High School Blitz

<p><b>Five things of note</b></p><p>1. The Rock will be hosting boys basketball national power Montverde Academy on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Want more reason to attend? It will be “dollar night”, and all tickets and concessions will cost just $1. Monteverde won last year’s meeting in its home gym by two points. The game also will be broadcast live on therockhoops.com.</p><p>2. The Jackie Simmons Classic will take place Saturday at Jacksonville Andrew Jackson High School, and two local boys hoops teams have big games on the schedule. At 4 p.m. Eastside will face Jacksonville Lee, and immediately following that one will be back-to-back Class 3A state runner-up P.K. Yonge facing Class 2A No. 1 Jacksonville Providence.</p><p>3. All-state football teams are scheduled to be released Jan. 26-30 beginning with the Class 1B and 1A teams.</p><p>4. Hawthorne High School will be honoring legendary boys basketball coach Bill Woods on Saturday night during its home game with Bell. Former Hornets’ coaches and players who can attend are asked to be there to honor the man who led the Hornets to the 1987 Class A state championship.</p><p>5. Former Gainesville High School center Chad July, who signed a national letter of intent with High Point last season, is attending the Bridgton Academy in Maine this year.</p><p><b>Mr. Football</b></p><p> The Florida Dairy Farmers recently released the classification winners for football. The eight players listed below also are the Mr. Football finalists.</p><p> 1B: Will Powers, Jupiter Christian, Jr., RB/LB (undecided)</p><p> 1A: Cody Ledford, Tallahassee North Florida Christian, Sr., LB/RB (Tulane commitment)</p><p> 2B: Nu’keese Richardson, Pahokee, Sr., WR (UF commitment)</p><p> 2A: Chris Thompson, Madison County, Sr., RB (FSU commitment)</p><p> 3A: A.J. Graham, Tallahassee Godby, Sr., QB (undecided)</p><p> 4A: Aaron Murray, Tampa Plant, Sr., QB (Georgia commitment)</p><p> 5A: Trent Richardson, Pensacola Escambia, Sr., RB (Alabama commitment)</p><p> 6A: Eugene Smith, Miramar, Sr., QB (West Virginia commitment)</p><p><b>Local Football Commitments</b></p><p>Otis Brown, GHS, WR - Ball State</p><p>Travis Evans, Williston, RB - Georgia State</p><p>Kendall Kelly, GHS, OL - South Florida</p><p>Kevin Lowery, GHS, DT - Arkansas</p><p>Armand Maxwell, GHS, DB - Butler CC</p><p>Kevin Prindle, Buchholz, QB - Hamilton</p><p>Jamal Reid, Lafayette, WR/DB - Miami</p><p>Rodney Scott, Dixie County, RB - Mississippi</p><p>Jordan Weingart, Buchholz, OL - West Virginia</p><p>National Signing Day is Feb. 4.</p><p><b>Finalized Districts</b></p><p> After hearing appeals, the FHSAA made some alterations to its 2009 and 2010 football districts. Seven local teams were affected.</p><p> Columbia and Interlachen were approved to move to another district inside of their classifications. Santa Fe’s request to move up a classification was granted. Lafayette and Dixie County were allowed to move down a classification. Bell and Branford also chose to play independent schedules.</p><p> Buchholz, P.K. Yonge, Union County and Newberry had requests to move denied.</p><p> Perhaps the most interesting change of all involved Lafayette, one of 1A’s consistently best teams. Now in 1B the Hornets very well could be state title threats every season.</p><p> For more information, visit: http://www.fhsaa.org/assignments/fb_09-10_2.htm</p><p><b>Kicking It</b></p><p> Upcoming girls soccer playoff dates:</p><p> Regional quarterfinals: Thursday, Jan. 29 at either 4 or 7 p.m.</p><p> Regional semifinals: Tuesday, Feb. 3 at either 4 or 7 p.m.</p><p> Regional finals: Friday, Feb. 6 at either 4 or 7 p.m.</p><p> FHSAA state semifinals and finals: Feb. 11-14 at Pepin Stadium, University of Tampa</p><p><b>Four On the Floor</b></p><p> These local boys basketball seniors recently were named McDonald’s All-American nominees. There will be a paring down process to a final 24 players in November.</p><p> Greg Gantt, GHS, guard</p><p> Anthony Nwadigo, GHS, forward/guard</p><p> Josh Snodgrass, P.K. Yonge, guard</p><p> Vlad Kondratyev, The Rock, center/forward</p>