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Class 3A- The End!


SPCjessica2004

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The 2018 Florida High School Football has come to an end this past weekend and with it we've crowned a repeat champion. Congrats are in order for Chaminade-Madonna for not only playing the most difficult schedule in the classification but for one of the most dominant post-season runs for all classifications. For the second year in a row the Lions only gave up 3 points in the south end of the 3A bracket and only gave up 13 points total in all of the 3A playoffs.

While the trophy and the accolades go to the Lions there was actually some really good football played in the classification as a whole. Here is my final Class 3A rankings now that the finals are behind us:

1) Hollywood Chaminade Madonna (11-2): The Lions repeat as champions thanks in part to a very strong senior class. 9 of the 11 starters in the secondary hold multiple power 5 offers and the offense continued its relentless assault in the state championship game putting up 38 points. By the time national signing day rolls around the Lions could have as many as 20 of their 23 seniors sign to play college football somewhere in the country, even if it's not at the power 5 level.   Looking into 2019, the Lions are once again stocked with talent:  DB/WR Dedrick Stanley II, RB Thadius Franklin, WR/DB Ronny Boudreu,  WR Jordan Cash, OL/DL Willie Moise, OL/DL Joseph Habinowski, WR/S Elijah Cannon, WR/DBJosh Jenkins,  DE Jamal Johnson all hold power 5 offers or are committed to a power 5 school.

2) Clearwater Central Catholic (12-1): For the 2nd year in a row the Marauders only loss came to Chaminade-Madonna. Outside of the two losses to the Lions, the Marauders have taken their program to the next level to the tune of a 44-5 record since 2015.  While the Marauders graduate QB Rory Hicks,  WR JerJuan Newton WR Brett Seither, DT Kennedy Roberts the Marauders are probably in the best position of any 3A team going into 2019 due to the amount of depth they are returning including their entire offensive line and 8 out of 11 on defense. CCC also returns numerous college prospects highlighted by RB/DT Jerzhan Newton,  WR/DB/RB Makkah Jordan,  LB/RB Melvin Jordan,  WR/CB Giacarlo Margareho, WR/CB Brandon Kennedy, OL/DL Kayson Romalle, Ol/DL Isaiah Edwards and LB Harrison Thomas.

3) West Palm Beach King's Academy (11-2): The Lions of King's Academy were a trendy top 5 pick early in the season, but after an exciting regular season and a tremendous playoff run they are a top 3 team in 3A to me. The Lions deserve credit for being the only team in 3A score a TD on Chaminade's defense and are a very well coached team. Expect to see quite a few of the Lions players on the all-state team including Qb Justin Wake.   Looking into the future, King's could make another run in 2019. While they lose some big time seniors, they have some strong leadership coming back with Issac Scroggins, Presley Almond, Jayvon Wynn and a few stout linemen also returning.

4) American Heritage Delray (9-4):  The Stallions return to powerhouse status is well on its way thanks in part to a strong 2018 campaign. The Stallions had some big time wins early in the year against Belen Jesuit, Monsignor Pace and Pensacola Catholic. The losses to University School and Glades Central were expected, but the loss to Bishop Verot still confuses me. The Stallions will be hit hard due to graduation going into 2019 particularly with the graduation of DE Mike Morris, Dallis Small and a few others; however, the Stallions return a fair bit as well going into 2019 including QB Zach Bohannon, Jamal Potts and Hayden Griers.  

5) Florida High School (8-4): The Seminoles were the early season favorite to get to Orlando and came within 2 points of achieving that goal. The Seminoles were one of the teams impacted by hurricane Michael midway through the season, but despite coming up short the season was still capped with a second consecutive regional championship. The Seminoles should be good going into 2019. Like most other 3A programs, they lose a fair amount to graduation but have enough to be a playoff worthy team going into 2019 behind Willie Taggart Jr and a host of other talented play makers.

If I were rounding out a top 10, this is how it would look:

6) Tampa Berkeley Prep- Regional Final run for the Bucs. Josh Youngblood lived up to the hype. Good team coming back in 2019.
7) Orlando First Academy- Regional Final run coming up short 1 point. Strong season for the Royals.
8) Pensacola Catholic- All eyes will be on the Crusaders who, if they stay in 3A, will be a top 5 team in many individuals eyes.
9) Baldwin- Excellent season for the Indians. Likely moving to 1A.
10) Tampa Catholic- Crusaders bring a lot back in 2019. Will they be 3A or 4A?

