Teddy Bridgewater, Miami Northwestern/
Louisville Cardinals/Minnesota Vikings
THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Big Out-of-State
Games Scheduled
THE SCHEDULES ARE NOT FOOLING YOU.
There are, in fact, several big out-of-state matchups
on the horizon for Florida teams this season.
The festivities begin on August 23 when Miami
Central will be featured against Alabama powerhouse
Hoover as part of a high school football doubleheader
on ESPN. The game will have a major impact on how
the national rankings take shape. The second part of
the doubleheader showcases Niceville against Clay-Chalkville, another Alabama powerhouse.
Week 1 also contains some intriguing matchups,
including Plant traveling to Lowndes in Valdosta,
Ga., to kick off the Panthers’ season. The game will
be the second of a doubleheader that also features
Manatee against Ware County of Waycross, Ga.
Other notable out-of-state matchups during the
season include St. Thomas Aquinas taking on Don
Bosco Prep of New Jersey in a Week 3 matchup at West
Point, N. Y., while Cocoa will travel to Louisville, Ky.,
during Week 4 to face Kentucky powerhouse Trinity.
During Week 5, Fort Pierce Central will host Don
Bosco Prep.
Florida Reaches High
in the NFL Draft
2014 WILL GO DOWN AS A YEAR TO REMEM-
ber for former Florida high school football athletes
being selected in the NFL Draft. Overall, 44 former
high school football athletes were selected during
the three-day draft in New York City with St. Thomas Aquinas, Miami Central and Piper leading the
way for the most draft picks by high schools.
Selections by draft round in order of pick:
ROUND 1: Blake Bortles, QB, Oviedo High
School (Jacksonville); Sammy Watkins, WR, South
Fort Myers (Buffalo); Khalil Mack, OLB, Fort
Pierce Westwood (Oakland); Ryan Shazier, OLB,
Plantation (Pittsburgh); Calvin Pryor, FS, Port
St. Joe (New York Jets); “Ha Ha” Clinton-Dix, FS,
Dr. Phillips (Green Bay); Kelvin Benjamin, WR,
Glades Central (Carolina); Teddy Bridgewater,
QB, Miami Northwestern (Minnesota).
ROUND 2: Lamarcus Joyner, CB, St.
Thomas Aquinas (St. Louis); Timmy Jernigan, DT,
Columbia (Baltimore); Carlos Hyde, RB, Naples
(San Francisco); Stanley Jean-Baptiste, CB, Miami
Central (New Orleans).
ROUND 3: Dezmen Southward, SS, St.
Thomas Aquinas (Atlanta); Tre Mason, RB, Park
Vista (St. Louis); Terrence Brooks, FS, Dunnellon
(Baltimore); Louis Nix III, DT, Raines (Houston);
Khyri Thornton, DT, Bay (Green Bay); John Brown,
WR, Homestead (Arizona); Brandon Linder,
OG, St. Thomas Aquinas (Jacksonville); Dri
Archer, WR, Venice (Pittsburgh).
ROUND 4: Jaylen Watkins, CB,
Cape Coral (Philadelphia); Devonta
Freeman, RB, Miami Central (Atlanta);
Bryan Stork, C, Vero Beach (New
England); Tre Boston, FS, North Fort
Myers (Carolina); James White,
RB, St. Thomas Aquinas (New
England); Nevin Lawson, CB,
Piper (Detroit).
ROUND 5: Kadeem Edwards, OG, Sanford Seminole
(Tampa Bay); Ricardo Allen,
CB, Mainland (Atlanta); Kevin
Pamphile, OT, Miami Central
(Tampa Bay); Aaron Lynch, DE, Island Coast (San
Francisco); Jeremiah George, ILB, Clearwater
(New York Jets); Ed Stinson, DE, South Dade
(Arizona); Aaron Murray, QB, Plant (Kansas City);
Keith Reaser, CB, Miami Killian (San Francisco).
ROUND 6: Jon Halapio, OG, St. Petersburg
Catholic (New England); Pat O’Donnell, P, Palm
Beach Central (Chicago); Brandon Dixon, CB,
Coconut Creek (New York Jets); Andrew Jackson,
ILB, Kathleen (Indianapolis).
ROUND 7: Randell Johnson, OLB, North
Miami (Buffalo); Jabari Price, CB, Blanche
Ely (Minnesota); Jeremy Gallon, WR,
Apopka (New England); Jonathan Dowling, SS, Southeast (Oakland); Demetrius
Rhaney, C, Stranahan (St. Louis); Ken
Bishop, D T, Piper (Dallas).
POLK COUNTY CHANGING KICKOFF TIMES Fans who
normally have to rush to get to a public high school
football game in Polk County will have an extra 30
minutes to get to their seats this season. Kickoff times
have been moved from 7:00 p.m. to 7: 30 p.m., which
will match the kickoff times during the
FHSAA playoffs.
AFTER 54 YEARS OF BEING KNOWN AS NATHAN B. FORREST HIGH School, that name will fade into the sunset prior the start of the foot- ball season. When students head to classes in August, the school will be known as Westside High School.
In December, the Duval County School Board voted unanimously (7-0) to
change the name that had been in use since 1959. The change was originally
spearheaded by a petition from a parent in the school district that generated over
160,000 signatures from people all over the United States.
In January, the board selected the name Westside, which won out over another
option: Firestone High. Firestone is the name of the road on which the high school
is located, near Jacksonville’s I-295 Beltway.
With the new name comes a change of mascots. The student body voted to
change the mascot to the Wolverines shortly after the new name was announced,
effectively retiring the Rebels mascot that has been in use as long as the school
name itself. The colors of red and gray will remain as the official school colors.
Goodbye Forrest Rebels;
Hello Westside Wolverines
