Show of hands…
How many of you know where Eidsvoll is?
Norway is the answer.
I know what you’re thinking: “Jon, what in the wide world of sports does Norway have to do with Florida high school football?”
The new head coach at Fernandina Beach, John Pate, was a head coach over there with his son about two years ago. Last year, Pate was the Defensive Coordinator over at Yulee, and now he’s trying to get the Fighting Pirates back on line in Nassau County.
(Sidebar: How cool of a nickname is “Fighting Pirates?”)
Ivory Durham has one of the cooler nicknames around: “HJ” – short for “Hungry Jack.” I wonder if he just likes to eat or if, in fact, he likes pancakes? Let me know.
Last year at quarterback he led his Cedar Creek Christian Soldiers squad to a 7-3 regular season in Region 2-AA. Their second-place finish in the region behind University Christian led to a playoff berth before losing to North Florida Christian out of Tallahassee in the first round. This season, HJ has made his way over to Raines High as the Vikings try to make their way back to the state title game for the second year in a row. The 12-2 season in 2015 ended with a loss to Booker T. Washington (Miami, Florida) in the last game of the year, and they’re looking to flip the script in Game 14 this time around.
The one knock on Durham is his 5-foot-8 size, but something tells me it won’t be much of a knock anymore.
Trivia time: When was the last time Raines was in the last game of the year before 2015?
Answer: 1997.
Don’t overlook head coach Deran Wiley’s bunch on defense, though. They had seven shutouts last season and only gave up more than 20 points twice – 30 in the shootout win over Bolles and 43 in the title game loss to Booker T. Washington.
It looks like there’s also a proposal on the books from the FHSAA involving a lot of mathematics and statistics this season regarding the post-season: who gets in, who gets left out, and who gets seeded where when it comes to power rankings.
So dear Reader, it’s that time. I have some questions, and I would like to make this a two-way conversation for 2016.
1) What do you think about the new idea put forth by the FHSAA?
2) What’s the biggest change you have seen in this topsy-turvy off-season?
Let us know here at “In the Game Magazine” on Facebook (on the In the Game Magazine page), Twitter (My handle is @OSGNelson for those of you who haven’t followed me yet.), and whichever way is your favorite if I haven’t mentioned it yet.
The answers will be a part of our conversation next month!
Strap in, folks. This season should be a blast!
Play it safe, everyone. I’ll see you at the stadium.
ITG Web Content
The More Things Change
Written by Jon Nelson
Photo by Marque Milla Reese
