November 19, 2009

Dallas Jackson
Rivals High Senior Analyst

Dallas Jackson is the high school sports expert for RivalsHigh.com. Send him a question or comment at DallasJ@Yahoo-Inc.com and follow him at twitter.com/rivalshigh.

It wasn't hard to figure that Texas, Florida and California would make our Final Four.

But when RivalsHigh created the Greatest State Debate, our tournament to decide which state plays the best high school football, the fourth spot was the biggest mystery.

Traditional powers Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia came to mind. And you had to consider South Carolina and Virginia, too.

Of course, that's why you play the games.

Our tourney gave life to an upstart as Louisiana - just a few years removed from a devastating natural disaster - showed it had the goods to compete against the best, earning the final spot in our semifinals.

If you're not up on the rules, here's where you can get a quick lesson.

If you want to take a look at our games in the first round and the quarterfinals, we'll have links under the semifinal matchup.

So with that said, let the games begin:

No. 2 Florida HS Football

No. 3 California HS Football

Teams in the Top 25	Teams in the Top 25
Total Teams: 4 Top Team: No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders Aquinas is on course to win back-to-back national titles. The Raiders are very close to fielding a complete Division I football team at the high school level. Florida also has Glades Central, Lakeland, and Dwyer in the Top 25. At one point this season the state had three teams in the Top 10 before a logjam in Miami pushed both Central and Northwestern into the 40s.	Total Teams: 3 Top Team: No. 4 Huntington Beach Edison Chargers Our visit to California in mid-October was a power rod for Edison as the Chargers have shot up the rankings. If Edison is able to come out of the Pac-5 in the Southern Section it will be a testament to this squad. Ten games into the season, the squad is averaging a 33 to 8 victory. This is impressive in any state, but even more so with the schedule.
A much smaller state, with half as many schools, Fla. still gets more in the Top 25, 3-0.
Teams in the RivalsHigh 100	Teams in the RivalsHigh 100
Total teams ranked: 11 It is a pretty safe bet that at any point in any season the Top 10 teams in Florida could be pulled out of state and placed into another and make a run to that state's semi-finals or state title game. While the teams in the Sunshine State may not have to play in the cold weather games that northern teams do, it is a misconception that Florida teams can not play physical football; many can line up and punch people in the mouth just as easily as spread it around.	Total teams ranked: 10 California is a little down this season - especially some of the traditional powers. The Southern part of the state, which usually carries the strength of schedule, may have a hard time making good arguements for CIF Bowls. Having almost 1,200 high schools makes it pretty easy to rack up raw numbers of schools, but it is still less than the top one-percent who are being ranked in the RivalsHigh 100.
Florida gains another catagory, 6-0.
Players in the Rivals 250	Players in the Rivals 250
Total in Rivals 250: 37 Highest: No. 13 Matt Elam Florida is in rare air when it comes to producing college-ready football players. This season, the state boasts 37 players in the Rivals 250 and are headlined up Matt Elam. Elam is drawing comparisons to long time Eagles safety Brian Dawkins. Rivals.com analyst Barry Every is impressed at seeing Elam in person saying, "Elam is built like a tank, both in the upper and lower body. He looks like a beast and plays like a beast. "	Total in Rivals 250: 37 Highest: No. 5 Ronald Powell California is one of the best states for producing players. SoCal schools have some of the best athletes in the nation and teams come from all over to recruit there. Five-star defensive end Ronald Powell reminded Rivals.com analyst Barry Every of 2009 five-star player Alex Okafor (now at Texas). Every also thinks that Powell has an intimadation factor and that he should "be the guy that walks off the bus first."
Tiebreaker is Top 100 where Florida has 17-16. Florida sweeps raw categories, 9-0.
Depth in-state	Depth in-state
While Florida does split their lowest two divisions into 2A/2B and 1A/1B it is hard to say this is a watered down product. There are teams in all levels that can compete nationally. From the highest level with Central, Northwestern, DeLand, and Dr. Phillips on through to 5A with Aquinas, lakeland, Venice, Plant and Ely. The 4A teams with Niceville, Dwyer, and Armwood could be rolled with 3A Booker T. Washington (who downed several 6A and 5A teams in 2009) and St. Augustine. The cluster of Class 2 schools Bolles, Pahokee, and Pace in 2B combined with Glades Central, Cocoa, Madison, and Godby in 2A would be an outstanding class in any state.	There are a lot of dead spots in California, where there is no quality football to be found. But it's hard to duplicate the pockets that are playing big time ball. The Southern Section can probably put together a Top 25 that would dominate a lot of states best 25 teams. NorCal has St. Mary's, Grant and De La Salle while San Diego can claim Oceanside, Cathedral and La Costa Canyon. The problem is that outside of those areas there is hardly any quality programs. The closer you get toward Mexico, Oregon, and Nevada the worse it gets. While shear numbers can go to California, quality depth is not there in 2009.
Florida clinches the contest, 16-0.
Out-of-state competition	Out-of-state competition
2009 Record for OOS games: 15-11-1 Here is to hoping that Florida high school football doesn't start thinking that the competition in state is so good that it does not need to play out-of-state competition. This year was not very impressive and last year it did not look good with a lot of high-profile losses. With so few games out of state, it is tough to grade.	2009 Record for OOS games: 59-49 California being just 10 games over .500 is very disappointing. California had a major boost from a 36-27 record against Nevada and a 10-5 record versus Oregon. The biggest out-of-state wins came on the same weekend with Oaks Christian and Grant defeating Skyline and Belluvue from Washington. Cali, however, also has had some very poor showings against high-level competition.
Yes, Lakeland beat De La Salle, but overall California has done more. Cali on the board, 16-7.
Intangibles	Intangibles
Winning Class 6A down to 2A is impressive in Florida. There would be few states that can argue that their same-sized class winner could have the same results in Florida. Reclassification from last year has made 2009 even better in-state. Having a top 10 in state that spans six classes shows the depth Florida has.	California can not pick up a win on volume in this contest. It is a down year in the state and tough to reward that. Long Beach Poly, Corona Centennial, and many others have disappointed. If the seeding were not set as such it would be hard to argue California as being the third-best state this season.
Florida wins a big matchup and has a lot of national cred, 23-7.

The schedule

Tuesday (Nov. 17): First round

No. 5 Louisiana beat No. 12 South Carolina, 20-10

No. 6 Pennsylvania topped No. 11 Virginia, 20-10

No. 7 Ohio trounced No. 10 Mississippi, 23-7

No. 8 Michigan dominated No. 9 Maryland, 24-6

Wednesday (Nov. 18): Quarterfinals

No. 5 Louisiana topped No. 4 Georgia, 21-9

No. 3 California beat No. 6 Pennsylvania, 23-7

No. 2 Florida pounded No. 7 Ohio, 23-7

No. 1 Texas overwhelmed No. 8 Michigan, 30-0

Thursday (Nov. 19): Semifinals

Friday (Nov. 20): Title Game