How has everything with the football season been going so far?

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I’m going to Eau Gallie High School tonight to see the Eau Gallie Commodores take on the University Orange City Titans. Eau Gallie was an independent town that agreed to merge with Melbourne in 1969.

Anyhow, Eau Gallie is ranked #15 in Florida by MaxPreps. The Laz Index says the Commodores are a 10 point favorite. Both teams are undefeated.

For Gatorman and Silver King, I don’t know if either of you were into the psychedelic folk scene in your youth but singer-songwriter Tom Rapp from the band Pearls Before Swine lived in Eau Gallie. If you were a fan you may not remember them anyway.

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Something tells me I should not have included this video.

Me and my old QB may make it tonight if I can get my car unstuck from the mud this afternoon. May try the Farmer's Market - let me know, meet me there and I'll buy you dinner! You can meet the first non-Lee County Football player to be News Press Player of the Year (Harold "Boo Boo" Weaver; QB / MLB, 1971).

SW FL is still scratching it's palm tree head as to how Ed Perez won it the year before in 1970 from a 2-8 Green Wave team while just up the Trail, the Tarpons 10-2 were a penalty short of the State Title game. We had one of the leading rushes in the state that year, and a guy who the FHSAA named one of the Top 100 players in Florida's History - who went to 3 Super Bowls with the Cowboys - only Rookie starter in X.

This game was an example of why I love high school football. $5 for parking and $6 ticket. The game was a classic ending in a Jones Tigers OT victory 34-28. The Osceola Kowboys jumped out to what looked like a commanding lead only to have Jones tie it up late in the 4th.

The game was tied at 24 all late in the 4th. There was still time for the Kowboys to drive down to the 5 yard like with the clock running. There was a problem though. They were out of timeouts. Osceola had earlier in the 4th quarter burned two timeouts without running a single play. They had the ball on Jones’ 47 yd line. It was 4th and a long 1. The Kowboys coaches called a timeout to ponder whether to punt or go for it. They lined up to run a play instead of punt. Guess what they were trying to do? The old get the defense to jump offsides play. Jones did not take the bait so Osceola called the another timeout which was their last. What now? They decide to go for it. They ran the ball that resulted in the chain crew to measure. The suspense was building with just about the whole crowd on their feet. It was short by a hair so the Jones Tigers took over the ball.

Now back to that last drive in regulation. Remember the Kowboys have the ball with around 20 seconds to go with no timeouts. Tie ballgame. They run the ball and are short of the goal line with the last seconds ticking away. They run to the line to run the next play. They spike the ball leaving 2 seconds on the clock so they can try the winning field goal. There’s another problem that turned out to be major. The spiked ball play was 4th down. Jones took possession and ran off the 2 seconds.

Osceola has school today. I can’t imagine what everyone is talking about.

Please visit www.lazindex.com for complete rankings and forecasts for all 568 Florida High School teams and 766 College teams