East Bay is now 4-2 and 1-0 in the district with their Friday Night win over Plant City. The Raiders fall to 4-1 (1-1) heading into a non-district game versus Tampa Bay Tech. This Friday Night. This 7A-8 district is really interesting for a few reasons:
1 It seemed like Plant City would rise to come out as the favorite with Durant struggling, East Bay up an down and Strawberry Crest the “New Kids” on the block. Is this still the case?
2 The New Kids on the BLOCK are sitting at the TOP (See, I could have been a rapper) of the district (2-0) with wins vs. Durant and Brandon. In a few weeks, they will play both Plant City and East Bay. So, we will know something soon enough.
3 Unless Brandon rises from the ashes, Plant City can really zoom in on beating Strawberry Crest because they have faced Durant and East Bay already and have to beat Strawberry Crest to stay afloat. Let’s say Strawberry Crest beats East Bay, but loses to Plant City. Now we look like this:
SC 3-1
EB 3-1
PC 3-1
Three-way tie for 2 playoff spots. But, If Strawberry Crest beats both East Bay and Plant City, The Raiders would need some help from both Durant and/or Brandon to upset East Bay and force a tie for second place.
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How good is Pinellas Park? Here are a few facts:
They are 6-0 overall “good”
They are 2-0 in the district “good”
They have outscored their opponents 211-45 “good”
They are averaging 35 ppg “good”
They are only allowing 7.5 ppg to opponents “good”
The fact of the matter is, they are winning! The opinion is, are the teams they are beating quality wins? Lets flip the pancake:
Boca Ciega is 1-5
Gibbs is 1-5
Osceola is 3-3
Dixie Hollins is 2-3
Northeast is 0-5
Seminole is 1-5
Combined, Pinellas Park opponents are 8-26. Only one team they have faced this year has a .500 record so far.
Pinellas Park should enter the East Lake game at 7-0. Next win should come against Clearwater who is up next. Pinellas Park remaining schedule: Clearwater, East Lake, Countryside and Dunedin. A win versus either East Lake or Countryside or even both will legitimize Pinellas Park’s success.
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Polk County Teams will be battle tested! The top teams in Polk County (Lakeland, Kathleen, Winter Haven, Lake Gibson and Haines City) are all beating up on each other which seems to be strengthening each team.
Lakeland has defeated Winter Haven and Haines City. Kathleen won in overtime against Lake Gibson, beat Winter Haven, plays Haines City next Friday and has a date with Lakeland at the end of the season. Winter Haven edged out Haines City in game 1, lost to Lakeland, lost to Kathleen and just beat Lake Gibson. Lake Gibson lost in overtime to Kathleen and just lost to Winter Haven. Haines City opened their season with a close loss to Winter Haven, thumped by Lakeland and play Kathleen next Friday.
The competition is stiff, but the end result of each game prepares each team for the next game.