The case is closed: South Florida high school football has the best talent in country
Time for some observations as we put a bow tie on what turned out to be a historic 2019 high school football season in South Florida.
▪ With the honorable Judge Bill Daley presiding, the gavel has swung and slammed down on the bench.
CASE CLOSED!! Forget the state of Florida, even nationally, there will be no more arguments on where the highest quality of football on the high school level resides.
They all did it folks. Columbus, St. Thomas Aquinas, Central, Northwestern, Booker T. Washington, Chaminade-Madonna and Champagnat. All carried the South Florida banner with them to the state finals, 8A through 2A, and all returned home with titles.
A perfect seven for seven. No Dade or Broward team resides in the rural 1A classification making all eight impossible. But it wasn’t that far from being eight.
While the Miami Herald doesn’t cover Palm Beach County, certainly that’s considered part of South Florida and the Pahokee Blue Devils came within an eyelash of advancing to the 1A final before losing by one point in the final 30 seconds to eventual state champ Madison County in the semifinals.
As I so aptly pointed out to fellow scribes in the press box at Daytona Stadium on Saturday night (right after St. Thomas had completed the sweep), get a good look at this because it might’ve been Halley’s Comet.
As good as things are down here talent-wise, it’s still something we might never see again because it is so hard to do. Keep in mind that it was close to being just five out of seven as Booker T. and Columbus both trailed by two scores with less than five minutes left only to pull out miraculous wins.
As Herald columnist Greg Cote so astutely pointed out, a total of 41 players who played their ball in Miami-Dade or Broward counties occupied NFL rosters at the start of the season with the Houston area coming in a distant second at 26. The gavel swings.
I might also point out that we as a media outlet feel downright fortunate that we have such a hotbed of talent to cover down here.
A Northwestern coach came up to me after they had won their third consecutive title on Saturday afternoon and thanked both me and fellow colleague Dave Wilson for being up there to cover things and for everything the Herald does covering high school football.
I immediately turned to him and thanked him back.
“What for,” he asked at which time I mentioned the hard work that all of these coaches put in not only on the high school level but youth football level as well which is where all of this success is born.
▪ While all seven games were great to cover in their own way, by far the most vivid memory that I’ll forever take with me from last week was the unbelievable finish that Columbus pulled off.
The Explorers scored twice in the last four minutes including the supposedly game-tying touchdown with six seconds left. Only there would be no tie. In the ultimate river-boat gambler move, coach Dave Dunn rolled the dice and went for two — and got it.
With a huge Columbus fan base having made the trip north, not only was it the most memorable state final finish I had seen in my 30 years of roaming the sideline but the wild scene that ensued.
With their team having finally won that elusive first state title after four unsuccessful attempts, fans stormed the field to wildly celebrate with coaches and players and is something that will stick with me forever.
▪ Before we leave the topic of seven state champions from South Florida, let’s make sure we recognize Carol City.
It was pointed out several times all season long that the Chiefs had probably the toughest schedule in the nation. Don’t believe us? Of those seven state champions, only Champagnat and Columbus were not on their schedule. Case closed on that one as well.
▪ From the standpoint of players and coaches, the newly-formed GMAC Independent Conference was a smashing success this season.
With all of the big shots (see our seven state champs) busy scarfing up all the big-time talent, there is little room left for the “little guys” anymore. So they did something about it, forming a 12-team conference and splitting into two divisions of north and south.
Krop and Goleman were the dominant teams in the conference and appropriately met in the championship game Nov. 6, putting on a magnificent show that came down to the game’s last 30 seconds to determine a champion.
I watched a lot of teams celebrate a state title in Daytona Beach last week but those kids from Krop, which won it 24-20, were celebrating their championship just as much. Hopefully this holds together for the future and perhaps will even get a few more teams in there.
▪ I’ll admit being a homer so I was always going to pick all seven of our teams in the state final. That said, I still went a perfect 7-0 in my picks there and finished 50-10 overall for the postseason, 441-99 for the entire 2019 season. Now if I could just do that in the NFL. Time to give Cote a call.
Happy Holidays to all and see you next August for the 2020 season which will be here before we know it.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 5:41 PM.