Sports Today

With Orange Park’s season coming to an abrupt halt in the opening round of the playoffs leaving Clay High and Fleming Island as the final two county teams moving on, the question now becomes can the Blue Devils and Golden Eagles post wins to move on to the regional finals.
I would venture to say that since Fleming Island easily handled Seabreeze in week 6 with a 42-21 thrashing which the final score wasn’t as close as it appears, the Golden Eagles should do it again unless they have an uncharacteristic off night just as the Raiders did last week – but I don’t see that happening, Eagles roll.
Meanwhile the Blue Devils will be paid a visit by the Class 3A, sixth-ranked Yellow Jackets who are 11-0 and have posted consecutive undefeated regular seasons.
In 2007, St. Augustine beat Clay 37-7; however, Ulysses Tobler, Teddy Monroe, Rodney Perry, and Gabe Burden were all sophomores, while Shane Coleman and Zack Kay was just freshman.
Although the task will be tall, I believe these Blue Devils are ready to grow up starting with Friday night.

Will Clay High and Fleming Island deliver?
With Orange Park’s season coming to an abrupt halt in the opening round of the playoffs leaving Clay High and Fleming Island as the final two county teams moving on, the question now becomes can the Blue Devils and Golden Eagles post wins to move on to the regional finals.
I would venture to say that since Fleming Island easily handled Seabreeze in week 6 with a 42-21 thrashing which the final score wasn’t as close as it appears, the Golden Eagles should do it again unless they have an uncharacteristic off night just as the Raiders did last week – but I don’t see that happening, Eagles roll.
Meanwhile the Blue Devils will be paid a visit by the Class 3A, sixth-ranked Yellow Jackets who are 11-0 and have posted consecutive undefeated regular seasons.
In 2007, St. Augustine beat Clay 37-7; however, Ulysses Tobler, Teddy Monroe, Rodney Perry, and Gabe Burden were all sophomores, while Shane Coleman and Zack Kay was just freshman.
Although the task will be tall, I believe these Blue Devils are ready to grow up starting with Friday night.

Here we are at the final regular season game of the season and what better way to end it than with a rivalry game featuring the top two teams in the county.
We almost had two undefeated teams playing this game but we all know what happened at Middleburg a few weeks ago when the Golden Eagles took their first loss.
Still, that doesn’t knock the luster off this contest as Orange Park tries to prove last seasons 41-3 rout was no fluke, whereas Fleming Island would like nothing more than to knock the Raiders from the ranks of the unbeaten.
It should be a test of Fleming Island’s speed with Malcolm Jones and Robert Boswell going against the athleticism of Orange Park’s defense led by Demetre Baker.
However, my take is, the Golden Eagles defense will be tested by the running attack of Orange Park’s stable of backs, while their (Orange Park) defense which is the best in the county will stop the soaring Eagles.
I won’t make the same mistake as last season when I picked Fleming Island, this time the Raiders roll 35-24.
Who do you have?

Here we go football fans, the start of another season which should prove to be another good one in Clay County.
Of course the season begins with local teams' Orange Park/Ridgeview and Clay/Fleming Island knocking heads tonight (9/4), while Middleburg travels to Creekside and Keystone to Bradford.
St. Johns Country Day got the season started with a 34-0 win over FSDB for head coach Merlins Smith's first win - Congratulations.
Who do you believe will make it to the state playoffs from Clay County?
My preseason picks are Orange Park (1-6A), Fleming Island (2-5A) and my sleeper this year is Matt Toblin and Clay High in District 3-3A.
Keystone, Middleburg, St. Johns and my sleeper last year Ridgeview will need good fortunes to make it out of their respective districts.

Upon his release from the federal prison sentence incurred from the dog fighting ring he led, former Atlanta Falcons QB Mike Vick is eligible for reinstatement to the NFL recently granted by commissioner Roger Goodell, but no teams are stepping forward to sign the maligned quarterback.
Citing preseason blackouts to be followed by possible regular season blackouts, several national media sources have reported that our Jacksonville Jaguars would be a good fit for the elusive QB, however, according to profootballtalk.com, Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio said no to the Vick proposition.
If the report is true that Del Rio said no when posed the question he’s not alone, according to NFL sources, 17 other teams have also said they have no interest in Vick.
As far as the Jaguars are concerned, they are coming off of a disastrous 5-11 season, seats are still covered, the two preseason games are already blacked out and media pundits are predicting the possibility that all eight regular season games will follow that trend.
Can Vick generate ticket sales if he were signed?
Personally, I believe winning solves ticket sale issues, however, with the roster set the prospects of another losing season may be realistic.
I do not condone what Mike Vick has done off the football field, he should have been punished and he has – now someone will have to take a chance on him or possibly watch one of their rivals beat them to the punch.
What can Vick do for the Jags?
First off I understand that David Garrard is the starting QB and have no qualms with that, but with more and more teams showing the new offensive fad called the wildcat formation, he would fit perfectly into a backup role getting 8 to 10 snaps a game in a variety of ways.
No disrespect to backups QB’s Todd Bouman or Todd Boeckman but I’d have to say Vick is a better quarterback, although some will argue he isn’t, however, he has run an offensive system before and led the Falcons to a stunning playoff road win over the Packers and Brett Favre in historic Lambeau Field - something that doesn’t happen with regularity in December or January.
Okay, so we believe he could help the Jaguars or some other NFL team on the field, but what about off the field?
Sure their will be a firestorm of backlash aimed at the team that inks him to a deal and the media attention will be unmerciful.
But with the prospects of blackouts, declining attendance and not much interest on a national level, the signing of Mike Vick will do wonders on both those fronts and possibly lead to one or two more wins.
Sometimes bad media can be good media for teams in need of a jumpstart.
Would you go, renew, or purchase tickets to the Jags if they signed Mike Vick?