In case you missed it on Wednesday afternoon, Mike Ridaught joined Jeff Cardozo & Zach Alboverdi on “The Tailgate” on WRUF-98.1 FM & 850 AM in Gainesville. Here are the things they discussed on ThePrepZone.com Sports Report Presented by SunState Federal Credit Union.
- Yesterday, the Florida High School Athletic Association released a bulletin regarding Hurricane Irma. What were some of the changes discussed regarding high school football?
Well, first and foremost, the safety of the student-athletes, parents, coaches and school administrators impacted by Hurricane Irma remains their top concern. The FHSAA has chosen “not to uniformly cancel, postpone and/or prohibit play. The decision to practice and/or play remains up to each individual school and/or school district.” In fact, provided facilities, roadways and conditions permit, each school is encouraged to resume play as soon as possible. Now you’re still seeing games getting canceled or postponed but the FHSAA is not making those decisions. One additional thing that the FHSAA is doing, in an effort to get teams conditioned and back on track with regularly scheduled games, practice will be permitted this Sunday only, but that again is with the school’s and/or school districts approval. There is no school in Alachua County or Marion County for the rest of the week and none of those counties will have games this week – except St. Francis Catholic Academy, which is playing over in the Panhandle at Rocky Bayou Christian in Niceville. Last I heard, that game is still on.
- Last week, games were moved up to Thursday but there was still football for most teams. What were some of the highlights?
Unfortunately, Central (Brooksville) at Eastside (Gainesville) was canceled last week. So was Aucilla Christian (Monticello) at Saint Francis Catholic Academy (Gainesville). Gainesville was off last week, and their game for this week has been rescheduled so they’ll have two weeks off in between games.
But last Thursday, Williston defeated Lecanto Seven Rivers Christian (Lecanto), 28-14, thanks to a school-record 307 yards rushing by Gerard Williams III. He had 27 carries, with three touchdowns, but the senior really got stronger as the game went on. During Williston’s first five possessions, Williams had 13 carries for 115 yards. However, on Williston’s final three drives, he had 192 yards on 14 carries, with 2 TDs. One interesting note – Williston, Dixie County (Cross City), and Bell are a combined 8-0, so the teams in the Tri-County area off to a good start.
Oak Hall (Gainesville) moved to 2-0 with a win against Bronson. Quarterback Matt Armstrong had all six touchdowns in the game (four through the air and two on the ground); Columbia (Lake City) dominated Buchholz, 42-7, solidifying Columbia as the best team in this area; Hawthorne beat P.K. Yonge (Gainesville) to keep the Hornets (2-0) undefeated and the Blue Wave (0-3) winless; Trenton (2-1) beat South Sumter (Bushnell), a team that was in the 4A state semifinals last year; Fort White rolled against Santa Fe (Alachua), keeping Fort White (3-0) undefeated and Santa Fe (0-3) winless.
- What games have been canceled or rescheduled so far this week and how does that affect things moving forward?
It’s been a roller coaster the past 24 hours. GHS was supposed to host Lake Weir (Ocala) on Friday night at Citizen’s Field but Marion County canceled school and all activities for the rest of the week. Gainesville misses two weeks of game play because they were off last week and now won’t play this week. Their next game now is next Friday night at North Marion (Citra). The Lake Weir at Gainesville football game has been moved to Monday, October 30th. This morning, Eastside got approval to move their Thursday night game against Newberry to Friday night, but two hours later Alachua County shut them down.
The Buchholz (Gainesville) game scheduled for Friday at Fleming Island (Orange Park) has been moved to Monday night at 7 p.m. Belleview’s home game against Dunnellon has also been pushed back to Monday (7:30 p.m.). Buchholz was scheduled to host Belleview next Friday night, Sept. 22, at Citizen’s Field. However, with both teams playing on Monday night, and both teams having an open date the following week (Sept. 29), the two will now play a Thursday night game (Sept. 28) at Citizen’s Field.
Bell, which is in Gilchrist County, has moved its game against Hawthorne to Monday night at 6:30 p.m. Big game between undefeated teams in 1A. Another school in that county, Williston High School, has moved its home game against Madison County to Saturday night at 6. That’s another match-up of unbeaten teams. Trenton was trying to move their game to Saturday night but practices and the game against Branford have now been canceled for this week.
Plus, Oak Hall’s home against St. Augustine St. Joseph, Bradford at Santa Fe, P.K. Yonge at Bronson, Hawthorne at Bell, Keystone Heights at Umatilla, Chiefland at Hamilton County – all those games have been canceled for this week. In fact, after being contacted by the Sheriff’s department about the detouring of I-75 onto US 19, Chiefland coach Adam Gore has decided to cancel all football practices until school resumes.
We’ll see when or if certain games will be rescheduled, but teams are going to do everything they can to play. The FHSAA wants them to play, as I mentioned earlier, if they are able to play. In fact, in Mayo on Saturday, Lafayette is going to host Jefferson County (Monticello) at 7 p.m. However, if there is no power, the teams will still play but they’ll move the game up to 4 p.m. Further south is a totally different story. I saw where Clewiston High School’s press box was completely destroyed. Homes were under water in Naples. There are Floridians who will be dealing with Irma for a long time.
