Worlds are colliding in Polk County as we speak as two of their marquee teams prepare for their spring games and beyond. The Lakeland Dreadnaughts have not met the insanely lofty expectations of their fans, coaches and most importantly themselves and most feel their time for excuses and “should’ve-could’ve-would’ve” mentality has finally run out. Lake Gibson is facing similar expectations this season and for their fans, coaches and players the mindset has turned from “oh so close” to “it’s now-or-never” in the blink of an eye. Have all the questions going into this offseason been answered for both to justify their constituents’ wants and needs? It’s certainly interesting given the fact that both teams actually have more than a couple reasons to point and say “not-so-fast, you guys” while waving their no. 2 pencils around more emphatically than Lee Corso at rave party, but the public perception (in this case unfortunately) may be the reality they face as each of them get ready to embark on the journey that is the 2015 season.

The reasons for folks to be optimistic are justified, but conventional wisdom dictates that optimism is far better off as guarded or cautionary when presented with the fact that both must replace their quarterbacks and undoubted senior leaders from their roster. There is a mandatory adjustment period that can only take place when the lights are on and there’s thousands of people in the stands; something you simply cannot recreate from a scrimmage. The Dreadnaughts are expected to have a member of the Class of 2017 at the helm, while Lake Gibson will look for one of their most-athletic members on the squad to establish consistency right away and to simply allow the overwhelming talent it has on defense to create even more offense. Both Holden Hotchkiss (Lakeland) and Hunter Orem (Lake Gibson) DO have experience at the position however and both have been working tirelessly going on years now at camps to prepare for this very moment. Can that training alone be enough?

First, let’s look at Lakeland’s path and what is now pushing historical drought status for the Dreadnaughts in terms of appearances in Orlando for the finals. They finished the season at 11-1 in 2014, which for 99% of the programs in this state is considered a wildly successful season, but playing 12-game seasons ain’t gonna cut it when you were used to playing 14-and-15 game seasons for titles, winning three consecutive championships from 2004-06. The open wounds from not reaching the Citrus Bowl since ’08 might not be a bad as first diagnosed, except some would testify those wounds from a December night in which they were defeated by St. Thomas Aquinas 56-7 never healed. In fact some probably think the stitches from those wounds have been systematically getting ripped open come postseason time for the last six seasons and the bleeding has to stop; now.

Following that debacle in December six seasons ago, Lakeland went on to the state semifinals for the three-straight seasons, only to run into Plant twice, losing by a combined score of 68-6 and a First Coast team that was led by DeAndre Johnson who was just a freshman at the time, but went on to break passing records in the State of Florida before moving on to FSU. As soon as Lakeland thought their paths would be cleared, in stepped Kissimmee Osceola that ended the ‘Naughts season for the last three years including a loss in OT that still has folks’ taste buds bitter enough to turn the freshest red snapper into ceviche with one bite. Even worse, that was the fourth time that Lakeland had lost in the playoffs to the Kowboys since 2007.

The honeymoon period for Hotchkiss will be over by the third week of the season after Lakeland starts with Jacksonville-Ed White, Auburndale and then Miami-Carol City. While that doesn’t appear to be the toughest of harbors to pilot for their captain, all three will bring special matchup issues for Lakeland as they sort out the aforementioned adjustment with their new skipper. The final exam will perhaps be graded by the time Lakeland faces Winter Haven, who is now in their district and then the circus that is normally their game with Kathleen at the end of the season. A friendly reminder though; this season Lakeland will be opposite of Plant’s district in the first two rounds of the 7A playoffs, but for now Lakeland gets as tough of an assessment you can find when they play Lake Wales in their spring game.

Lake Gibson may not have the storied history their neighbors just down the road to their south can claim, but the Braves are coming off a 9-2 season and first round playoff loss to South Fort Myers. Something that has become a bit of a habit in recent years itself, but with their lone defeat in the regular season coming at the hands of Winter Haven all the way back in week two, a Winter Haven team that Lake Gibson is 1-4 against in the previous five seasons, several returning starters on offense and an embarrassment of riches in talent on the defensive side of the ball, the expectations for Hunter Orem and his team have reached peak levels. Ordinarily the prospect of playing said Winter Haven team again in week two this fall would cause some for concern, but the Blue Devils no longer stand in the Braves’ way towards a district championship.

If Lake Gibson is to make their deepest run since 2010 when they were state semifinalists before losing a 10-9 heartbreaker to Gainesville that season, they will need Orem’s leadership and athleticism to guide them through a district that is full of hairpin traps at the top with foes Lake Wales and Auburndale. Their non-district schedule sees them traveling to Kathleen (a game they won 7-5 last season) and then at Winter Haven for their redemption week two. They will have to travel to Lake Wales for their first chance at taking control of the district week four, but with games sandwiched by Fort Lauderdale Dillard and Miami’s Dr. Krop, the Braves will need consistency at the very least from Orem as they have a more-than-manageable second half schedule with games versus Lake Region, Leesburg, Auburndale, George Jenkins and Sebring. The problem? There lies Armwood in the first or second round of the playoffs this season. For now, Lake Gibson has just as tough a litmus test as Lakeland does this spring as they face a Zephyrhills team that will pose problems for them if they cannot execute. The best part about all of this? Lakeland and Lake Gibson will play each other in their Fall Classic on August 21st and give us the REAL jumping-off point.

So it appears both schools do have “some” reasons to say, “see? SEE?!?”, but with winning comes those lofty expectations and responsibility; winning to the point it becomes tradition is a great thing, but that “tradition” can easily fall down the path manifesting itself as entitlement when achieved at such a high-level for such a long period of time. Sometimes expectations are masked as entitlement and this season should be about expectations first for both these programs. The entitlement should be checked at the door, because if “expectations” are met then two of Polk County’s teams and fanbases can celebrate what they feel is there’s in the first place; which is making plans for hotels in Orlando come December.