Hillsborough County - HS Football Hotbed or Land of Mediocrity?

[OldSchoolLion]

Hillsborough County has 30 major hs football programs.  Below are the combined records of each over the past 4 seasons(including playoff games) and the playoff record of each over the past 4 seasons.  Only 3 teams (Armwood, Plant and Jesuit) are routinely contenders for a state title.  10 teams have won at least one playoff game during that time frame.

I ask the question in the thread title because Hillsborough has always left me wanting for more.  Seems to me that one of the most populous counties in arguably the country's hottest hs football state would have more than a few really strong teams.  Why are there not more?  Is it just me, or does Hillsborough have a disproportionate number of mediocre programs?

 

Winning Programs

Armwood-     51-6   13-4 in p/o games

Berkeley Prep-     27-15   3-2 in p/o games

Bloomingdale-     25-19   2-2 in playoff games

Chamberlain-    24-17   no p/o games

Durant-     24-18    0-1 in p/o games

East Bay-     24-16   no p/o games

Gaither-     23-19   0-2 in p/o games

Hillsborough-     25-17   1-2 in p/o games

Jefferson-     27-20   4-4 in p/o games

Jesuit-     43-9   10-4 in p/o games

Plant-    45-9   10-4 in p/o games

Plant City-    30-13    2-2 in p/o games

Steinbrenner-      22-18   0-1 in p/o games 

Tampa Bay Tech-     34-13   4-4 in p/o games

Tampa Catholic-     31-15   4-4 in p/o games

 

Losing Programs

Alonso-     15-25 

Brandon-     17-26

Blake-     16-25 

Freedom-     13-26

King-     9-34 

Lennard-     11-30 

Leto-     1-39

Middleton-     17-24 

Newsome-     19-21

Riverview-     14-26

Robinson-     16-21

Sickles-     20-22   0-2 in p/o games

Spoto-     12-27

Strawberry Crest-     3-37

Wharton-    15-25 

 

 

 

[DarterBlue2]

The Armwood loss number needs to be edited. 

[ORabidOne]

On 4/28/2019 at 10:26 PM, OldSchoolLion said:

Hillsborough County has 30 major hs football programs.  Below are the combined records of each over the past 4 seasons(including playoff games) and the playoff record of each over the past 4 seasons.  Only 3 teams (Armwood, Plant and Jesuit) are routinely contenders for a state title.  10 teams have won at least one playoff game during that time frame.

I ask the question in the thread title because Hillsborough has always left me wanting for more.  Seems to me that one of the most populous counties in arguably the country's hottest hs football state would have more than a few really strong teams.  Why are there not more?  Is it just me, or does Hillsborough have a disproportionate number of mediocre programs?

 

Winning Programs

Armwood-     51-6   13-4 in p/o games

Berkeley Prep-     27-15   3-2 in p/o games

Bloomingdale-     25-19   2-2 in playoff games

Chamberlain-    24-17   no p/o games

Durant-     24-18    0-1 in p/o games

East Bay-     24-16   no p/o games

Gaither-     23-19   0-2 in p/o games

Hillsborough-     25-17   1-2 in p/o games

Jefferson-     27-20   4-4 in p/o games

Jesuit-     43-9   10-4 in p/o games

Plant-    45-9   10-4 in p/o games

Plant City-    30-13    2-2 in p/o games

Steinbrenner-      22-18   0-1 in p/o games 

Tampa Bay Tech-     34-13   4-4 in p/o games

Tampa Catholic-     31-15   4-4 in p/o games

 

Losing Programs

Alonso-     15-25 

Brandon-     17-26

Blake-     16-25 

Freedom-     13-26

King-     9-34 

Lennard-     11-30 

Leto-     1-39

Middleton-     17-24 

Newsome-     19-21

Riverview-     14-26

Robinson-     16-21

Sickles-     20-22   0-2 in p/o games

Spoto-     12-27

Strawberry Crest-     3-37

Wharton-    15-25 

 

 

 

I would think that it is a similar situation to MANY metro counties in Georgia! Exhibit A would be Gwinnett county, population 900,000 and growing! There are probably 25-30 high schools in the county! But it seems as though it is ALWAYS the same five or six, who are in the mix for a state title!(And they routinely brag of having the greatest feeder system in the country) So, you would think that the LUUUUV would be spread out! MY contention, that it may be the same in Hillsborough county, as it is in Gwinnett! That a majority of the talent, perennially congregates at those same schools! 

As an aside, talent helps, but isn't always a major contributor as to who has the powerhouse programs in a given area. Take Atlanta metro for example! It is one of the three of four hotbeds for high school athletes in the country.(Dekalb, Fulton, Cobb, Clayton, Henry, Rockdale, and Forsyth counties) Yet RARELY, do Atlanta metro teams win state titles! Gwinnett county is the exception, with the likes of Brookwood, Parkview, Archer, Grayson, North Gwinnett, and Norcross!

[DarterBlue2]

27 minutes ago, ORabidOne said:

As an aside, talent helps, but isn't always a major contributor as to who has the powerhouse programs in a given area. Take Atlanta metro for example! It is one of the three of four hotbeds for high school athletes in the country.(Dekalb, Fulton, Cobb, Clayton, Henry, Rockdale, and Forsyth counties) Yet RARELY, do Atlanta metro teams win state titles! Gwinnett county is the exception, with the likes of Brookwood, Parkview, Archer, Grayson, North Gwinnett, and Norcross!

That is very true. I have seen many first hand experiences in metro Orlando. 

