Hey, better late than never right? If you’ve come to know me over the past year and a half you’ll probably get the hint that I’m more about being right than first so this shouldn’t come as a surprise with the timing, but I promise homework has been done and I can’t possibly start putting the wrapping paper on the season without taking a few moments to breathe. Are there times where I shoot first and ask questions later with analysis? Sure. We all do from time-to-time, but my overall goal has always been to get it right; or at least sitting in the outfield stands with an unobstructed view.
Not quite sure if the dust has settled, but the scoreboard has officially hit 0:00 on the postseason team portion of the football season and it’s time to start the reflection period. I say team portion because we’re about to enter what I call the third season which is now all recruiting, all the time; but more on that later. This one’s all about the digestion process dealing with what was seen over the last two weekends in Orlando.
Let’s hit the 1A thru 4A Finals first. Jefferson County won its 6th State Championship doing it in pretty dominating fashion over their panhandle neighbors to the west the Chipley Tigers 47-13. Although these Tigers were 8-5 going into the game, here’s what you should know.
THREE of those losses came to teams that either won a title (North Florida Christian 2A), or teams that played for a title (Madison County 3A and Wakulla 5A). The other two were to teams that were ranked in the Top 5 of their classifications the majority of the season (Taylor County 2A and Godby 5A). My point is this might be one of the best 5-loss teams to win a title. The skeptic won’t let me fully declare this however since their average margin of defeat in these games didn’t exactly impress. Easily the coolest thing about JeffCo was getting to stand next to and kick it with Jack Youngblood (Class of ’67).
Tough to talk about the 2A game due to the lack of evidence left on the field (along with 5A), but the crew from Tallahassee certainly appeared to be an all-star team compared to the boys from St. Petersburg. Enough has been made about their performance so let’s move on. Chris Miller gets my nod for Pinellas County Coach of the Year since all he did was go a 2-pt defeat without his best player from going undefeated and DID get to a state final with Admiral FREAKING Farragut you guys. They also dominated the defending 1A State Champs (Glades Day) and the state’s all-time leading rusher Kelvin Taylor.
Here is what is evidenced to me by this game. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of recruiting. This is not an indictment on anyone, but the biggest star in that game was a LB that has narrowed his choices to UCF and Maryland. There were commits to Clemson and Miami on the field. You can look at this two ways. One, it’s obvious that an LB might ball out since the final score was 69-0, but the Clemson Commit also played on defense. Numbers can’t tell the whole story, but they certainly give you a good indication that not everything is a slam dunk. For the record, the Clemson Commit is a ball hawk and will be just fine. The Miami Commit was nowhere to be found, but neither was anyone else on that side as indicated by the final score. The young man shouldn’t be blamed one bit for that team performance.
I tell you what. I’ll make the same case for embracing a “tempered hype” when it comes to certain athletes. American Heritage may have put on one of the most dominating performances in the trenches I saw during both weekends. Their RB Greg Bryant is the real deal and their hogs on both sides are worthy of lining up against (and competing 4 Quarters) a team at any classification. The way in which they dominated Madison County who is known throughout the entire state for hanging their hats on the running game and physically dominating their opponents was every bit as impressive as teams that mounted comebacks, or other games that were dominated among the classes.
I’d like to thank Bolles and Booker T. Washington for playing the most perplexing and entertaining matchup of the first weekend. I felt the same sense about this game beforehand in the same fashion that people doubting Plant against Miramar. Booker T. has 9th and 10th Graders that are larger than 90% of the varsity teams in this state. That’s not an exaggeration. They also have the entire roster from the 175lb National Champion Overtown Rattlers from ’09 too. Please remember these names: Matthew Thomas, Denver Kirkland and Treon Harris. You’re going to hear about them an insane amount of times between now and the next 2 years.
What they don’t have is Corky Rogers and they still have to grow as players mentally. Some of those babies don’t even know their own strength and once they figure out how to play the game in all facets, it is lights out for the next 2-3 years. One word of caution though. Coach Rogers said this was the least talented squad he had ever brought to state. They only graduate 12 off of this roster son I’d be taking a deep breath if I played in 4A. If you want to know about one of the bigger steals of the recruiting season, then get the Bulldogs DT Max Tejada on your team. NOW.
