23/09/2022
BSN SUPER 7 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RANKINGS:
This weeks Super 7 is unanimous from one through five.
For the second straight week Rockledge is BSN’s pick as the areas top team. The 4-0 Raiders received every first place vote. In fact, Cocoa received every second place vote, while Eau Gallie, Melbourne and Palm Bay received every third place, fourth place and fifth place vote respectively.
The six and seven spots is where things got complicated for our staff. Satellite received four sixth place votes while TItusville received two.
The Mustangs factored into the voting this week as they tied the Terriers for our seventh ranked team.
Bayside picked up one vote but the Bears will be back.
So here is this weeks BSN SUPER 7 (SEVEN VOTERS FROM BSN)
No. 1 ROCKLEDGE (49, EVERY FIRST PLACE VOTE)
The Raiders are now 4-0, the 11th ranked team in the state, No.63 in the country and have outscored their opponents 165-7. The offense is averaging 326 yards per game and they have multiple weapons that can beat you from anywhere on the field. Defensively, Rockledge is just plain mean. They held a good Bayside offense to just 61 total yards for the game.
Rockledge has a very difficult matchup this Friday as they host 1-2 Osceola in what is the game of the week.
The Kowboys play in 4S are ranked No.26 in Florida and don’t let the two losses fool you. They are high quality losses as the experts say, as Osceola fell to No.12 Seminole and No.15 Lakeland by a combined four points.
It the Raiders do to Osceola what they’ve done to their four previous opponents then not even the sky would be the limit for this team.
No.2 COCOA (42 POINTS, EVERY SECOND PLACE VOTE)
So what happens when you face Jones and St. Thomas in your first two games and then play a team that is in the process of retooling it’s program because you have to according to the new FHSAA system, Well if you’re Cocoa you win 76-0.
The Tigers put the rest of the county on notice with this win and so did their senior quarterback. Critics pointed out that Seabreeze transfer Blake Boda looked shaky at times in the Tigers first games but all he did to respond was turn in a perfect performance on Friday going 16-16 for 301 yards and he set a school record with seven touchdown passes.
We don’t care who you are playing, it’s an amazing task to see a high school signal caller complete every pass he throws. As Boda went so did the rest of the offense as many of the Tigers had outstanding nights.
Cocoa will face Melbourne this Friday night in what has been a highly “talked” about game all summer long.
No. 3 EAU GALLIE 4-0 (35 POINTS, EVERY THIRD PLACE VOTE)
The Commodores beat a BSN Super 7 team by 28 points with a 49-21 win over Satellite Friday night.
Sophomore Mari Crooms had 237 passing yards and two touchdowns, while Eau Gallie’s offensive line led by Sandman Thompson opened up holes for two 100 yard rushers in Tay Welch (142) and Delvonte Williams (114). Williams had three touchdowns in the game.,
Three different Commodore receivers had 74 or more yards receiving with two catching touchdowns. What makes Eau Gallie so dangerous their equal opportunity offense. Five different Commodores scored Friday night and they pushed around a team that prides itself on being more physical.
Eau Gallie will face a decent 3-0 Harmony team on Friday night at home but should emerge 5-0.
Two weeks back Palm Bay held the Longhorns out of the end-zone allowing just two field goals to their offense.
The Commodores are improving every week and wouldn’t it be a thing of beauty if they were undefeated on October 28 when the travel to Rockledge for what would the district championship game.
If they keep playing this way there is no doubt that’s exactly how it will play out.
No.4 MELBOURNE 3-1 (28 POINTS, RECEIVED EVERY FOURTH PLACE VOTE)
Melbourne is back on track playing Bulldogs football but the obvious big question this week is will it be good enough to beat a Cocoa team that hasn’t lost to a county foe since November 1, 2019.
Melbourne has found a very nice balance of pass and run with QB Hunter Turner and RB Wesley Lambert.
Turner has 637 passing yards and seven touchdowns this season while Lambert has 365 rush yards, three TD’s and two games over 100 yards rushing.
The catalyst for the Bulldogs has been their defense. Defensive Player of the Year candidate Logan Barnhill has 49 tackles, 6.5 for a loss and six sacks, all three lead the team. Senior linebacker Woody Sweet has 46 tackles and both will need to play their best game of the year on Friday.
The thing coordinator Jeff Pannucci’s defensive is doing consistently is forcing turnovers. The Bulldogs have forced 13 turnovers in four games with seven of them being interceptions.