[FL_HS_football]

12 hours ago, ORabidOne said:

I would think that it is a similar situation to MANY metro counties in Georgia! Exhibit A would be Gwinnett county, population 900,000 and growing! There are probably 25-30 high schools in the county! But it seems as though it is ALWAYS the same five or six, who are in the mix for a state title!(And they routinely brag of having the greatest feeder system in the country) So, you would think that the LUUUUV would be spread out! MY contention, that it may be the same in Hillsborough county, as it is in Gwinnett! That a majority of the talent, perennially congregates at those same schools! 

As an aside, talent helps, but isn't always a major contributor as to who has the powerhouse programs in a given area. Take Atlanta metro for example! It is one of the three of four hotbeds for high school athletes in the country.(Dekalb, Fulton, Cobb, Clayton, Henry, Rockdale, and Forsyth counties) Yet RARELY, do Atlanta metro teams win state titles! Gwinnett county is the exception, with the likes of Brookwood, Parkview, Archer, Grayson, North Gwinnett, and Norcross!

I'll just name 2 right off the cuff but, If you think Grayson and Buford have outstanding feeder programs.........you've obviously come here to sell some bad snake oil.........

[Cjm04]

Hillsborough County plays good football.  Talent is aggregated in certain programs.  But most of the schools are in the same classifications.  Like Plant has not lost a district game since 2003.  The only two in county programs to beat them since then are Tech and Lakeland.  

[Perspective]

2 hours ago, Cjm04 said:

Hillsborough County plays good football.  Talent is aggregated in certain programs.  But most of the schools are in the same classifications.  Like Plant has not lost a district game since 2003.  The only two in county programs to beat them since then are Tech and Lakeland.  

CJM, when did they move the Hillsborough/Polk County line? 

Me thinks you meant to say [Tampa Bay] Tech and Armwood.  

[OldSchoolLion]

13 of Hillsborough's 27 public schools have opened since 1995.  Those 13 schools have only won a combined 28 playoff games.  

Hillsborough

Alonso(8A) 2001     1 p/o win

Blake(6A) 1997     3 p/o wins

Durant(7A) 1995     5 p/o wins

Freedom(7A) 2002     0 p/o wins

Lennard(7A) 2006     2 p/o wins

Middleton 2002(5A) (reopened)     2 p/o wins

Newsome(8A) 2003     3 p/o wins

Riverview(8A) 1998     2 p/o wins

Sickles(7A) 1997     3 p/o wins

Spoto(5A) 2006     1 p/o win

Steinbrenner(8A) 2009     0 p/o wins

Strawberry Crest(7A) 2009     0 p/o wins

Wharton(7A) 1997      6 p/o wins

[Cjm04]

Thanks my guy, I am not sure how I even typed that shenanigans.

[ORabidOne]

On 5/5/2019 at 9:18 AM, FL_HS_football said:

I'll just name 2 right off the cuff but, If you think Grayson and Buford have outstanding feeder programs.........you've obviously come here to sell some bad snake oil.........

Grayson gets it's talent from the allegedly world renown Gwinnett County Football League! NOW, I'm NO Grayson fan, as they screwed us out of the state championship in 2011, when Nkemdiche and Gallman were there! But they ALWAYS seem to come up with a crap load of studs!

Now BUFORD, has EVERY advantage known to modern man! They CLAIM that they derive their talent from a lil town of 12,000! But TRUTH be known, they are open enrollment, playing in a small classification! And draw talent from four metro counties of some 2,000,000 population! They even get county tax moneys from TWO COUNTIES, plus two SPLOST funds! They just built a $50,000,000 high school, and a 15,000 seat gymnasium, that can accommodate the GHSA basketball playoffs! Metro 7A schools HAVE to have creative playa acquisitions, in order to compete with the LIL S E C!

[FL_HS_football]

16 minutes ago, ORabidOne said:

Grayson gets it's talent from the allegedly world renown Gwinnett County Football League! NOW, I'm NO Grayson fan, as they screwed us out of the state championship in 2011, when Nkemdiche and Gallman were there! But they ALWAYS seem to come up with a crap load of studs!

Now BUFORD, has EVERY advantage known to modern man! They CLAIM that they derive their talent from a lil town of 12,000! But TRUTH be known, they are open enrollment, playing in a small classification! And draw talent from four metro counties of some 2,000,000 population! They even get county tax moneys from TWO COUNTIES, plus two SPLOST funds! They just built a $50,000,000 high school, and a 15,000 seat gymnasium, that can accommodate the GHSA basketball playoffs! Metro 7A schools HAVE to have creative playa acquisitions, in order to compete with the LIL S E C!

Regarding Buford......I know folks that pay the tuition fee from Jackson and Hall counties.....wouldn't be too surprised if they got kids from Barrow and Clarke county as well, so little johnny can play football there at Buford.......hardly a in-county or city feeder program. Grayson is more just flat out recruiting.....One year they had kids transferring in from as far Spalding county.......the recruiting got so bad it even drew the attention of one of the local Atlanta TV stations in as far as the suspicious circumstances surrounding how all that talent kept showing up at Grayson.

If you travel up and down I85 for a while, its obvious to see how much growth is going on in Gwinnett county. When I 1st moved here Brookwood and Parkview were the consistent power house teams, but the distribution of power has changed over the years to teams like No Gwinnett etc.......that growth in population in general leads to a natural inclusion of more available talent, but seeing what has gone on at Grayson and Buford...... hard for me not to believe that at least some monkey business is going on in as far as talent showing up at certain schools because of below the surface recruiting.