The Raiders are the biggest name in 561 football, and they are once again near the top of the rankings to start the season. Last season ended with the school bringing home state championship #6. Will 2007 bring them #7?
Team: Glades Central
Schedule:
Week 1: Palm Beach Lakes
Week 2: @ Palm Beach Central
Week 3: @ Palm Beach Gardens
Week 4: Clewiston
Week 5: @ Dwyer
Week 6: Cardinal Gibbons
Week 7: Bye
Week 8: Archbishop McCarthy
Week 9: @ Pembroke Pines Charter
Week 10: @ Suncoast
Week 11: Pahokee
Strength: Wide Receivers- If there is a high school in the country with a better history of producing WR's than Glades Central, I'd like to see it. This is just another year for the Raiders, as they once again have the best WR core in the county. Senior Travis Benjamin is the star, but junior Rantavious Wooten may actually outproduce him this year. Throw in senior sleeper Eddie Poole and few teams will have the DB's to hang with the Raiders. They will make life very easy on whoever emerges at QB.
Weakness: Defensive Line- It's not that the Raiders lack size, speed, or talent at this position. What they lack is experience and a proven playmaker. The schedule is filled with quite a few opponents with a physical running game which could pose some probrlems for the Raiders. At the same time though, it should also prepare them for the postseason.
Key Player: RB Antonio McCloud- All the talk around Glades Central is about how great the WR core is and which QB will emerge as the leader of the offense. RB Antonio McClould is kind of the forgotten man, but he might also be the most important player to this offense. It will be imperitve for the Raiders to develop a consistant running game this season, and McCloud will get the first crack at being that guy. He's not the biggest, but he's lightning quick and he knows how to run the ball between the tackles. He made some plays last season as a 10th grader, but this year they need him to step up and be an all-county caliber player if they plan on repeating as champs.
Key Game: This is a fairly weak district that the Raiders could finish no worse the 2nd place in, and even that would be a massive upset. So with that being said, the biggest game leads us once again to the "Muck Bowl". This is the last game of the regular season, so it will give us all an idea on what kind of shape Glades will be in for their annual playoff run. Despite losing last year, you could still see this team was starting to click in this game.
Outlook: Such an astronomical amount of talent was lost from last seasons team that it's hard to expect this group to win a state title. At the same time though, there is still more than enough talent in this program to do it. Don't be surprised if the Raiders actually play like a "better" team this season than last for most of the season. Whether it results in a title or not remains to be seen, but the Raiders have as good of a shot as anyone else in 3A.
Prediction: 9-1 (3-0), 1st in District
