With week two in the rear-view and week three staring us directly in the face, it’s time to put the material we’ve been asked to study for the quiz on to paper for assessment. Plenty of things to talk about and not enough time to get it all in, but here’s what’s we learned from last Friday. Enjoy!
Tampa Bay can run the ball…
Now it’s completely understood that some teams have yet to post their stats from the region and the state for that matter, but working with what we have thus far–this area is out of the gate FAST in terms of producing yardage on the ground. Ten of the state’s top twenty-five rushers hail from the region through the first two weeks. These ten have accumulated 3,991 yards–or over 2 miles of offense on the ground along with 38 touchdowns already in 2015. Only one team represented in this list is 0-2 while five of them come in at 2-0. The combined win/loss totals for these teams is 15-5. Zephyrhills’ Antwoine Simms leads the group with 501 yards in two games along with seven touchdowns. Four other players from the region are in the top ten. The rest are:
#6-Chris Schwarz (River Ridge)–74c, 435yds -3TD’s
#7-Devan Barrett (Tampa Catholic)–33c, 433yds -3TD’s
#8-Glass Wilson V (Ridgewood)–55c, 433yds -5TD’s
#9-Karmi Mackey (Seffner Christian)–34c, 432yds -4TD’s
#11-Tyler King (Fort Meade)–31c, 399yds -7TD’s
#12-Deshawn Smith (Nature Coast)–34c, 378yds –7TD’s
#16-Christian Dowdell (Hernando)–35c, 353yds –TD
#22-Takendrick Roberson (Winter Haven)–37c, 315yds
#23-Anfernee Alston (Robinson)–56c, 311yds –TD
Some “new” names at the QB position are “emerging”…
Unfortunate injuries to high-profile names at the QB position has allowed some of the other ballers to get better looks this season and five of the state’s top twenty-five passers hail from the region as well through the early weeks. Calvary Christian’s Richie Mize leads the group with 508 yards passing completing 33-of-68 with four touchdowns. Gibbs’ DJ Johnson has stepped into the spotlight for his squad and made things happen nicely with his arm and his feet coming in eighth on that list. Manatee’s AJ Colagiovanni shook off a rocky start in Alabama to go 34-for-54 with 465 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception through the first two games. The leader at the helm for the ‘Canes appears to posses ice water in his veins and is embracing his role as a leader. Steinbrenner’s Colin Wray–just a sophomore–has helped his Warriors squad get of to a 2-0 start after starter Cason Byrd went down. Sunlake’s Justin Hall is also having a fantastic season putting up 412 yards passing, but more importantly six touchdowns and NO interceptions.
There could be some big names that are 0-3 after this week…
Now we aren’t saying ALL of them are going to be 0-3. In fact, we could see all five of these teams score victories this week, but the fact of the matter is that they all have realistic possibilities at facing an even bigger uphill climb than what they may have anticipated going into the season. You can debate whether or not they’ll win or lose this Friday, but you can’t debate these games have reached “must win” status in our minds for these squads.
Hillsborough (vs. Gaither)
Victory Christian (at Northside Christian)
Lake Gibson (vs. Dillard)
Indian Rocks Christian (vs. Calvary Christian)
Jefferson (at Sickles)
AYE YO…WHO’s TWO-AND-OH?
There’s plenty of teams that we can say “yeah–we could’ve seen that” currently sitting at 2-0 on the young season, but there’s a few that we’ll openly admit didn’t see coming. These teams are not just 2-0, but they’ve done some impressive things in those victories giving us plenty of confidence they’ll blow past their win totals in 2015. They are:
Palm Harbor University!–2-0 and already doubled their wins from last season. They’ve got a chance to do big things.
Lake Region!–a game away from–and with a fantastic shot at–matching their 3 wins from last season after a long summer
Ridgewood!–already matched their win total from last season–won just five games total in three years before 2014
Riverview!–already matched their win total from the last four seasons in the first two games and plenty of talent to win more
Is it October, yet?
Winter Haven at Lakeland is not until October 16th, but man-oh-man are we counting down the moments until this game kicks off. Sure, there’s plenty of meat on the bone for both squads until they get to this date–but it’s time to start planning the tailgates already. Both teams look like they will be undefeated before they play and it should provide some drama and fireworks. BUT WAIT–there’s another game that could test the Blue Devils and it happens not this week–but next. They’ll face a stiff challenge this week out at Ridge Community for sure, but the 7A runners-up Kissimmee-Osceola Kowboys come to town on the 18th for a huge test.