If Melbourne is to win on Friday night they’ll need to play a near perfect game. This game vs. Cocoa appears at the perfect spot on the schedule. The Bulldogs will go into their bye week knowing exactly where they stand as a team and a program for that matter. It’s definitely a gut check game on Friday.
Melbourne will know if they are once again a team that can reach the 4S regional finals or they’ll know exactly what they need to do to become that team, especially with with district rival Harmony up next.
Melbourne is the underdog heading into Friday night but this group won’t hear of it and the only “dog” they plan to leave Tom McIntyre Stadium as on Friday is the 4-1 BULLDOGS
No.5 PALM BAY 3-1 (21 POINTS, RECEIVED EVERY FIFTH PLACE VOTE)
Palm Bay continues to knock on the door, even at times bang on it and it just feels like a matter of time before they come crashing through it but until they stop turning the football over at inopportune times, and committing penalties, the door wi just bend.
Turnovers and penalties aren’t a good combination and can prevent any team from winning any game but both are common with teams as young as the Pirates are and despite an excess of both, Palm Bay is still 3-1.
Defensively, they are right there with any other team in the county. They have 14 takeaways through four games, have outscored their opponents two to one and have scored almost as many touchdowns on defense and they have on offense.
The defense had reached paydirt eight times and the offense 10 times. They are allowing about 120 yards of offense per game.
Aside from turnovers and penalties the issue at the moment that is preventing the Pirates from breaking down the door down is key injuries on offense the past two weeks and a unit averaging just 259 yards per game.
Zach Emery Foster has been out for two weeks and Octavian Osby has been limited. Both hope to be 100 percent this week.
But if you know Head Coach Jake Owens then you know he will get the offense caught up with the defense, their is still time. By the time the Pirates face Melbourne on October 7, they should be 5-1.
No.6 SATELLITE 2-2 (8 POINTS)
The Scorpions have dropped two in a row for the first time since dropping back to back games in October of 2018 but the Scorpions have a good chance to rebound this upcoming when they host Astronaut.
There is no reason to panic. They lost to two teams ranked ahead of them in Melbourne and Eau Gallie but what is concerning is that is was by a combined 73-21.
One of the best things that made new head coach Brian Helton such a great hire was the fact that he came to Satellite with extensive coaching experience and he’s seen it all before so it is a safe bet he and his staff will get it fixed.
While this might not be a team that reaches a regional final this year, it is a team that will learn from these loses and they will beat the teams that they match up with in terms of personnel.
If Satellite does that they’ll have a shot to go 4-2 or even 5-1 the rest of the way and still reach the playoffs. They should most certainly finish the 2022 year with their fifth winning season in the last six years and that’s not bad considering the team lost their starting quarterback in week one.
NO.7 TITUSVILLE & MERRITT ISLAND
MUSTANGS (6 POINTS)
The Mustangs and Terriers enter the Super 7 for the first time this year tied with 5.5 points each (Bayside picked up one point this week).
As for the Mustangs they get a win over their former coach on Friday night and now move forward with a tough schedule that will define their season. They face a winless but dangerous Heritage team Friday and then play Eau Gallie, Bayside, Rockledge and Satellite with Eustis in between.
The question everyone wants to know is when will Luke Knight, the Tampa Jesuit transfer quarterback play? The likely answer is this week. Last season the junior had 30 touchdown passes and over 2,500 passing yards.
The Mustangs defense has allowed just 10 points in their two wins and if Knight can provide a spark to an offense averaging 275 yards per game, 167 of those passing yards, the Mustangs have no place to go but up.
TITUSVILLE 1-2 (6 POINTS)
The Terriers are a team that’s starting to turn some heads. They led Palm Bay 9-8 at halftime and Yulee by 14 early in that game.
But like any young team retooling growing pains will happen. It’s a safe bet that you expect many of the mistakes made that cost the Terriers wins in their last two games will be corrected by head coach John Holmes and his staff.
The Terriers have a good mix led by senior running back Xavien Taylor who has 301 rushing yards. Dual threat sophomore QB Josiah Allen is gifted and learning.
The game will slow down more and more for him each week and when he’s completely comfortable, look out, he’ll be a force at the position.
Defensively TItusville may be ahead of the curve. They held Palm Bay’s offense to just 10 points on Friday which was enough to win.
The Terriers match up well with their next three opponents and by the time they visit Cocoa for a district matchup on October 14, TItusville could realistically be 4-2.
The last time TItusville won four of their first six games was in 2014. Get used to hearing stats like this Terrier’s fans because the days of winning one or no games could be long gone with Coach Holmes, his staff and this program .
