High school football predictions: Will South Florida teams sweep at home?
It’s showtime at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
After a 15-year wait, the FHSAA high school state football finals, last played at Hard Rock Stadium in 2006, have returned to South Florida.
Perhaps we’ve gotten spoiled in recent years with virtually every classification seeing South Florida representation, but Saturday’s 6A and 8A contests will feature four out-of-town teams.
But Thursday and Friday will be lit up with local flavor as Cardinal Gibbons with the school literally just four miles east of the stadium surely bringing a big crowd. That will be followed by “Rocket Nation” converging on Friday afternoon as Miami Central takes on Merritt Island and then of course, St. Thomas Aquinas, with its strong alumni fan base likely will pack it in on Friday night when the Raiders take on Tampa Bay Tech.
After Chaminade-Madonna captured the 3A title last weekend in Tallahassee, if all goes well, perhaps South Florida will nail down three more state champions this week. Let’s break down the three games.
▪ Class 4A state championship - Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons (10-2) vs. Cocoa (11-1), Thursday, 7 p.m.: Cardinal Gibbons pulled off quite a feat making it here. The Chiefs were hopelessly behind Gulliver, 33-14, in the third quarter in the regional final and trailed St. Pete Lakewood, 18-7, late first half in the state semi only to come back and win both games.
This will be a homecoming of sorts for Cocoa coach Ryan Schneider, who was an all-county quarterback at Plantation in the mid-90s and coached locally down here for many years, helping lead University School to the state title in 2012 as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Now in his fifth year, Schneider as turned in solid work since he left South Florida to take the Cocoa job as he has transformed the Tigers from a run-only team under his predecessor John Wilkinson (Cocoa once threw less than 40 passes in an entire season) to a much more wide open, balanced offensive attack. Quarterback Davin Wydner leads the attack with 3,328 passing yards and 21 touchdowns while running back O.J. Ross has rushed for 1,791 yards and 36 TDs.
The scuttle seems to be that the Tigers, who pulled off a nice comeback of their own, overcoming a 24-7 halftime deficit to Jacksonville Bolles in the semifinal to win 35-24, come into this contest as a slight favorite to win.
But this game is a rematch of last year’s 4A state semifinal in which the Chiefs traveled three hours north and promptly crushed Cocoa 45-15 on its own field. I doubt there will be any lopsidedness in this game but if I had to pick a winner, I’m going to take the team that had 45 points last year over the team that did not. BD’s Pick: Gibbons 31-26.
▪ Class 5A state championship - Miami Central (11-2) vs. Merritt Island (13-1), Friday, 1 p.m.: There will be a fascinating backdrop in this one as Central head coach Roland Smith and Merritt Island’s Hurlie Brown were not only teammates at the University of Miami in the early 90s but actually roommates as well.
But while Brown has done a nice job getting the Mustangs back into their first state final since 1989, Smith will show his old buddy no mercy in this one. Merritt Island’s nice 13-1 record has come against virtually all local teams up in the Brevard County area and the Mustangs are about to take a huge step up in the competition department and will feel it early and often.
Playing in state title games has become routine for the Rockets who are appearing in their ninth championship game in the last 12 years, are looking for another three-peat (they won four straight from 2012-15) and seek to take the Miami-Dade County lead in state titles with eight, breaking out of a tie with Northwestern.
They should do it without much trouble. Even a running clock is a possibility. BD’s Pick: Central 41-10.
▪ Class 7A state championship - Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas (13-1) vs. Tampa Bay Tech (14-0), Friday, 7 p.m.: Congratulations to Tampa Bay Tech on a perfect 14-0 record and first ever berth in the state championship game. But just like Merritt Island, the Titans are about to get hit with a cold dose of reality.
All 14 of their wins have come against area schools. And while they bring in a balanced attack that has rolled up 2,413 yards passing against 2,463 yards rushing, they are about to take on a team in St. Thomas that annually plays a national schedule, has more state titles (12) than any team in the state, is making its seventh state title game appearance in the last eight years.
Aquinas has a roster littered with four and five-star prospects and is seeking a second three-peat.
Who would you take? I thought so. Here comes lucky No. 13. BD’s Pick: Aquinas 38-9.
OTHER GAMES
▪ Class 6A state championship - Pensacola Pine Forest (12-1) vs. Tampa Jesuit (13-0), Saturday, 1 p.m., BD’s pick: Jesuit 35-12.
▪ Class 8A state championship - Apopka (12-2) vs. Venice (13-1), Saturday, 7 p.m. - BD’s pick: Venice 24-20.
▪ Last Week: 1-1. Postseason: 37-13. Season: 376-84.
Bill Daley can be reached at: billd@curtispub.net. Follow him on Twitter: @Billykid11.