---------------
With the season done questions have already risen about 2019. The truth is I cannot project 2019 since we do not even know who will be and will not be in class 3A next year. I will respond to a few questions I've received though

1) Will Jacksonville Trinity Christian return to 3A?

JaxTCA won 4 championships in a row in 3A before moving to 5A. JaxTCA moved to 5A since they could not fill a 10 game schedule in 3A without significant travel. In 5A they are placed in a district which automatically gave them 5 games.  JaxTCA may not have won a state championship in 5A (yet), but they've consistently been a top ranked program in 5A. JaxTCA could return to 3A, but they will run into the same problem they had 2 years ago. Who will play them to fill a 10 game schedule.   My guess? They remain in 5A got now.

2) Will Chaminade move to 4A or 5A?

Chaminade-Madonna has now been to 3 consecutive state championships and won 2 in a row. Many, many individuals are calling for them to move to 4A to face more competition.  In reality, I see them remaining in 3A. Unlike Jacksonville Trinity who moved up due to not being able to fill a 10 game schedule- Chaminade can fill a 10 game schedule and remain in 3A if they choose, but their schedule will be ugly. It would probably end up being a schedule that looks like Miami Central, AH-P, Deerfield, Booker T, Miramar, Columbus and other powerhouses.   Chaminade is graduating 23 seniors off of a 44 player varsity roster. Depending on who you believe, everybody in Miami is pounding the doors down to transfer to Chaminade. Just spending 5 minutes on twitter and the rumor mill is going crazy.

My guess? Chaminade remains in 3A. There's no value in them moving to 4A since it doesn't solve the scheduling issue, thus they would need to move to 5A for some relief. I do not think the 2019 version of Chaminade, even with transfers and what they have returning, would be a great 5A team, they would just be another team in the mix. The reality though is that AH-D, the only team capable of competing with Chaminade in region 4-3A is likely to be in 4A next year thus Chaminade would not face any resistance what-so-ever until the state semi finals.

3) Who will and will not remain in 3A?

No clue! We have no idea where the new cutoffs will be and we won't know until 12/21. My guesses? Baldwin, Taylor County, Ft. White move to 1A and a few of the lesser successful private schools in region 4 elect to go independent.  Pensacola Catholic might be forced to move to 5A if that happens because their closest 3A region team would be Florida High in Tallahassee.

Tampa Catholic and American Heritage are 4A schools based on the current cutoffs and I'm thinking will be 4A schools in 2019/2020, but if all the public schools go to 1A as reported by BigBendPreps the FHSAA will need to drastically alter the cutoffs for 3A due to lack of teams. The current cutoff is 291-680. I do NOT have the student population reports for 2018, but my best guesstimate would be cutoffs of 330-745ish as the cutoffs for 2019/2020. That would likely keep Tampa Catholic in 3A as the biggest 3A team, but American Heritage in 4A.


I'll post on this thread again when tentative classifications are released!





 

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2 hours ago, SPCjessica2004 said:

The 2018 Florida High School Football has come to an end this past weekend and with it we've crowned a repeat champion. Congrats are in order for Chaminade-Madonna for not only playing the most difficult schedule in the classification but for one of the most dominant post-season runs for all classifications. For the second year in a row the Lions only gave up 3 points in the south end of the 3A bracket and only gave up 13 points total in all of the 3A playoffs.

While the trophy and the accolades go to the Lions there was actually some really good football played in the classification as a whole. Here is my final Class 3A rankings now that the finals are behind us:

1) Hollywood Chaminade Madonna (11-2): The Lions repeat as champions thanks in part to a very strong senior class. 9 of the 11 starters in the secondary hold multiple power 5 offers and the offense continued its relentless assault in the state championship game putting up 38 points. By the time national signing day rolls around the Lions could have as many as 20 of their 23 seniors sign to play college football somewhere in the country, even if it's not at the power 5 level.   Looking into 2019, the Lions are once again stocked with talent:  DB/WR Dedrick Stanley II, RB Thadius Franklin, WR/DB Ronny Boudreu,  WR Jordan Cash, OL/DL Willie Moise, OL/DL Joseph Habinowski, WR/S Elijah Cannon, WR/DBJosh Jenkins,  DE Jamal Johnson all hold power 5 offers or are committed to a power 5 school.

