The COUNTDOWN – The Summer of Sports Continues… Listen in as we cover it all! 6:30pm on WTAL 1450AM
Tonight on The COUNTDOWN. The NCAA makes a decision that could change the high school recruiting landscape. Also, we’ve got NBA draft news… What jersey will LeBron be wearing next season? Listen in as we’ll try to cover an unprecedented 7 sports in one segment! It’s The COUNTDOWN! Tuesday nights at 6:30pm only on 4Quartersonline.com and WTAL-1450 A.M.!
What New Head Coach will be in Orlando
[poll id="37"]
Tonight on the COUNTDOWN – Jimbo Fisher 7-on-7 tournament gets a big draw from both state and local teams
Tonight on The COUNTDOWN we talk about last weeks Jimbo Fisher 7-on-7 tournament! The competition and the weather were both very hot. The Los Angeles Lakers secure yet another NBA title and Kobe gets one for the thumb. Also Florida State is in the thick of the pack in Omaha at the 2010 College World Series. Listen in to The COUNTDOWN 6:30pm only on 4Quartersonline.com and WTAL 1450 AM!
Lincoln safety Garye commits to USF
By Jim Lamar • DEMOCRAT SPORTS EDITOR • June 16, 2010
One trip to the USF campus in April convinced Chris Garye Jr. that he had found the perfect place to play college football
A few months later, Garye made it official by committing to the Bulls as part of their 2011 recruiting class.
Garye, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound safety at Lincoln High, becomes USF’s fourth public commitment. He selected USF over scholarship offers from Iowa State, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, FIU, Louisville and Illinois (among others).
“I liked the surroundings at USF,” Garye said. “When I went there for Junior Day, all the coaches there were all into the players’ academics. Every player had an Apple laptop to help them stay on top of all their school work. That impressed me.”
Garye said he was also impressed by first-year USF coach Skip Holtz.
“He loves to be with his players,” Garye said. “That’s all he talked about when I was down there. They’ve got real good chemistry.”
Garye joins former Lincoln teammate B.J. Daniels, who started at quarterback for the Bulls last season. Daniels and Garye were teammates in football and basketball at Lincoln.
“B.J. is a big reason why I picked USF,” Garye said.
Lincoln coach Yusuf Shakir said Garye is a “great fit” for the USF program.
Tonight on the COUNTDOWN – Special guest, West Gadsden head coach, Antonio Bradwell joins the discussion on the new FHSAA division II
Listen in tonight as we talk about the big shake-up in the FHSAA! We’ll bring in special guest Antonio Bradwell to discuss the new “Rural Division II” format and what it means for the student athletes. Also we’ve got plenty of NBA Finals action… Do the Lakers have enough for a game 7, or do the Celtics hang on for an 18th title? Rounding out the show will be a complete breakdown on the College World Series. The COUNTDOWN 6:30pm only on 4Quartersonline.com and WTAL 1450 AM!
FHSAA approves rural classification
D.C. Reeves • dcreeves@pnj.com • June 15, 2010
GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Athletic Association has approved the rural classification, passing the recommendation unanimously, 16-0, during the FHSAA board meeting in Gainesville today.The vote greatly changes the landscape of high school sports in the panhandle with the majority of small schools designated as rural being located in North Florida.
The rural classification will encompass eight sports beginning in the 2011-12 school year – football, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, softball, baseball and volleyball. It will be a pilot program for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.
Jay and Northview are the two local football-playing schools that could be included in the new league.
With the unanimous vote, the FHSAA will now schedule several meetings around the state in August and September to meet with schools that would be eligible for the rural league, known as “Division II,” and gauge interest on how many teams would opt into the new league
Comments by executive director Roger Dearing and board member Bob West clearly swayed the group as two members of the governance committee who voted against the recommendation on Monday changed their mind and voted for it today.
According to the recommendation put forth by a five-member Urban/Rural committee in April, the classification hoped to include all schools with 500 or fewer students located in rural areas as determined by the Florida Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development.
That number is likely to increase to the 550-600 range in order to get the 32 football-playing schools it needs to compete for a state championship according to FHSAA bylaws.
“We’re inventing the wheel here, and if (the league) doesn’t go, we listened, and that’s important,” Dearing said.
Munroe may opt to not join FHSAA’s rural classification
GAINESVILLE — There’s one thing just about every small, rural school athletic program agrees on — the proposed rural classification is a step in the right direction. But when it comes to the individual cases of some programs, it isn’t a perfect fit.
Take Peniel Baptist Academy and Robert F. Munroe, the two smallest rural football-playing high schools in Florida. Peniel Baptist, located in Palatka, has only 44 high school students. Munroe has just 90.
Munroe Football
While the classification was constructed to help even the playing field for small schools, it’s not a definite that either team would join the “Division II” class even if it is passed today at the FHSAA board meeting in Gainesville.
“For us, it’s not about urban/rural, it’s about being compatible,” said Munroe athletic director Susie Morris. The Munroe team, which plays as an independent in the FHSAA, averages between 20 and 25 players on its football team. “We’re trying to play schools with a similar roster.”
“To be honest with you, I wouldn’t be interested with getting involved with anything like that,” said Peniel Baptist football coach Marcos Bosque. The school just completed its first season of football.