But locally, we are gradually piecing things together, and I do believe playing sports will be a good outlet for these kids. We may have Monday night football or even Tuesday night in the near future in an effort to play games. The good news for two schools just outside of Gainesville, in what will be the only (Gainesville) area game on Friday night, Union County (Lake Butler) hosts Dixie County in what will be a match-up of unbeaten teams. Dixie County has won four in a row, but this game will be in Lake Butler. It should be a good measuring stick for both teams.
But other than that, if you want to see a high school football game in this area, at least you will have options – Saturday, Monday, and even Tuesday. Here is the schedule:
Friday, Sept. 15
Bolles (Jacksonville) at Trinity Christian (Jacksonville), 7:30 p.m.
Christ’s Church (Jacksonville) at Bishop Snyder (Jacksonville), 7 p.m.
Dixie County (Cross City) at Union County (Lake Butler), 7:30 p.m.
Fort White at Taylor County (Perry), 6 p.m.
St. Francis Catholic Academy (Gainesville) at Rocky Bayou Christian (Niceville), 7 CT
Saturday, Sept. 16
Lafayette at Jefferson County, 7 p.m. (or 4 p.m. if there is no power)
Madison County at Williston, 6 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 18
Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville) at Fletcher (Neptune Beach), 6 p.m.
Baker County (Glen St. Mary) at Menendez (St. Augustine), 6 p.m.
Buchholz (Gainesville) at Fleming Island (Orange Park), 7 p.m.
Cocoa Beach at Father Lopez (Daytona Beach)
Dunnellon at Belleview, 7:30 p.m.
Fernandina Beach at Wolfson (Jacksonville), 7 p.m.
First Academy-Leesburg at Mount Dora Christian, 7 p.m.
Hawthorne at Bell, 6:30 p.m.
Newberry at Eastside (Gainesville), 7 p.m. (at Citizen’s Field)
Ponte Vedra at Westside (Jacksonville), 6 p.m.
Ridgeview (Orange Park) at Palatka, 7 p.m.
Seabreeze (Daytona Beach) at Matanzas (Palm Coast), 7 p.m.
Seven Rivers Christian (Lecanto) at Cedar Creek Christian (Jacksonville), 6 p.m.
St. John Lutheran (Ocala) at Zephyrhills Christian Academy, 6 p.m.
The Villages at Taylor (Pierson)
Yulee at Paxon (Jacksonville), 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 19
Columbia (Lake City) at Lee (Jacksonville), 6 p.m.
Deland at Mandarin (Jacksonville), 6 p.m.
Middleburg at Englewood (Jacksonville), 7 p.m.
Spruce Creek (Port Orange) at Sandalwood (Jacksonville), 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 20
Deltona at New Smyrna Beach, 7 p.m.
North Florida Educational Institute (Jacksonville) at Jordan Christian Prep (Auburndale), 7 p.m.
Other games:
Bradford (Starke) at Santa Fe (Alachua), ppd. TBA
Branford at Trenton, TBD
Chiefland at Hamilton County (Jasper), ppd. TBA
Clay (Green Cove Springs) at Orange Park, ppd. to Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Cornerstone Charter (Jacksonville) vs. Eagle’s View (Jacksonville), ppd. to Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Duval Charter (Jacksonville) at Harvest Community (Jacksonville), ppd. TBA
Episcopal (Jacksonville) at Creekside (St. Johns), ppd. to Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Forest (Ocala) at Leesburg, ppd. to Friday Sept. 22
Hagerty (Oviedo) at Lake Minneola
Hilliard at West Nassau (Callahan), ppd. TBA
Keystone Heights at Umatilla, canceled
Lake Howell (Winter Park) at West Port (Ocala), ppd. TBA
Lake Weir (Ocala) at Gainesville, ppd. to Monday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m.
Merritt Island Christian at Florida Deaf (St. Augustine), ppd. to Sept. 28
Mount Dora at Trinity Catholic (Ocala), ppd. TBA
Nature Coast at Central (Brooksville), ppd. to Tuesday, Oct 3, at 7 p.m.
Nease (Ponte Vedra) at Ed White (Jacksonville), ppd. to Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Oakleaf (Orange Park) at Bartram Trail (St. Johns), ppd. to Friday, Oct. 6, at 7 p.m.
Ocala Christian Academy at Bishop McLaughlin (Spring Hill), ppd. to 9/22
Pine Ridge (Deltona) at Mainland (Daytona Beach), ppd. TBA
P.K. Yonge (Gainesville) at Bronson, ppd. TBA
Ribault (Jacksonville) at Suwannee (Live Oak), ppd. TBA
South Sumter (Bushnell) at North Marion (Citra), ppd. TBA
Stanton (Jacksonville) at Baldwin, ppd. TBA
St. Augustine at Flagler Palm Coast, canceled
St. Joseph Academy (St. Augustine) at Oak Hall School (Gainesville), ppd. TBA
Tavares at Eustis, ppd. TBA
Terry Parker (Jacksonville) at Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville), ppd. to Sept. 22
University Christian (Jacksonville) at Coffee (GA), canceled
Vanguard (Ocala) at Lakewood (St. Pete), canceled
Wildwood at Crescent City, ppd. TBA
**Tune in to ThePrepZone.com Nature Coast Sports Report presented by SunState Federal Credit Union every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:28 a.m. and repeating at 5:28 p.m. on 93.3 FM & 940 AM in Chiefland/Trenton & 1240 AM in Cross City**
**ThePrepZone.com Sports Report on 106.9 FM in Gainesville is coming soon…**
