Here’s a statistical regular-season recap and playoff primer from Buddy:
*-National No. 1 Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas (10-0) enters the FHSAA Class 5A football state playoffs on a 34-game winning streak and looking for its third consecutive state title.
*-Tampa Plant (9-1), which won two of the past three 4A titles, is now 5A. The Panthers are in the upper half of the bracket, along with Lakeland (10-0), which dominated 5A in ’04, ’05 and ’06 before Aquinas ascended to the top.
*-Lakeland closed its perfect regular season by pulling out a 27-21 win over rival Lakeland Kathleen, which was also 9-0 on the field coming into the game. The Dreadnaughts won a classic in front of a crowd of approximately 10,000 on a 63-yard screen pass touchdown by Ben McRoy. Kathleen, which had to forfeit six wins and a Class 4A district title due to an ineligible player, may be the most talented team that will not appear in the playoffs.
*-Cape Coral enjoyed its first 10-0 regular season since 1993 and embarks on the 5A playoffs Friday.
*-Pahokee’s reign atop 2B looks precarious. The Blue Devils won the past three titles and have taken five of six since the classification was created. But Pahokee (6-4) had to forfeit two wins due to an ineligible player and dropped into a district runner-up slot in the bracket. That means a road trip to undefeated Hollywood Chaminade (9-0) in the first round.
*-Cocoa (10-0) rallied to win 44-37 in overtime at Jacksonville Bolles (8-1) in classic clash of undefeated defending state champions. The Tigers trailed 30-14 in the third quarter but forced OT with a 71-yard pass from Matt Younger (24-1 as a starter) to E.J. Johnson with five seconds remaining in regulation. Cocoa, which won last season’s 3A final in overtime against Tallahassee Godby, is now in 2A, which was the class Bolles won last year. The Bulldogs have dropped into 2B on the other side of the bracket from Pahokee.
*-Class 2A also has Belle Glade Glades Central (10-0), which has six state championships and a 56-20 all-time playoff record. Only Bolles, which is 60-19 in the playoffs, and Aquinas, which is 60-22, have more playoff victories than the Raiders.
*-St. Augustine (9-0) has reached the 3A region finals seven times in the past eight years, with a state title (’05), two runner-up finishes and two other final four showings. But the Yellow Jackets have Jacksonville Jackson (10-0) and Pensacola (9-1) in a very tough region.
*-On the other side of 3A you have Miami Booker T. Washington (9-1), which lost to 6A Miami Central last week but has a win over Northwestern and plenty of tradition itself. The Tornadoes won the 4A title in 2007 and were region finalists in that classification six years in a row.
*-Fort Meade, which was the 1A runner-up to Tallahassee North Florida Christian last season, finished 9-0 under the direction of 25-year-old head coach Jemalle Cornelius, a former Miners star. NFC (7-1) was a district runner-up to Jacksonville Trinity Christian (10-0) and makes a long road trip to play at Melbourne Central Catholic (10-0) this week. If the Eagles advance they’ll roll back to Tallahassee and brace for another bus ride to Jacksonville to face Trinity in a second-round rematch.
*-MCC, which is 0-7 all-time in the playoffs, certainly deserved a little better reward for going 10-0 than drawing tradition-soaked NFC in the first round.
*-Two-time defending 1B champ Jupiter Christian (8-2) won its playoff games by scores of 52-0, 55-14, 41-6 and 49-14 last season. With some strong former 1A teams now in the bracket, it’s hard to imagine the Eagles making it look that easy this season. But they are clearly still the team to beat.
*-South Daytona Warner Christian (9-1), the 2008 Class 1B state runner-up, revved up for another run at the final with a 74-36 rout of 2A neighbor Atlantic (3-6). Sophomore quarterback Shelton Willis had a career game with 353 yards and six TD passes.
*-A Class 6A region quarterfinal pitting DeLand (9-1) at Orange Park (10-0) is Friday night’s only first-round game between teams with a combined 19-1 record. The records don’t lie in that one. The way those two teams run the ball and defend, that could be the best first-round matchup in the state.
*-Matchups between one-loss teams are Miami Central (9-1) vs. Miami Christopher Columbus (9-1) at FIU Stadium in 6A; Manatee (9-1) at Venice (9-1) in 5A; Land O’ Lakes (9-1) at Tampa Jefferson (8-1) and South Fort Myers (9-1) at Naples Barron Collier (9-1) in 3A; Tampa Jesuit (9-1) at Wauchula Hardee (8-1) in 2A.
*-Reigning 6A champ Sanford Seminole (8-2) has struggled to score at times without Andre Debose, who is now at UF, and Ray Ray Armstrong, now playing safety as a true freshman at Miami. But the Seminoles are still salty enough on defense to make some noise.
*-Miami Northwestern (9-1), which was 6A runner-up last season after taking titles in ’06 and ’07, is 52-3 over four seasons.
*-Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer (9-1) posted the fifth shutout in its past six games last week and goes into the 4A playoffs with six total shutouts this year.
*-Seffner Armwood (9-1), which won 4A titles in ’03 and ’04 and was runner-up in ’05, has scored 48 or more points in seven victories. The loss was 17-7 to Plant.
*-Niceville (9-0), which is ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for 4A, is always in the playoff mix. But the Golden Eagles have not reached a state final since winning the 4A crown in 1988.
*-Robby Garcia carried 38 times for 208 yards and two TDs and 2A Tampa Jesuit (9-1) continued its mastery over 2B rival Tampa Catholic (8-1) with a 24-14 win that should have the Tigers riding high for the playoffs. Jesuit has topped TC for 10 consecutive seasons.
*-In another duel of playoff-bound teams, sophomore Javan Shahasty passed for 454 yards and six touchdowns to lead Class 1A Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian (7-3) to a wild 49-46 victory over Class 1B Fort Myers Evangelical Christian (8-2) last week. That gave Shahasty more than 3,000 yards and 37 TDs for the season. Calvary plays at undefeated Miramar Parkway Academy (9-0) on Friday.
*-Evangelical’s quarterback, Colton Lynch, set a Lee County total offense record with 2,878 yards. He has passed for 1,527 and rushed for 1,351. And he may be in for a total offense test against senior quarterback Steve Stanley of Lakeland Victory Christian (9-1) in a first-round 1B game in Lakeland this week. Stanley has passed for 2,055 yards and 23 TDs and has also scored 20 TDs. He is the only 20-20 guy I know of in Florida this year.
Buddy Collings is a senior sports writer for the Orlando Sentinel who has covered high school sports and compiled Florida record lists for three decades.
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