The 5A Title was a mere formality much like the 2A once the 1st Quarter had been played. Norland did to Wakulla and their Triple Option what Jefferson did to them and their I-Formation last year. That is score early and often forcing their opponent into a 180 in their game plan. Duke Johnson is the man, but they’ve also got some work left to get back out of the 5A south. They lose 14 starters, but as we’ve all come to know and love it only takes one backroom deal to send an ENTIRE youth team to one school and ball out for a cycle. Norland could be right back if Liberty City has got some studs in the wings.
Wakulla has a couple of kids you may want to know about, but they were the quintessential deer in the headlights after Norland literally knocked out their 2 best players with concussions and a broken collarbone. Can’t knock them for that, but of course I’m a little biased. I wanted to see Pasco give it a go. In fact, might have been better if we just said let’s schedule Palmetto vs. Pasco at the same exact time over at UCF. Is there any guarantee that it wouldn’t have been the best game in the entire class all year?
We’ve broken down 6A enough since one of our own has been crowned king of the mountain. Central displayed what has plagued most Dade County Public Schools have recently and that’s make some pretty dumb mistakes on the field and from the sidelines. The dropped INT on the 1st play of the game that would have been 6 points, the telegraphed pass on the 1st play of scrimmage that LED to an Armwood pick-six, the missing of 2 FG’s and so on all played a factor, but I’m going to take nothing away from Armwood on this one. I’m just pointing out that had you changed out the green for orange with those black uniforms you might as well have seen Booker T. playing. Not enough playmakers just yet. They’ll be back soon though provided Northwestern doesn’t become this year’s winner of the stud of the year sweepstakes from the youth leagues a la the next Duke Johnson, Joe Yearby, or Dalvin Cook.
Just like First Coast had some of the filthiest talent during the entire weekend and looked like an already mature 1-AA team at least getting off the bus and in warm-ups, sure enough they didn’t have Joe Kinnan or the will to compete once the Hurricanes came out and straight smacked the Bucs in the mouth. First Coast was another Wakulla in the sense that they never had a shot after the 1st Quarter when Manatee hit them with an 8-play, 58 yard TD drive that took 3:45 off the clock, forced a 3-and-out and then promptly went on a 12-play, 75 yard drover consuming 5:44 seconds.
That’s a 3-to-1 time of possession ratio. You give a team that has been battle-tested and with the pedigree such as them that early in the game and basically allow them to do whatever the hell they want and that spells disaster. I literally saw the faces of Manatee light up at the start of the 2nd Quarter. They smelled blood in the water and feasted the entire night.
Final four quarters of the season came down to the one team from inside the Tampa City Limits and the number one team in the state all classifications. Just like the 6A matchup, we’ve been over this a thousand times. What I will say is that I started digging into the wonderful world of twitter and find Duke Johnson’s best friend literally going John Gruden man-crush over Mike Tate, James Few, and the entire Plant team. Although I cannot say everything he said, (although if you’d like I can share privately) but there’s something I’d like to point out.
First, I won’t say who or how I know, but no less than 3 media sources, and even random people confirmed that Plant defeated Carol City not Miramar. Second, the fact that Liberty City, Miami Gardens, and several blocks within the triangle (for those that know the area) has love like they showed towards the Panthers means that’s a start. People may absolutely hate the fact that once again there’s a reason to praise Plant, but to me the respect earned from the streets of Dade County holds more weight than what a freaking scout or an event coordinator with an agenda says to me.
In closing, I will leave you with one of the lines from the twitterverse that will certainly become one of the greatest phrases ever uttered. This actually comes from the aforementioned gentleman and his observations from the game in which no amount of j-school could prepare one for such prose and Pulitzer Prize foundation:
{“Mike Tate don’t give a s*** about y’all Miramarians.”]
And with that, I bid you farewell. Until next time. It’s been real you guys.