I was also there that night for the TBT game as I was the previous week when we beat Lakeland in those same playoffs as well as the following week when we beat Niceville.  That 2014 team was pretty good, but as a heavy run team we ran into the best defensive front I had seen at the HS level in the state championship when we got bullied by STA with Nick Bosa and Co. who were unblockable. 

I went one time. It was when Tampa Bay Tech played Osceola in the playoffs. TBT had Deon Cain as their quarterback. He went on to be a receiver for Clemson and in the NFL.    Osceola bullied them all night. The game wasn’t close. I went on the field after the game and saw someone in media interviewing Cain, and it was an emotional moment for him. His voice was breaking when he was talking. That was his last high school football game. It was all over at that moment.He just looked like he was overcome with emotion realizing he just finished his high school career.    It was a pretty surreal moment to see someone in real time going through that trying to keep it all together.    Even though he knew he was playing college football it was still hard on him. I know it’s hard on all football players who play their last game. especially the 99% who will never play football again in their life. That’s why I don’t understand why coaches don’t play bowl games. Give the seniors who missed the playoffs won last game. 

Everything is relative for me growing up here.  In the mid to late 70's early 80's when we played out at the Silver Spurs arena and our population was a fraction what it is today, we attracted fans in the thousands to big home games.  Today, despite consistently fielding excellent teams year after year the attendance is typically in the hundreds which I consider a paltry number.  I see the work the coaches and players put in so feel they should get alot more support than they do.  The least that can happen in the upcoming year is for all our coaches to be paid better than they have for the value they provide the school system and the kids they impact. 

Man I'm jealous.  Very few of the Pinellas and Tampa teams have any sense of community and home games are pretty much dead except for the wealthier areas or rare areas with a true sense of community like Tarpon Springs.  Palm Harbor is a wealthier area in the county and we always bring way more to away games than the home team, even for the traditionally decent teams around here.  East Lake and Steinbrenner, both in our district, have great home atmospheres but both schools are also wealthy.  

Go to an Osceola home game, especially a big game, and you will see why kids want to play there.  It’s one of those places you wish your program was if it isn’t already.  Great atmosphere, pageantry, sense of community.  You will be impressed.