There’s a reason why high school football teams have preseason games or jamborees – it allows the coaches and players a chance to get their feet wet in competition, but the outcome doesn’t count on their final regular-season record.
As expected, the Apopka Blue Darters looked solid in their game against the DeLand Bulldogs. The Blue Darters are returning a lot of experience on both side of the ball, but especially on defense with three seniors who are four-year starters and one junior who is a three-year starter, and all four of those guys will play college football, so you know they are high-quality football players.
The Blue Darters were far from where they want to be as the season progresses, but it was certainly a nice way to start.
For Apopka, the first half against DeLand was interesting as the Darters jumped out to a 17-0 lead after running just four offensive plays. For most of the first half, you could tell it was an offense trying to find itself, but in the third quarter, the offense definitely found its rhythm. The Blue Darters opened the third period with a very impressive 80-yard scoring drive and then put together another great drive that went 72 yards and ended in the end zone.
Meanwhile, the Apopka defense held DeLand to just one three-and-out in the third quarter, giving the Bulldogs no chance to put a scare into the Blue Darters.
In addition, the Apopka kicking game seems to be in good hands, er, feet with Andrew Kennedy and Nicolas Gonzalez.
In its preseason game, Wekiva battled Miami Norland but came up short. The Mustangs scored first but couldn’t find the end zone against.
While I know that no one associated with the Wekiva program is satisfied with the outcome, the Mustangs are still getting to know each other with only two starters returning and a new head coach, along with some new assistants.
All of that makes it a work in progress for the Mustangs as they look to continue to get a lot better as the regular season progresses.
The Mustangs open the regular season at Olympia and then play at Ocoee next week, so they aren’t facing two of the heavy hitters, so those games should be good contests for the Mustangs and help in their growth no matter the outcome.
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Wekiva at Olympia
The Titans were pretty impressive in their 27-24 Kickoff Classic victory over Viera. I’m not sure how great Viera is, but Olympia definitely seems to be on the improvement track.
Fortunately for Wekiva, this is not a district game. The Mustangs don’t play a district contest until October 1, so they have a chance to find themselves and continue to get better before getting into district action.
I’m expecting a fairly close game between the Mustangs and Titans, but I think it would be better for Wekiva if it is a low-scoring game. The Mustangs may have a hard time keeping up if the Titans are putting up a decent amount of points.
Having a ball-control offense that not only eats up time off the clock, but also ends drives with touchdowns is key for Wekiva, giving its defense time to rest and keeping the Olympia offense on the sideline.
It would be great for Wekiva to get off to a 1-0 start, but I think the home-standing Titans will be able to pull off the victory.
Olympia by 3.
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Apopka at Colonial
This one is definitely another warm-up game for the Blue Darters. Colonial head coach Donny Hodge has the Grenadiers playing about as well as they can, but even their absolute best won’t be able to keep the Blue Darters from running away with this one.
Apopka’s defense will shut the Colonial offense down even though the Grenadiers will likely run some offensive sets out of the old Emory and Henry formation. The Blue Darters are just way too strong on defense to allow something like that to keep them dominating.
Offensively, the Blue Darters will be looking to continue that third quarter domination they had against DeLand. Look for the Darters to put up a lot of points, although the Grenadiers seem good-sized on defense.
Unfortunately, I won’t be able to be at the game as I tested positive for COVID early this week. I’m feeling OK, but get fatigued easily. I am fully vaccinated and I’m counting on that getting me through this. I should be back for the that monster home game next week against West Orange.
I do expect the Blue Darters to win easily over the Grenadiers and I would be surprised if the second half isn’t played with a running clock.
Apopka by 45.
