Gridiron Guru's thoughts on the season

Surprise teams of the year

1. St. Cloud 8-1  This team suffered two dismal seasons in a row entering the year.  After a week 1 loss to Osceola the Bulldogs have reeled off 8 wins in a row.  The schedule hasn't been super difficult but they have wins over Harmony, Bishop Moore and Eustis all teams with more talent than St. Cloud.  The biggest difference in this team is the return of QB EJ White.  White missed all of last year with a torn ACL. His leadership and decision making has been the big reason for the turn around this year.  White has over 2,000 yards passing and 17 touchdowns plus 8 rushing touchdowns and only 6 interceptions.  The return of WR Donnie Jennert also helped and WR James Boone has emerged as a big time threat that gives them a potent passing attack that can put up points.  The defense has been very opportunistic and made plays in the end to seal wins for them.  St. Cloud is district champions and with a win over Poinciana they will finish 9-1.

2.  Dr. Phillips 8-1  Head coach Dale Salapa was questioned by many as the choice to be the head coach at Dr. Phillips.  What he has brought to the Panthers is a TEAM concept.  They are playing as a team and it shows when you watch them.  They have so many talented skilled players on offense but they don't seem to care who gets the ball or the credit.  QB Nico Ranieri has been phenomenal this year.  Ranieri started for Cypress Creek for three years and I think that learning how to scramble and throw on the run those three years have really paid off for him.  There were some difficult times for Ranieri early in his high school career but I think that made him mature and he has become the leader at Dr. Phiilips.  Ranieri has thrown for almost 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns.  He has two great receivers in juniors Ricardo Miller and Kenny Shaw but Mr. DO IT ALL sophomore Dee Hart is what sets everything up for them.  Hart is a threat anytime he touches the ball and if you don't defend the run he can make you pay.  If you bring heat to try and sack Ranieri you better not let Hart slip out of the backfield or he will catch the flare and he's impossible to tackle in the open field.  Dr. Phillips cut down on the penalties last week and if they can continue to play like that they can make a deep playoff run.

3.  Pine Ridge 8-1  The Panthers are district runner ups and their only loss was to #1 Mainland.  QB Ben De La Cruz is probably the best player that the least people have seen play.  Pine Ridge plays on a baseball field and doesn't draw many to its games.  He has over 1,000 yards passing and 10 touchdowns plus 856 yards rushing and 6 touchdowns averaging over seven yards per carry.  They are also getting good play from running back Bradly Lundquist who has 500 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns.  I think a stat that sums up the season for this Panther team the best is reserve DB Chino Vega leads the area with 7 interceptions.  They are getting production from alot of players.  A win over rival Deltona would give Pine Ridge a 9-1 regular season record.

4.  Jones 6-3  Head coach Kenard Lang has brought an attitude to this team.  From the outside  looking in, it looks like his players really like to play for him.  Offensive Coordinator James Thompson has done a great job with his young sophomore QB Angelo Warner.  Thompson played quarterback for Bill Gierke at Dr. Phillips and he has brought in a lot of those offensive schemes he learned playing under Gierke.  TE/DE Willie Scott and WR/DE Stacy Robinson are big time players for 2A Jones.  The Tigers have a stable of running backs in Karl Jean, Raysean Brown, Lamel Ryans and Travis Jones.  This allows them to keep players fresh so they can play both ways.  It's been a great season for Jones and a win over Oak Ridge in the final regular season game would give them a 7-3 record.  Unfortunately their first playoff appearance in a long time gets them a trip to Jacksonville to play Jacksonville Bolles.

Other surprise teams for me are Spruce Creek 7-2 who plays in a three way tie breaker for the district championship on Monday.  Not many thought they would be able to duplicate the success they had last year.  Winter Park 5-4 gets a huge win over Edgewater to become the district runner up.  Coach Shifflet has done a fantastic job with that team that has very little offensive fire power.  Wildwood is 8-1 and district champions.  Its only loss was to 2A power South Sumter.                    

Difficult Seasons

1.  Edgewater 4-5  The Eagles miss the post season after nine consecutive appearances.  Every dynasty has to end some time and the run ended this year.  Edgewater has 5 D1 recruits in Mike Jones, Derrick Strozier, Shermane Teart, Maurice Couch and Henry Wright but the team still struggled.  The reason for their struggle was they just were not able to adjust to the offensive scheme change.  The Eagles switched from a power running team to a spread team.  Turnovers and lack of consistency out of the QB play doomed this offense.  The defense played well but some key penalties really hurt.  It will be interesting to see if they go back to what they had been doing for so many years or they continue to learn the new system.  Edgewater plays Boone in the final regular season game with a chance to end on a good note.

2.  Oak Ridge 3-6  Coming into the year Oak Ridge had nine returning starters coming back off a very good defense.  The dismissal of DT William Harvey at the beginning of the season and the suspension of head coach Keith Council for a game was too much for this Pioneer team to over come.  They played well in some games but just were not consistent enough week to week.  The loss last Friday night to Cypress Creek put them in last place in their district and some thought they had a shot to contend for a playoff spot this year.  Junior LB Lucktes Estiverne has been a bright spot for this team.  Oak Ridge will get a chance to end on a positive when they play rival Jones in the final regular season game.

3.  Eustis 1-8  There were some mixed feelings on this Eustis team entering the season but most thought the Panthers would battle Bishop Moore and Harmony for the playoffs.  After starting the season 3-1 the players learned they would have to forfeit two of those wins because they used an ineligible player.  The player was a back up and barely got in but somehow it really affected this team.  They proceeded to lose their next 5 games and now sit at 1-8.  Eustis had made the playoffs five out of six years and lost in the regional finals last year.  Eustis ends the season against Mt. Dora on Friday night.  

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed