybe LCR will have archives going back to those years

 

 

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59 minutes ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

I gave you ours a few weeks ago

 

I forgot to ask did you see anything interesting in those results 

I made this post to honor the kids and coaches of Forest Hill, and nothing more.  I cannot believe you would take the spotlight away from them and start a discussion about historical football records....utterly inconsiderate.     

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2 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

From 1987-2012 they won 22 games. 

That's in 26 years. 2 years out of the 26 they went 4-6 and 5-5 which means they won 13 games in 20 years!!! That's insane 

also during those 26 years they lost 229 games! 

22-229 

Thanks so much for sharing that information about Forest Hill, nolebull.  So, it sounds like they won more games in the past 2 years than they did in 25.  That is insane!  I can't imagine how excited folks at that school must be.    

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30 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

Thanks so much for sharing that information about Forest Hill, nolebull.  So, it sounds like they won more games in the past 2 years than they did in 25.  That is insane!  I can't imagine how excited folks at that school must be.    

Yeah I didn't post it to belittle the program. Exactly the opposite. I highlighted the fact that historically they have had a long stretch of futility, so to start 2-0 is a remarkable feat given the past results. 

I hope if they win 5 games this year and miss the playoffs they reward the kids with a bowl game. I will keep an eye out on it and help any way I can in helping it happen 

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15 minutes ago, nolebull813 said:

Yeah I didn't post it to belittle the program. Exactly the opposite. I highlighted the fact that historically they have had a long stretch of futility, so to start 2-0 is a remarkable feat given the past results. 

I hope if they win 5 games this year and miss the playoffs they reward the kids with a bowl game. I will keep an eye out on it and help any way I can in helping it happen 

That's great.  I bet some of these schools would get a kick out of the fact we are talking about them.  My hope is that when we mention them somebody on here might know someone at the school and let them know we are recognizing their efforts.  

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