Bald Predictions District Previews – District 15-6A

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This district, which doesn’t get enough credit for the talent that it produces on a yearly basis, added a new team – which will only elevate the level of competition. Things should be wide open and the top spot will be up for grabs in this dual-county (Broward and Palm Beach) group.

Southwest Ranches Archbishop McCarthy Mavericks

2016 Record: 10-1 (2016 Gold Coast Conference (Independent) champions)
Coach: Byron Walker
2017 Outlook: Archbishop McCarthy spent the past three seasons playing in a non-FHSAA, independently sanctioned league – the Gold Coast Football Conference.

Like the several other South Florida schools that elected to play independent, McCarthy was trying to level the playing field and compete with other schools that were finding it difficult to compete each week in larger districts and classifications.

The Mavericks quickly found success, though. After making it to the league’s semifinal round in its first year of play, Archbishop McCarthy went on to win back to back Gold Coast Conference championships – including winning 20 of 21 games over a two-year span.

McCarthy jumps back into district play in 2017 and it hopes to build on the momentum it built up the past two seasons.

One of the big reasons for the Mavericks’ success is head coach Byron Walker. Walker, the father of Cooper City High head coach Brandon Walker, is one of the most experienced coaches walking the sidelines in South Florida. His resume includes stops at Belle Glade Glades Day High and Plantation American Heritage, but he’s arguably done his best work with McCarthy.

The on-field catalyst has been running back Jacob Baptiste. Just entering his junior year, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Baptiste rushed for over 1,900 yards this past season – including a 277-yard, 4-touchdown performance in the 2016 Gold Coast championship game.

The Mavericks lost their 2016 starting quarterback, Quinn Dempsey, to transfer – so junior Jesse Rivera, who did see significant time under center this past season – will be the No. 1 signal caller. Receiver Logan Giordano also transferred out (to Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna), so Baptiste’s ability to chew up yards every week will be paramount.

McCarthy’s defense will be in the hands of seniors Gino Sandora (inside linebacker), Andrew Hallman (safety), Denzel Simmon (outside linebacker) and Marquis Edwards (safety). 6-foot-3, 205-pound junior linebacker Derek Burns will also be one the team’s defensive leaders.

McCarthy has the talent to compete with just about everyone on the Class 6A level and its schedule has been well-crafted and should yield an opportunity to make the postseason.

Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson Cobras

2016 Record: 7-3
Coach: Quincy Woods
2017 Outlook: Boyd Anderson enters the 2017 season as a team looking to show the rest of Broward County that it hasn’t gone anywhere.

2016 was a disappointing season for the Cobras by a lot of accounts. Despite having one of the more productive quarterbacks in South Florida and a very talented defense, Boyd Anderson found itself in a three-team tiebreaker for the two playoff spots. Boynton Beach and Dillard ended up winning the tiebreaker “game”, leaving the Cobras on the outside looking in.

BA’s roster took a significant hit due to graduation – and a few transfers – but the area that the school sits in will still pump enough talented athletes into the building to keep the program rolling.

Head coach Quincy Woods, who replaced Eddie “Rabbit” Brown right before the start of the 2016 season after Brown abruptly announced his leave of absence, enters his second year at the helm. Woods has been keeping his team active during the offseason, taking the squad on a college tour as well as participating in many 7-on-7 events.

The offseason work has allowed for new leaders and playmakers to emerge.

2018 running back Novric Jackson has put himself in position to be the Cobras’ main man on offense. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound ball carrier, who has offers from USF, Illinois, and Memphis, led the team in rushing this past season (433 yards and 5 touchdowns) and should at least double his output in 2017.

Senior receiver/defensive back Avery Thornton – who’s committed to USF – will be another key piece for Boyd Anderson this season as will Hollywood McArthur transfer linebacker Dantae Banton.

Sophomore lefty quarterback Lavonshea Wright will have the ball in his hands this season, and seemingly already built a rapport with receivers Johnny King (a 6-foot-4, senior), Jerkevan Harrell, Kenneth Payton and Raphael Williams.

Boynton Beach Tigers

2016 Record: 6-4 (2016 District runner-up)
Coach: Derrick Crudup Sr.
2017 Outlook: Boynton Beach enters 2017 looking to put its tumultuous offseason behind it.

Investigations loomed as the Tigers dealt with the abrupt resignation of former head coach Errick Lowe in conjunction with allegations made by a former assistant coach that Lowe and his staff were “illegally recruiting players”.

In an effort to turn the page, the school named Derrick Crudup Sr. – who spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator at Delray Beach American Heritage – its new head football coach in March and has focused on restoring its reputation.

