6A and 8A have fans on the edge of their (cheap) seats

[Dan in Daytona]

What a difference a day makes. Both these Saturday championships went down to the final minutes before a winner was crowned. Unlike the beat downs of the previous day , these thrillers had thousands on their feet throughout the contests. In the opener Miami Central put away a very evenly match Armwood 24-10 for their third championship in a row. A very late score by Central gives this one the appearance of not being close, but that's far from the truth. I believe the better team won, although plenty of others would disagree with that opinion. Great game.... In the night cap the Apopka Blue Darters won their second 8A title in three years with a 30-23 nail biter over Miami's Christopher Columbus. Apopka mostly ran, and Miami mostly passed. The Blue Darters appeared to be the stronger team to me. Miami just never seemed to believe that and kelp coming back, and back again. No losers today. Just four very good teams playing under beautiful skies in a first rate rebuilt Citrus Bowl. You should have been there...

 

[DarterBlue2]

Good recap, Dan. One of the coolest things to me, was meeting Jerimi Rudolph at the Sports Bar/Restaurant during the break between games. As an athlete, this guy was an Apopka legend. That he would fly in from Texas for the game says a lot about the overall school and community spirit at Apopka. Mr. Rudolph was one of the best high school athletes of all time in school history. Too bad that bad personal decisions off the field and bad breaks led to a premature end to a promising career. But he seems to have turned his like around. Good for him.

With respect to Apopka, talent wise, it was a mismatch. However, Apopka kept shooting itself in the foot with penalties and mistakes. That and good coaching by the Columbus staff kept the Explorers in the game to the very end. Unlike Manatee last week, Columbus quickly determined they could not run effectively against Apopka and resorted to what has burned us all year, the passing game. If Manatee had done that last week week, they would have had a good chance as physically I would take them over Columbus. But they did not.

 

[Dan in Daytona]

Darter, any truth to the rumor that Coach Darlington might be stepping down now that he has won his third championship ring ? Word is, he can't take the chance of winning a fourth ( PINKY ) ring. A 6 '6" giant of a man , with county boy roots and a pinky ring , would never fly in those little BBQ joints he is so fond of invading.