About Buddy Collings

Buddy Collings is a senior sports writer for the Orlando Sentinel. He has covered high school sports since the 1970s, when you had to get fouled to make a 3-point play. For the more than 20 years, he has been the clearing house for state high school records in all varsity sports. buddy@varsitygridiron.com

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Buddy Collings' fearless picks for Round 2 of the playoffs

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Written by Buddy Collings   

Here are my picks for the second-round playoff matchups. All games are at 7:30

Super 16 games

Game The Buzz Prediction
Orange Park (9-2) at No. 1 Mainland (11-0)* OP has gone from 1-9 to 9-2 under new coach Mainland by 9
No. 6 Boone (9-2) at No. 2 Dr. Phillips (10-1) Nico Ranieri torched Braves (5 TD passes) three weeks ago DP by 6
No. 5 Apopka (9-2) at No. 3 East Ridge (10-1) First time district rivals have met in the playoffs Apopka by 2
No. 4 Seminole (9-2) at No. 8 Spruce Creek (9-2)* They’ve combined to win 16 of their past 17 games Seminole by 3
No. 7 South Sumter (10-1) at Bolles (11-0) Raiders have racked up 385 points, but Bolles has 582 Bolles by 8
No. 9 Osceola (8-3) at Lakeland (11-0) Dreadnaughts are 66-2 in 5 seasons and both losses to Osceola Lakeland by 7
Frostproof (9-1) at No. 15 Wildwood (10-1) Bulldogs 4-0 vs. ‘Cats in playoffs, including 31-6 rout in ’07 Frostproof by 9

Other games

Game The Buzz Prediction
Seabreeze (6-5) at Merritt Island (7-4) District rivals are 2-2 vs. each other, dating to 2005 M.I. by 6
N. Fla. Chr. (7-2) at First Academy (10-1) NFC is 42-8 in state playoff games since 1995 NFC by 4
Warner Chr. (10-1) at Orangewood Chr. (8-3)* Warner won 3 previous meetings big, 35-14 in ’07 Warner by 6
Pine Castle (6-5) at Victory Chr. (8-3)* Young PCC is 6-2 since regular-season loss to Storm Victory by 8

*Home sites: Mainland game at Daytona Beach Municipal Stadium; Spruce Creek at New Smyrna Beach Sports Complex; Orangewood at Lake Brantley; Victory at Lake Gibson, Lakeland

Last week: 21 correct, 2 fumbles.

Season record: 355-88 (.801).

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Buddy's Breaking News 

Buddy Collings is a senior sports writer for the Orlando Sentinel. He has covered high school sports since the 1970s, when you had to get fouled to manage a 3-point play in basketball. Collings graduated from Melbourne High and the University of Florida, then worked for the Gainesville Sun for 12 years before coming to the Sentinel in 1998. In college he began tracking Florida high school sports record and later  published record books. For more than 20 years he has been a clearing house for state records. He is married with three children. You can e-mail Buddy by clicking here.

The Lyon's Den

Austin Lyon began covering high school sports at the age of 15 as a correspondent for the Orlando Sentinel. He has also worked in radio and television, including handling play-by-play for numerous football and basketball state championship broadcasts. He was teh play-by-play voice for Friday Night Football, a weekly high school game of the week in Central Florida. He has lived in Orlando since he was 8 and is a graduate of Bishop Moore and UCF.

Cup of Joe

Joe Williams is the dean of sports in Lake County. In November, he’ll celebrate his 30th anniversary at the paper, and all those years were spent writing about athletes, coaches and sports in Lake. A native of Long Island, N.Y., Williams delivered papers as a boy for Newsday and the Long Island Press. He moved the New Port Richey, where he became a sports writer at the New Port Richey Press the summer he graduated from high school. In his prime, Williams was a feared softball player. He’s a proud father of four and still breaking stories for us. You can e-mail Joe by clicking here.

Gridiron Guru

Ty Ensor hasn't been a football coach all his life. It just seems that way. Ensor, a former football and baseball player at Baker High School (Class of '91), was a high school football coach in Central Florida from 1999-2007. Most of his experience is on the offensive side of the ball, and he served as a position coach Cypress Creek and Apopka, as co-offensive coordinator at Dr. Phillips, as offensive coordinator and Osceola. He was also Apopka's head coach from 2003-05. He is married with twin sons.

The Stat King

Charles King is the producer of the weekly Orlando Sentinel Varsity Sports television show. Before that, he created and ran his own high school football Web site, FridayNightFootball.net, from 2002-07. He also developed, produced and co-hosted Friday Night Football, a radio show that broadcast a high school game every week and followed up with a post-game show. The show broadcast more than 90 games, including six state championships. In 2004 he created and produced FNF-TV, a half-hour weekly TV show dedicated to high school football in Central Florida. You can e-mail Charles by clicking here.

Chip's Recruiting Tips

Chip Humble has more than 15 years of experience connecting athletes with coaches and colleges. He is director of scouting for Collegiate Sports of America PrepStar and co-founder of Next Level, a non-profit group that assists athletes in securing scholarships to college. He is also chairman of the Central Florida All-Star Game. Humble was born in Ohio, is a graduate of Florida Southern and lives in Lake Mary. He can be reached at chumble@csaprepstar.com