The first week is in the books and we are still trying to process what happened. Each of the six counties gave us plenty to talk about already, but do we have solid answers to the questions we’ve been asking up to this point? We take a look at the take away’s from each county and try find out.
Hernando County:
The northern outreaches of the Nature Coast was on-and-poppin’ week one. Nature Coast Tech controlled the pace from start to finish against an improved Bradenton-Southeast team in their ground-and-pound style. The Sharks are establishing themselves early that they’re the class of the county, and if they pass this week’s stiff early season test at Hudson, we can start to expect even bigger things for them…
We saw Weeki and Hernando put a combined 74 points to the good in a losing effort with the margin of victory in those games just one-point each. Is the gap closing? That remains to be seen, but the Hornets are averaging 38 points through their first two games (preseason and week one) and with a little defensive tightening of the screws could be in-line for a vast improvement from their 1-9 season in 2014…
Is there cause for concern at Springstead? Probably so. Again, the sample-size is small, but giving up 63 points to Anclote in the spring, losing to Hudson last week 14-12 and then a tough 13-7 loss to Central week one there seems to be an improvement on defense, but where’s the offense going to come from? They’ll face Hernando this week on the road and if the Leopards control the ground like they did against Fivay such as they did even in a loss, the Eagles starting the season 0-2 is a possibility. Games at Nature Coast Tech and Mitchell are on the horizon so it’s time to tighten up…
Hillsborough County:
Feels like the status quo was achieved to be quite honest. Armwood smashes a quality opponent following a serious of doubts following their spring and fall jamboree performances, Plant gets smashed by a nationally-ranked team out-of-state which usually means their wake-up call has been received and Tampa Catholic gave us the offensive display we’ve been waiting to see…
Jefferson’s loss of Cade Weldon means it’s the Mondreas Lofton show live from a backfield near you until they sort through their QB situation. The Dragons aren’t going away, but let’s face it–playing without Weldon essentially ties one hand behind their backs since they’re usual m-o is to pass in order to set up the run. Now that teams are figuring the J-boys are limited for the time being, it will be interesting to see the adjustments that Head Coach Jeremy Earle and his staff make…
Tampa Bay Tech is an angry team. You might not want to make the Tampa Bay Tech angry–not even a Snickers could satisfy the hunger the Titans are displaying early in 2015 and with the talent we already know exists, district 7A-9 along with their non-district opponents have been served with warning shots across their vessels already…
Manatee County:
Tough night for the teams exiting the county as Lakewood Ranch, Southeast and Manatee all fell to out of county and state teams with Palmetto serving up the only cross-border victory down in Fort Myers versus the Green Wave. Braden River did what good teams do to not-so-good teams and spanked Bayshore which doesn’t exactly put the county on notice since we (and they) are well-aware of the Pirates and the prowess this year…
Manatee can actually come away with several positives in their loss to Hoover since they were subject to some unfortunate breaks on tipped passes and weather. They moved the ball with rhythm on offense and still made plays on defense giving us no reason to think this will be trend. Overall, the ‘Canes should be just fine the rest of the season although they’ve got a nice little test on the north banks of the Manatee River waiting for them this Friday at Palmetto…
Saint Stephen’s had to wait an extra day to do it, but they posted an impressive win in their SSAC match-up at last year’s champions Windermere Prep by a 53-41 margin. Who knows? With the Falcons poised to big things and one of the biggest tests already passed with flying colors, the county could have multiple teams making championship runs by the end of the season…
Pasco County:
They run the ball in Pasco County. That’s what they do. Whether it’s Sunlake, River Ridge, Ridgewood, Pasco or Zephyrhills one things is for certain–you’re going to have to deal with their best player touching the ball nearly every down and you’re going to have to stop them–even if you know what’s coming…
River Ridge’s Chris Schwarz did what he likes to do, mainly take the ball an obscene amount of times and then put up close-to-of-not obscene numbers once he takes possession of said football. This week it 188 yards on 34 carries and a touchdown, but his play on defense along with RRHS’ Jake Berg and others, the Royal Knights are showing they’re picking up where they left off, and with a weapon like PK Tyler Grimes they can grind out close wins or they can let the beast that is Schwarz and his OL eat and win comfortably…
What do you know, Land-O? The Gators haven’t done it pretty by any stretch of the imagination through their preseason classic against Zephyrhills or their week one grudge match against Wesley Chapel, but they’ve won two-in-a-row through opportunistic defense and offense and if they can produce the same effort versus River Ridge this week, we could be in for some tried-and-true chaos…
Pinellas County:
Welp–show of hands of those that had Palm Harbor University defeating East Lake week one? No? There aren’t any? Yep, that’s what we figured–and you can include us in that group that without any reservation just passed this off as yet another Eagles victory. The ‘Canes are young, and they’ll return 33-of-42 players next season so watching their progression will be a marathon not a spring–which we don’t mind since Coach Reggie Crume is building something nice in North Pinellas…
Countryside at Clearwater–the biggest game in Pinellas County this season? Well, it’s only week two and what do we have here? A gargantuan game between two teams that are already approaching midseason form. Let’s face it, Pinellas is a much happier world to live in when these two are relevant–and beyond relevant they are–downright dangerous to the high school football landscape in this region is what they appear to be at this present time. Both squads come into this one coming off impressive performances leaving zero doubt from the start in those games which is what good teams do…
CCC and Northside Christian look pret-ty, pret-ty good if we do say-so ourselves. We know they’ve got youth everywhere on those rosters which makes it all the more exciting in our perspective. The Marauders have put up 34 and 37 through their first two contests and Northside is averaging 45 points per contest already. Defenses are doing their part as well which means whether on-schedule or ahead to it, these two small-schools are doing BIG things in 2015…
Polk County:
It’s Lakeland’s world and we’re all paying rent yet again through the opening weeks, but boy-oh-boy did we see some curious results last Friday. Lake Region’s OT thriller over Haines City, Kathleen’s dominance over Lake Gibson and Frostproof stubbing-of-the-toes against a game Avon Park squad would all fall under this category of curiosity.
A “Bolt” of energy–even in a loss, you better pay attention to Ridge Community. Their victory over Frostproof was a quality one, but their two-point loss to Lake Wales last Friday can also be deemed quality as well. The reason? Both show improvement in various ways. Ridge has athletes, and their schedule sets up very nicely for them following the obvious obstacles in the form of Winter Haven this week and Kissimmee-Osecola on the 2nd of October.
Credit where it’s due. Just when we thought the Red Devils were going to experience a bumpy transition phase they go out and put an impressive performance together against their rivals from Lake Gibson. K-Leen may not have household names on their roster, but performances like that one versus the Braves and several winnable games ahead of them, the Red Devils are in pretty good shape at the moment.