2) Clearwater Central Catholic (12-1): For the 2nd year in a row the Marauders only loss came to Chaminade-Madonna. Outside of the two losses to the Lions, the Marauders have taken their program to the next level to the tune of a 44-5 record since 2015.  While the Marauders graduate QB Rory Hicks,  WR JerJuan Newton WR Brett Seither, DT Kennedy Roberts the Marauders are probably in the best position of any 3A team going into 2019 due to the amount of depth they are returning including their entire offensive line and 8 out of 11 on defense. CCC also returns numerous college prospects highlighted by RB/DT Jerzhan Newton,  WR/DB/RB Makkah Jordan,  LB/RB Melvin Jordan,  WR/CB Giacarlo Margareho, WR/CB Brandon Kennedy, OL/DL Kayson Romalle, Ol/DL Isaiah Edwards and LB Harrison Thomas.

3) West Palm Beach King's Academy (11-2): The Lions of King's Academy were a trendy top 5 pick early in the season, but after an exciting regular season and a tremendous playoff run they are a top 3 team in 3A to me. The Lions deserve credit for being the only team in 3A score a TD on Chaminade's defense and are a very well coached team. Expect to see quite a few of the Lions players on the all-state team including Qb Justin Wake.   Looking into the future, King's could make another run in 2019. While they lose some big time seniors, they have some strong leadership coming back with Issac Scroggins, Presley Almond, Jayvon Wynn and a few stout linemen also returning.

4) American Heritage Delray (9-4):  The Stallions return to powerhouse status is well on its way thanks in part to a strong 2018 campaign. The Stallions had some big time wins early in the year against Belen Jesuit, Monsignor Pace and Pensacola Catholic. The losses to University School and Glades Central were expected, but the loss to Bishop Verot still confuses me. The Stallions will be hit hard due to graduation going into 2019 particularly with the graduation of DE Mike Morris, Dallis Small and a few others; however, the Stallions return a fair bit as well going into 2019 including QB Zach Bohannon, Jamal Potts and Hayden Griers.  

5) Florida High School (8-4): The Seminoles were the early season favorite to get to Orlando and came within 2 points of achieving that goal. The Seminoles were one of the teams impacted by hurricane Michael midway through the season, but despite coming up short the season was still capped with a second consecutive regional championship. The Seminoles should be good going into 2019. Like most other 3A programs, they lose a fair amount to graduation but have enough to be a playoff worthy team going into 2019 behind Willie Taggart Jr and a host of other talented play makers.

If I were rounding out a top 10, this is how it would look:

6) Tampa Berkeley Prep- Regional Final run for the Bucs. Josh Youngblood lived up to the hype. Good team coming back in 2019.
7) Orlando First Academy- Regional Final run coming up short 1 point. Strong season for the Royals.
8) Pensacola Catholic- All eyes will be on the Crusaders who, if they stay in 3A, will be a top 5 team in many individuals eyes.
9) Baldwin- Excellent season for the Indians. Likely moving to 1A.
10) Tampa Catholic- Crusaders bring a lot back in 2019. Will they be 3A or 4A?

---------------
With the season done questions have already risen about 2019. The truth is I cannot project 2019 since we do not even know who will be and will not be in class 3A next year. I will respond to a few questions I've received though

1) Will Jacksonville Trinity Christian return to 3A?

JaxTCA won 4 championships in a row in 3A before moving to 5A. JaxTCA moved to 5A since they could not fill a 10 game schedule in 3A without significant travel. In 5A they are placed in a district which automatically gave them 5 games.  JaxTCA may not have won a state championship in 5A (yet), but they've consistently been a top ranked program in 5A. JaxTCA could return to 3A, but they will run into the same problem they had 2 years ago. Who will play them to fill a 10 game schedule.   My guess? They remain in 5A got now.

2) Will Chaminade move to 4A or 5A?

Chaminade-Madonna has now been to 3 consecutive state championships and won 2 in a row. Many, many individuals are calling for them to move to 4A to face more competition.  In reality, I see them remaining in 3A. Unlike Jacksonville Trinity who moved up due to not being able to fill a 10 game schedule- Chaminade can fill a 10 game schedule and remain in 3A if they choose, but their schedule will be ugly. It would probably end up being a schedule that looks like Miami Central, AH-P, Deerfield, Booker T, Miramar, Columbus and other powerhouses.   Chaminade is graduating 23 seniors off of a 44 player varsity roster. Depending on who you believe, everybody in Miami is pounding the doors down to transfer to Chaminade. Just spending 5 minutes on twitter and the rumor mill is going crazy.

