They count for something
Kissimmee Osceola head football coach Doug Nichols had a simple explanation for his train of thought when it comes to scheduling Kickoff Classic preseason games.
“If they are going to give us an extra game to play each year, we figure we may as well try to find the best team out there available,” said Nichols, whose Kowboys will host last year’s Class 8A state runner-up, Dr. Phillips, in a Kickoff Classic contest tonight.
“We’re going to play it just like a real game and take it serious just like we would any other game. And when you got a game that doesn’t really count, why not play the best competition you can find?”
That sentiment echoes throughout the region these days.
Teams have trended toward making the preseason games an extension of the regular season, even though they will not count against the win-loss records.
Other big-time matchups tonight will have Class 6A power Daytona Beach Mainland at perennial 8A state title contender Apopka, 5A Orlando Jones at home against 6A Miami Norland, 5A Bishop Moore hosting 8A Timber Creek, and up-and-coming Wekiva playing host to a backyard brawl against Lake Brantley.
Wekiva and Brantley are 8A contenders who could see each other in the playoffs down the road.
“We see it that way, 100 percent. That’s why we tried to play Apopka,” Mainland head coach Scott Wilson said of finding the best competition available. “Our mindset is that if we have an opportunity to play a team like Apopka, we know it’s only going to make us better to see their speed, their size and their ability, and their coaching ability.
“Having to adjust to all of that on the fly without a lot of preparation and on-therun, it gives you a good test for where you’re at as a staff and where you’re at as a team. That’s why we do it, to try to make our team better as we get into the regular season.”
There was a time years ago when it seemed teams just used Kickoff Classic games like another spring exhibition game, where younger players could get on the field and some assessments could be made about team depth.
For a lot of teams, particularly elite programs, those are the days of the past.
Teams now get evaluate most of their players during the spring practice sessions and summer workouts, camps and 7-on-7 tournaments.
They are ready to hit the field for real with the first preseason game.
“In the Kickoffs, you’re leading into the regular season and you’ve discovered a lot over the spring and the summer and already found out a lot of things,” Wilson said. “In the spring games, a lot of times you are piecing together the new group and playing a lot of younger guys, so there is a big difference.”
Apopka head coach Rick Darlington has always been a big proponent of going out and finding the best competition he can find.
That’s why the Darters have sought out preseason games against out-of-area opponents like Winter Haven, Lake City Columbia, Lakeland Lake Gibson and even Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes in recent years.
“Why not play someone really good? You’re going to find out right away where you are and what your team is made of,” Darlington said. “The people we play on our schedule are good teams like Mainland, Lakeland, Dr. Phillips, Miami Norland. So that’s why you play good people, to get used to playing against good people.
“For us it can be a good wake-up call.”