“Simply because, where we’re at, we’ll do well in a few years and we’ll compete. It just takes time to build a program. I don’t think it would make that big of a difference for us.”
Depending on which programs opt to join the rural classification, the size of schools within the league could range from Peniel Baptist’s 44 to upwards of 600. Five-hundred is the number on the current proposal, but proponents of Division II concede that it is unlikely that it will stay below 500.
The FHSAA requires all classifications have at least 32 teams to compete for a state championship.
As for potentially competing for a state title against schools six times their size, Morris says that the school will weigh its options. On one hand, the competition and travel will likely increase if it enters the new league. On the other hand, if it had a district to play in, that would help the team fill a 10-game schedule.
Click here for full story >>>
FHSAA may split up rural, urban schools
By D.C. Reeves • Pensacola News Journal • June 14, 2010
Jay High School defines rural. It has 274 students. Tucked into the northwest corner of Santa Rosa County, fewer than 900 people live in the school’s 32565 ZIP code. Acres of peanut plants line up perfectly in rows across from the school’s front office. An area that couldn’t be further from metro Miami in either miles or culture, the Jay High campus has an ironic address: 13683 Alabama St.
It’s way up here where Elijah Bell, the school’s longtime football coach and athletic director, has spent almost a decade working to level the playing fields for small, rural Florida schools like his.
“Schools that are rural have a geographic (disadvantage) that makes us different than the small schools that are in urban populations (across Florida),” Bell said from his cramped, windowless office cluttered with boxes of dusty trophies. “Us folks out in the country, we have a small area where we glean our students from and have been doing this ever since we’ve had a school.”
On Tuesday, waiting to hear word from his sleepy town known more for its crops than its A-list football players, Bell might see his dream fulfilled.
The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Board of Directors will vote on a recommendation that would create a new rural classification, called “Division II,” in eight sports: Football, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, softball, baseball and volleyball. That means any public or private school with fewer than 500 students located in an area designated rural by the Florida Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development (OTTED) will be invited to join. That 500 figure could increase depending on how many qualifying programs opt out of playing in the new league.
To pass, the recommendation will need a majority vote from the 16 FHSAA board of directors during Tuesday’s board meeting in Gainesville. If the recommendation is approved, the new classification would go into effect as a pilot program for the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.
Live Coverage of the War Eagle 7-on-7 tournament all day today
4Quartersonline.com is here at Wakulla High School for the annual War Eagle 7-on-7 tournament. 8 teams from across the area are here to compete in the 7-on-7 and linemen competition. Log on to our 4Q LIVE Blog of all of today’s events!
Click here for the 4Q LIVE Blog >>>
E. Gadsden Head Coach Corey Fuller braces the heat as his team takes on Florida High
The following schools will compete in this early summer classic: Wakulla, East Gadsden, North Florida Christian, FAMU High, Taylor County, Chiles, Florida High, Madison County, Jefferson County and Munroe
Tonight on The COUNTDOWN – Exclusive Interviews with Scott Klees and Ebony Kirby
Listen in tonight as we talk about the Wakulla War Eagle 7-on-7 tournament with War Eagle head coach Scott Klees! The NBA Finals are in full swing and we’ll talk Hoops with Tallahassee Lady Thunder head coach Ebony Kirby.
FHSAA to discuss possibility of forming “Urban” division
June 04, 2010 5:23 PM
By PAT MCCANN / News Herald Executive Sports Editor
PORT ST. JOE — The level athletic playing field that many small public high schools in the Panhandle have sought for years may be coming into focus.
On June 15, the Florida High School Athletic Association will vote on moving forward with investigating the forming of a “Rural” division in eight team sports that could be implemented as early as the 2011-12 school year.
The vote stems from a committee that has gathered statewide input from parents and coaches at public meetings, the most recent in Port St. Joe on Thursday night.
Tim Wilder, Gulf County Superintendent of Schools and FHSAA president-elect, said the effort represents the most headway on the issue in the past 15-20 years.
“There have always been rumblings about it, but this is the first time the board has been approached as a collective unit,” Wilder said Friday. “It is very doable and very possible.”
Wilder stressed that the forthcoming recommendation is not a public school vs. private school issue. Rather it compares the ability of an urban school to attract student-athletes from a metropolitan area competing against a rural public school from a county of 20,000 residents.
“You can’t punish the private schools because the state and the Department of Education give them the right to do what they do,” Wilder said.
The alternative could create a new rural division of schools with enrollments of 500 students or less. If the recommendation gets FHSAA approval on June 15 to move ahead, it is possible a restructured division could be adopted in November.
The team sports involved would be girls and boys basketball, baseball, football, boys and girls soccer, softball and girls volleyball. Wilder said that a number of options must be considered including redistricting, reclassification, an appeals process for eligible schools that did not wish to participate as well as those whose enrollment might exceed the threshold and wish to join.
The COUNTDOWN – Exclusive Interviews with Special Guests, Head Coaches Robert Kraft and Mike Coe
Listen in tonight as we talk spring high school football with our special guests, new North Florida Christian and Madison County head football coaches, Robert Kraft and Mike Coe! The NBA Finals are set. We’ve got a complete breakdown of the Boston Celtics vs. the LA Lakers.