My guess? Chaminade remains in 3A. There's no value in them moving to 4A since it doesn't solve the scheduling issue, thus they would need to move to 5A for some relief. I do not think the 2019 version of Chaminade, even with transfers and what they have returning, would be a great 5A team, they would just be another team in the mix. The reality though is that AH-D, the only team capable of competing with Chaminade in region 4-3A is likely to be in 4A next year thus Chaminade would not face any resistance what-so-ever until the state semi finals.

3) Who will and will not remain in 3A?

No clue! We have no idea where the new cutoffs will be and we won't know until 12/21. My guesses? Baldwin, Taylor County, Ft. White move to 1A and a few of the lesser successful private schools in region 4 elect to go independent.  Pensacola Catholic might be forced to move to 5A if that happens because their closest 3A region team would be Florida High in Tallahassee.

Tampa Catholic and American Heritage are 4A schools based on the current cutoffs and I'm thinking will be 4A schools in 2019/2020, but if all the public schools go to 1A as reported by BigBendPreps the FHSAA will need to drastically alter the cutoffs for 3A due to lack of teams. The current cutoff is 291-680. I do NOT have the student population reports for 2018, but my best guesstimate would be cutoffs of 330-745ish as the cutoffs for 2019/2020. That would likely keep Tampa Catholic in 3A as the biggest 3A team, but American Heritage in 4A.


I'll post on this thread again when tentative classifications are released!





 

Excellent job!

It was been a pleasure reading your posts the entire season!!

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5 minutes ago, Jags904 said:

Trinity is going to stay in 5A I believe. They’ll be in a district with Raines. 

If the cutoff is 745, you will see Bolles in 3A. 

Are you sure Baldwin will go to 1A? I had heard they were happy in 3A 

According to numerous respected individuals who cover HS sports which includes our own Josh Wilson the FHSAA is not going to let teams appeal to move up or down in classification as in years past. Once you receive your classification, that's it- no appeals.

What isn't known is if there was a "commitment" application that a team would commit to playing in a specific class. In other words, JaxTCA could have provided a student enrollment number and said 'We want to play in 5A in 2019 and 2020' but once the commitment was sent it, it could not be appealed or changed, it would be binding.

Others have indicated that the classification system as far as how it's been used in the past is getting shaken up substantially since the FHSAA took a deep, hard look at each classification. 

There's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers or people 'in the know' willing to talk right now. I guess we'll all wait until the weekend and find out ourselves!

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1 hour ago, SPCjessica2004 said:

According to numerous respected individuals who cover HS sports which includes our own Josh Wilson the FHSAA is not going to let teams appeal to move up or down in classification as in years past. Once you receive your classification, that's it- no appeals.

What isn't known is if there was a "commitment" application that a team would commit to playing in a specific class. In other words, JaxTCA could have provided a student enrollment number and said 'We want to play in 5A in 2019 and 2020' but once the commitment was sent it, it could not be appealed or changed, it would be binding.

Others have indicated that the classification system as far as how it's been used in the past is getting shaken up substantially since the FHSAA took a deep, hard look at each classification. 

There's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers or people 'in the know' willing to talk right now. I guess we'll all wait until the weekend and find out ourselves!

Really? That’d be interesting. Well Bolles and TCA will be 3A by enrollment then. 

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Looking at the new 3A, it's pretty cut and dry.  There's a lot of good teams, a really good team and 2 great teams.

Jacksonville Trinity Christian returning to 3A clearly puts them as an overwhelming favorite; however, I believe that the 2019 version of Chaminade, after they get the kids rumored to be transferring in, will go blow for blow with them. You guys just have no idea the amount of star power that's going to be transferring into that program in January, the list I've seen is impressive on many different levels.

In the north you have JaxTCA and while there are some good teams and up and coming teams, nobody that could challenge them right now.

In the south you have Chaminade and then CCC and then nobody that would really challenge either team. 

I think JaxTCA and Chaminade in 2019 will be top 20 teams in Florida (JaxTCA in the top 8, Chaminade in the 9-15 range). CCC will be in the 28-33 range and after that there will be a dropoff. I see a lot of parity outside of the 3 previously mentioned teams. This will make for an exciting regional rounds and give us an exciting state championship game.








 

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