If you follow Hillsborough prep football beyond the ins and outs of your favorite team, and you’ve seen each team’s schedule, then you already know what kind of ride this season will be.
If not, then I suppose this is where I come in. With the way the district has realigned, the 2015 schedules makes those of 2014, with the exception of Durant’s, look easy in comparison. All three new teams — Bloomingdale, Lennard and Tampa Bay Tech — won at least eight games in 2014 behind some of the more talented players in the Tampa Bay Area and, in Tech’s case, soundly knocked Durant out of the playoffs. Although each team is dealing with losses, there are still several factors — Bloomingdale QB Isaiah McIntyre, all-county DB Marchalo Judge, the TBT wideouts and Lennard QB Devin Black — that could make most teams break a sweat during game planning.
That’s not to say that Plant City and Strawberry Crest were dealing with cakewalks last year, but it’s certainly not going to be any easier for either team to get a win in most weeks.
As for the Cougars, the schedule is definitely tougher, but the uphill climb isn’t quite as steep.
So what does this all mean for our boys? Besides saying that they have their work cut out for them this year, it means that the district just got a heck of a lot more interesting. That’s not to say that one or more of our squads can’t make the playoffs, though.
DURANT
Last season’s district champions are going to be dealing with many key losses and many more youth infusions at crucial positions, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. That alone makes it difficult to hand them the title again outright, and especially so when its new starting QB, Carlton Potter, is a sophomore with no prior varsity experience. This team has proven in the past that it can win big games when it’s focused, so I do think they’ll finish above .500. But a playoff appearance? Probably not going to happen, in my opinion, but it wouldn’t be a total surprise if the Cougars manage to snag the last spot.
PLANT CITY
Last year’s runner-up looked awesome at times. Not as many times as it needed to, but enough that anyone watching them play could get a sense of the talent level the coaches had to work with. The Raiders are returning plenty of impact players and are finally comfortable letting Corey King run the offense by himself, as well as going through a coaching change in perhaps the safest possible way. There’s no doubt that this team has the talent to win the district title, but last year’s discipline problems would have to be almost completely erased. That said, I consider this the most complete team in the district. I think this is the year the Raiders will win it.
STRAWBERRY CREST
Crest will almost certainly have the toughest battle of our three teams. They have youth in every position, and while there is plenty of talent throughout, plenty of that talent may still be raw. The Chargers have the potential to be a contender in a year or two, thanks to some of this talent, so I would consider steady, solid development of these players a win for this season. I definitely like Crest to improve upon last year’s one-win campaign right now, but unless more talent emerges on offense I don’t see the Chargers making the playoffs yet.
If you’re a player or coach and disagree with what I have to say I’d love for you to prove me wrong on Friday nights. As I said earlier, I’ll be revisiting these predictions in my column at the end of the regular season and will have no problem admitting my mistakes.
Fans: I do want to know what you think of my predictions. Whatever they may be, feel free to voice your (family-friendly) opinions on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/PlantCityObserver, or by mentioning us on Twitter at @PCTOSports. They may show up in the paper or in the Gridiron Report podcast sometime soon.