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Who Are Central Florida's Best?

Who are the top players in Central Florida? Check out our new player statistics page. New stats are posted each week on VarsityGridiron.

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Today's Poll

Now that the season is over, who should be Player of the Year?

	Andre Debose
	Ray Ray Armstrong
	Jeremy Wright
	Jeremy Gallon
	Al-Terek McBurse
	other

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Area football players' stats have Buddy Collings running for the record books, and other notes

Written by Buddy Collings

Is this the season of spread offenses or the year of the tailback?

How about both? Statistically, Central Florida never has seen a football season like the one we’re enjoying this fall.

In years past it would be news if one or two quarterbacks broke the 2,000-yard plateau. This year, five guys did that. Three of them still are playing, with either bowl games or playoff games this week.

Oviedo (3-7) junior Blake Bortles set a Seminole Athletic Conference record with 2,472 passing yards. Seniors E.J. White of St. Cloud (9-1) and Nico Ranieri of Dr. Phillips (9-1) have thrown for more than 2,200 yards with playoff games to go. Olympia (7-3) junior Trevor Siemian is at 2,260 with a bowl game to play.

All of those passers rank in the area’s top 15 all time, but they were overshadowed most of the season by breakaway running backs. Jeremy Wright’s 2,349 rushing yards for Clermont East Ridge (9-1) ranks second in area history for a regular season. And he still has playoff action to go.

Winter Springs (7-3) senior Al-Terek McBurse put up the No. 3 regular-season total all-time with 2,234 yards.

And we’re not even talking about the multidimensional guys such as Seminole’s Andre Debose and Apopka’s Jeremy Gallon, who have had incredible senior seasons while not dominating any statistical category — unless you count most jaw-dropping bursts.

Debose has generated 1,733 yards and scored 17 TDs on rushes, receptions and returns for the district-champ Seminoles (8-2), to go with 334 yards and three more TDs on 24-of-43 passing. He is averaging 12 yards per carry, 30.5 per catch, 45.4 per kick return and 28.4 per punt return.

Gallon has 1,424 yards and 17 TDs on rushes, receptions and returns for Apopka (8-2), along with 338 passing. He’s averaging 8.6 per carry, 50.7 per kick return and 20.8 per punt return.

Debose gets nod

Coaches voted Debose as the all-classification MVP in Florida Athletic Coaches Association District 10, which covers Seminole and Volusia counties. The runner-up was Deltona Pine Ridge (9-1) senior quarterback Ben De La Cruz, who achieved his own statistical rarity by passing for 1,000 yards and running for 1,000 in a season. De La Cruz has 1,371 yards passing and 1,019 rushing going into the playoffs.

Split the prize

Dr. Phillips (9-1) and Apopka went undefeated in Metro Conference football and will share the championship. DP was 8-0 in the Metro, Apopka 7-0.

They originally were scheduled to play each other on Sept. 19 but agreed to opt out when Apopka got the opportunity to play at Mississippi power South Panola (12-0) in a game televised by ESPNU.

The Panthers and Blue Darters could meet in the playoffs — but only if both win three playoff games and region titles to set up a state-semifinal showdown.

Seminole went 7-0 to win the Seminole Athletic Conference, which has eight schools and can decide its champ via a true round-robin format.

Extra points

Orangewood Christian (7-3) has been unable to secure a Friday night site near campus for its first-round football playoff game and has handed the host role to Deltona Trinity Christian (6-4), which will put the game on at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.

Two bowl games are on tap Thursday night at 7:30. Olympia and Freedom (5-5) will meet in the second Gergley Gridiron Bowl at Winter Park. Admission is $6.

Deltona (5-5) will play Delaware Valley (7-4), a large-classification (AAAA) Pennsylvania school, in a KSA bowl game at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Admission is $12.75 for adults, $10 for children 10-and-under.

Delaware Valley played in Kissimmee’s Rotary Scholarship Bowl in 2002, losing to a 10-0 Jacksonville Episcopal team, which was a 2A independent that season.

State scene

Will Indianos, a 5-foot-9 senior quarterback for Gainesville Oak Hall (4-6), threw six TD passes in his final high school football game, a 61-27 victory against Monticello Aucilla Christian (3-7), to set a new state record for career TD tosses with exactly 100. Current UF redshirt freshman John Brantley had 99 for Ocala Trinity Catholic, which eclipsed a record of 98 that was set by Daytona Beach Seabreeze’s Xavier Lee in 2003 and tied by Tim Tebow when he was at Ponte Vedra Beach Nease in 2005. Indianos had 33 TD passes this season.

Buddy Collings’ Varsity blog can be read at OrlandoSentinel.com/varsityblog and VarsityGridiron.com, and he can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .