Organized Chaos

There’s little question Bay’s annual Barnstorm boys basketball tournament is one of the area’s best. This year is no exception, despite several blowouts on the first couple of days.

Here’s some items about this year’s Barnstorm that you may not be aware of. Count this as a little behind the scenes look at the ninth Barnstorm.

— Franklin High of Tennessee was the only school to truly bring a stable with them. The team was accompanied by cheerleaders, tons of them (well more like 16 or so), as well as a healthy fanbase. The team’s not half bad, either, as it was one of the favorites coming in and has done nothing to dispel that notion.

— Port St. Joe’s Willie Quinn fouled out on Monday, but his departure from the game was controversial. The Marianna scorebook had him with five fouls, while the Port St. Joe scorekeeper had three fouls and two others, one on each player, that the Marianna scorer did not have.

The decision was made to go with Marianna’s book since the Bulldogs were the home team and deemed official. PSJ coach Derek Kurnitsky, who at the time had lost 11 straight games in the John L. Cobb Gymnasium, shrugged his shoulders and told his team “I don’t think Willie’s had five fouls called on him all season.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Five area teams are holding out hopes for a state championship. Their respective quests begin on Friday, with all but Arnold on the road.

The playoffs open on Friday.

Graceville, Port St. Joe, Marianna and Bozeman must travel. Each faces stiff challenges. Heck, even Arnold could be in for a battle.

Two teams, Port St. Joe and Marianna, have to play top-ranked teams in their classification. The other three could be considered favorites or at least even with opponents.

I make it a rule not to predict the outcome of the game I cover. It causes too many problems, plus it makes me look biased, which is the last thing I want to do.

So, I will not predict the Arnold-Wakulla game.

Here goes with the picks. Feel free to add your own:

Port St. Joe at Lafayette

The Tiger Sharks draw a solid Lafayette team that returns a nucleus from the one that beat Port St. Joe in last year’s playoffs. The Hornets’ defense has been extremely good, holding opponents to 11 points per game. They also have four shutouts.

PSJ is no stranger to low-scoring playoff games. It has won 2-0 and 3-2 decisions since I’ve been on staff. This will be no different, but Lafayette is too tough.

The pick: Lafayette, 17-10.

Read the rest of this entry »

This week will clear up the playoff picture for some teams, while others could find out if they will compete in district playoff tiebreakers.

Tiebreakers are held Nov. 10. The host will be the team with the best overall record.

Area teams Vernon, Mosley and Rutherford could be involved in tiebreakers.

Vernon will be in a three-way tie for two spots if it defeats Holmes County Friday and if South Walton beats Bratt Northview. That would leave Vernon, South Walton and Baker tied at 3-1 in District 1-2B.

Mosley could force a three-way tie for the District 3-4A runner-up spot with a win over Rutherford and a Tallahassee Chiles win over Tallahassee Leon. That would leave Mosley, Rutherford and Leon at 2-2.

Rutherford could be in a tie for two spots with a win over Mosley and a Leon win over Chiles, leaving Lincoln, Rutherford and Leon tied at 3-1.

Complete scenarios and projections after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

The postseason picture is coming into greater focus with several big games last week that put distance between some of the contenders and the pretenders.

Bozeman took a giant step toward its first postseason berth with a comeback win over Blountstown. The Bucks need to wait for Chipley to lose one more district game before they can officially celebrate.

The Tigers dropped to 0-2 in District 2-2B and will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2002 season. Blountstown had advanced to the regional round in each year from 2003-2007.

Arnold will clinch its second district title in school history with a win over Pensacola West Florida Tech Nov. 7.

Bay County still has a shot to qualify four teams for the postseason. What a year that would be, eh?

Projections after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

The “second” season is what matters. High school football playoffs are nearing, with district races coming into focus.

I’ll take a look at the area playoff scene each week until all the races are decided. I’ll note the clinched berths, who’s close and give you my projections for the top two teams in each district that will advance to the regional round.

As of this week (for our area only) -

Who’s in: None.

Who’s out: None.

Could clinch this week: Arnold, with a win over Gulf Breeze and a West Florida Tech victory over Pensacola. Others: Bozeman is close, but even with a win over Blountstown, Chipley could force a triebreaker with wins over Blountstown and Florida High.

Could be eliminated this week: Franklin County, Bay, Blountstown.

District champion and runner-up projections - Click here for area standings

1-1B: Tallahassee FAMU, Graceville
1-1A: West Gadsden, Port St. Joe
1-2B: Baker, South Walton
2-2B: Tallahassee Florida High, Bozeman
1-2A: Pensacola Catholic, Marianna
1-3A: Arnold, Pensacola High
2-3A: Tallahassee Godby, East Gadsden
3-4A: This is way too close to call right now

Rutherford is led by flashy quarterback Cordarryl Rogers.

There are many intriguing stories brewing in Bay County, but none may be as good as Rutherford.

The Rams are 4-1 and are one play away from being unbeaten in high school football. They also are 1-0 in District 3-4A after defeating Tallahassee Lincoln 29-28 last week.

Confidence is back in Springfield.

Rutherford has won four games in a season for the first time since 2004. The statistic is odd given how long the Rams were the class of not only the county but of Northwest Florida.

Rutherford may have finally turned the corner after years of mediocrity. There’s no more excuses, like the one of being too young that Steve Hardin used in nearly every one of the last years of his tenure.

Of course there’s a lot of season to be played. Matchups against Tallahassee schools Leon and Chiles await, as does the annual rivalry game against Mosley.

Read the rest of this entry »

High school football begins next week with a gaggle of kickoff classics and jamborees, followed the next week by regular season openers. We’ll be on hand to cover as much as we can.

Meantime, you can check out our preview stories and capsules for each of our area high school football teams. Log onto PanhandleVarsity.com and head to the football section, where you’ll find all the stories cleverly headlined Prep Football 08.

We’re releasing stories for each team, two by the day and some days three. You can look at the archives to read each story.

Our football preview issue will release on Wednesday. This includes all of those preview stories, as well as a look at college programs in the ACC and SEC and a glance at the NFL schedule.

So get ready. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

It’s regional softball time for area high schools and that can mean only one thing: Wewahitchka is geared for yet another run at the state Final Four. What’s more, the Gators will win a second Class 2A straight state championship this season.

I’m not going out on a limb here. Wewa is playing better and performing better than it did in last year’s magical run. Not even the best private school can stop the Gators.

The only team that can stop Wewa is itself.

The Gators are 22-2, losing only to Tallahassee Lincoln and a highly ranked team from Tennessee. Wewa has since avenged the loss to Lincoln.

Read the rest of this entry »

College football’s biggest day (aside from opening day, of course) is nearly upon us. National Signing Day starts bright and early Wednesday, as college recruits from across the country make their final decisions with a simple signature on a dotted line.

Closer to home, we have a good group of expected signees. There are Division I prospects in Bay County and surrounding areas, including two from Blountstown.

Speaking of the Tigers, that’s where my day begins at 9 a.m. Then I’m off to Vernon for an 11 a.m. signing. The rest of the staff will be in places such as Lynn Haven, Graceville, Chipley and Panama City and maybe even in Franklin County, should a late signee come through.

We’ll have wall-to-wall coverage of the area signings on PanhandleVarsity.com. You can check out a list of expected signings by clicking here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Myers will forever have a place in Bozeman’s history.

The junior linebacker was named to the Class 2B all-state second-team defense on Tuesday, marking the first time that a Bucks player has ever received the honor. I informed coach Loren Tillman of the good news and he thanked the sports department for helping Myers get a place on the team.

I’ll be honest. The only thing we do here is get the nominations together and send them off. Someone else makes the hard decisions, and we can argue one way or the other if we feel there was some injustice.

I have never had to fight for a player in the four and a half years I’ve been at The News Herald. Their play speaks for itself and Myers made the second team, which is a reasonable slot in a talented classification. Next year, first team is a possibility.

So congratulations to Paul Myers. Your steady play and toughness on the field made you an all-state player. You are one of the best to play at Bozeman, so you should be proud.

You can read my story on the 2B and 2A teams by clicking here.

You can see a list of all the all-state teams currently released by going over to PanhandleVarsity.com’s football section.