Florida Football: Week 5 Review
September 30th, 2007 Posted in Florida Sports, Florida, High School Sports, Florida Football, football, High School FootballUpset Saturday Starts Early
Everyone’s aware that college football’s rankings were turned on their ear this weekend, but the Florida high school scene didn’t fare much better, as a few top teams fell in big games and a few others—including Booker T. Washington and Tallahassee Lincoln—had close calls.
Central Florida was a hotbed for big games, but the biggest, as it turned out, took place up in the Panhandle, where Tallahassee Lincoln got all it could handle from Pine Forest, the team that stepped up two spots in the class system this season. A week after falling to Valdosta, our No. 1 4A team held off Pine Forest 48-47 in double overtime.
This probably means that Pine Forest deserves to be ranked in 5A, don’t ya think? Shawn Morris deserves much of the creidt for their rise. He scored four touchdowns for Pine Forest. Meanwhile, it was the B.J. Daniels show as usual for Lincoln. He was responsible for six of the team’s seven scores, including a 24-yard, double-overtime touchdown pass to D’Vonte Graham that lifted Lincoln to victory. Daniels threw for 229 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 132 more and another two scores.
To fully understand what Pine Forest faced, check out the Pensacola News Journal’s story. By the way, the 1987 and ‘88 Pine Forest championship teams were on hand for this one, which ended when Pine Forest’s trick play on a two-point attempt failed. Check back during the week for more on this game. There are sure to be some reflection-focused stories from those involved.
Several big games took place in Central Florida, where Orlando Edgewater improved to 3-1 with a 40-32 victory against Apopka. The Blue Darters are likely to fall from No. 2 in our 6A rankings after this one, which saw Edgewater erase a 26-7 deficit with 33 unanswered points.
The story line was the play of Edgewater WR Nakeem Pittman and QB James Morgan, who hit the receiver three times on long touchdown strikes. According to this story from the Orlando Sentinel, Morgan threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns, and RB Jeremiah Schwartz added 139 rushing yards for Edgewater. Apopka QB Jeremy Gallon rushed for three scores in the first half.
In Orlando, meanwhile, Dr. Phillips avoided an 0-4 start, eking out a 20-17 victory against Orlando University. The Panthers rebounded after being down 10-0 early, and RB Embrly Peeples led the way, carrying 22 times for 155 yards and three touchdowns.
In Daytona Beach, visiting Ponte Vedra Beach Nease pounded on the highly-regarded Mainland defense in a classic matchup of one of the state’s top offenses versus one of its top defenses. Nease won 30-14, proving that offense sometimes does beat defense. Ted Stachitas was involved on all four of Nease’s touchdowns. He topped the 100-yard mark on the ground. In any case, Here’s the scoop on the game. It should make for an interesting twist to our 4A rankings.
We’ll have the rankings for Week 6 up before the crack of dawn on Tuesday. Class 4A continues to be the most competitive in the state. With the convincing victory, Nease probably has right to the top spot, as do Tallahassee Lincoln, Seffner Armwood, Booker T. Washington and Titusville. In fact, there are several more ranked teams in 4A that haven’t suffered a single loss. Mainland, meanwhile, is now just 3-2 in 5A. They most likely fall out of the top five, but it’s not all that clear how the rest of the class shakes out after a few other top teams also lost. But we’re far from finished with our look at the weekend in Central Florida.
In Deltona, host Pine Ridge pummeled 1B power Trinity Christian 26-0, and that’s going to do some sort of something to our 1B rankings, where Triniity Christian has been at the top since FAMU fell from grace with a loss and then another. Of course, FAMU won’t return to the top spot, as the team with the great running back can’t seem to turn that notoriety into wins. They lost for a third time Friday night.
Deltona Trinity Christian wasn’t the only small school to fall. In fact, the door is wide open in 1A after both the No. 1 and No. 2 lost. North Florida Christian fell 28-26 to Ocala Trinity Catholic. Derek Dempsey rushed for more than 100 yards and had three touchdowns to key the victory. Trinity Catholic improved to 4-1 and is likely to move in Class 2B, where they had been ranked No. 13.
Okeechobee hosted their friends from the other side of the big lake and handed Belle Glade Glades Day its first loss behind 302 rushing yards and three touchdowns from RB Lonnie Pryor, who now has 858 yards on the ground in five games. Glades Day, which was ranked No. 2 in our 1A rankings last week, dropped the game 26-13, as you’ll see from this game story.
Swinging back Central Florida, Lake Brantley pulled out a 29-28 victory at Jacksonville Batram Trail. As you’ll see here in this Orlando Sentinel game story, a two-point conversion proved to be the difference for the Patriots, who improved to 4-1 and likely move up a few spots in Tuesday’s 6A rankings after holding the No. 9 spot last week. Bartram Trail, meanwhile, was No. 5 in 5A last week but could fade a few spots after suffering this, a second loss. As the Jacksonville Times-Union reports in this game story from Friday night, Bartram Trail hasn’t had an easy road. Along with an early loss to St. Augustine and the Lake Brantley game, the Bears must do battle with Madison Couny in two weeks. They’ll need Kyle Parker to step up big in that one. Parker threw for 182 yards while completing 12-of-20 pass attempts, but Madison County’s defense isn’t likely to bend much.
Brantley and Orlando Dr. Phillips were just a few of the many teams that had close calls on Friday night. Perhaps the most notable scare came in South Florida, where Booker T. Washington survived 24-21 on an Oscar Diaz 24-yard field goal. Sure, Tornadoes quarterback Sancho McDonald is out with an Achille’s heel injury, but who expected Carol City to play so well after losing its first three games?
Also in South Florida, LaSalle survived a close call against Pine Crest in a 13-6 game that was decided on a late fourth-quarter touchdown by Michael Dallas, who amassed 121 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns in 17 carries. LaSalle (5-0) also got 118 rushing yards from Jonuel Hernandez.
Of course, not all of the scares took place on Friday. Just as the University of South Florida’s upset of West Virginia came a day early, so to did Belle Glades Glades Central’s 14-7 against Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer.
More than all of the close calls, though, there were still many more key upsets. Dr. Krop defeated Hialeah American 27-7 a week after losing to Miami Norland. It was the first loss of the season for American (4-1), and it marked th resurgence of a Dr. Krop offense that was all but shut down last week, as the Miami Herald reports in its story on this game.
Fort Myers vs Charlotte video highlight
Meanwhile, Fort Myers, in our 5A top 10, lost its first game of the season 21-14 to Charlotte High on homecoming night. Charlotte improved to 3-1 with the win, which was keyed by a defense that picked off four passes an offense that had two 100-yard rushers, including 106 yards from freshman Mike Bellamy. Next up for Charlotte is Manatee, which held on for a 28-23 victory against St. Petersburg Friday. Manatee, now 5-0, used a strong running game to hold off the upstart Sailors (2-3).