The Tigers earned the title of district runner-up this past season after playing in a three-team tiebreaker game with Dillard and Boyd Anderson.

Boynton Beach should be in the mix again in 2017 if its performance in a four-team spring jamboree is any indication. The Tigers played a half against Deerfield Beach High (a 6-3 win) and a half against Palm Beach Lakes High (a 6-0 win).

Senior linebacker Abraham Beauplan is the team’s top returner. The 6-foot, 200-pound defender, who returned an interception for a touchdown during the spring game against Deerfield Beach, has earned offers from Florida Atlantic University and Bethune-Cookman University.

Boynton’s defense as a whole will be the team’s strength – adding in the expected contributions from senior linebackers Marc Laurore and Jermarri Horne.

Fort Lauderdale Dillard Panthers

2016 Record: 6-4 (2016 District champion)
Coach: Ricky Hemingway (1st year)
2017 Outlook: It’s hard not to cast Dillard as an “underachieving” program when you consider the amount of talent that the team trots out on a yearly basis and you think about the fact the Panthers haven’t made it past the second round of the playoffs since 2010 and have a 39-34 record over the past seven seasons.

Worse yet, Dillard has lost four straight Broward “Soul Bowl” games to rival Pompano Beach Blanche Ely.

Perhaps it was those shortcomings that led to Lorenzo Davis stepping down as head coach at the start of the spring. Davis, who had led the team since 2012, officially resigned as head coach – but still works at Dillard as a teacher – and said he wants to watch his son, Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas defensive back Jaden Davis, play this season.

Taking over is veteran assistant coach and first-time head coach Ricky Hemingway. Hemingway served as the team’s interim coach during the spring and was made the full-time head coach in June.

With a new head coach in tow, Dillard enters the 2017 season once again as a team with a handful of very good, nearly elite caliber players and at least a dozen other homegrown athletes that other programs can only wish to have access to.

Senior wide receiver Bryce Oliver, senior cornerback Stanley Garner and junior defensive end Braylen Ingraham represent the team’s standout prospects.

Oliver is a 6-foot-3, 205-pound pass catcher with deceptive speed and a frame that can wall off defenders as he makes catches – earning him offers from Iowa State, Kentucky and Appalachian State.

Garner – who transferred in from Coconut Creek High – has offers from Alabama, Clemson and Michigan because of his 6-foot-3, 180-pound frame and four-star status as a recruit.

Having played varsity since his freshman year, Ingraham could end up being the most productive of them all. After being overshadowed by Dillard’s other top defensive linemen – Jon Ford (Miami) and Jordan Wright (Kentucky) – the past two seasons, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Ingraham will shine as the team’s defensive anchor for the next two years.

Moises Francois returns to his post as starting quarterback and will be leaning heavily on Oliver and Abdul “A.J.” Leiba in the passing game. Also look for rising 2018 offensive lineman and UCF commit Devin Jordan (6-foot-6, 260 pounds) to be the leader of the offensive line while developing juniors Shanoyd Whyte and Robert Boyd (6-foot-7, 310 pounds) continue to mature.

Dillard’s schedule is tough – with non-district games against Miami Booker T. Washington, Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons and Deerfield Beach High – but it could pay off in the long run if the Panthers are able to live up to their own expectations and win critical district games.

Oakland Park Northeast Hurricanes

2016 Record: 0-10
Coach: Nick Dellaria
2017 Outlook: Northeast has had a rough go of things over the past four years.

Since 2013, the Hurricanes went just 3-37 – with winless seasons in 2014 and 2016. That’s a sharp decline for a program that went 10-2 in 2012.

Charged with turning the program around is new head coach Nick Dellaria. Dellaria replaces LZ Anderson, who led the team for two years. Dellaria, who also coaches the school’s girls flag football team, spent one season as the head coach South Plantation High in 2015.

The road ahead will be tough for Dellaria – especially playing in a tough district like district 15-6A – but it isn’t insurmountable.

Defensive athlete (safety/linebacker) Malik Occiur is one of the team’s top returners. His size (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) gives him a chance to be an impact defender on this young Hurricanes team. Also look for senior defensive end/linebacker Johnny Thompson, who’s shown the ability to get into the backfield, to use the 2017 season as a way to garner attention from colleges.

Bald Prediction

This is a very tough district to predict. No team is a clear-cut, stone-cold lock as the top team. Like its neighbor district (16-6A), the outcomes of the district games will boil down to a bunch of intangible and unpredictable factors.

Maybe it’s raining when on a given night, maybe a team had an outbreak of the flu during the week and the guys are sluggish one week, maybe the referees have a direct effect on the outcome of a game – plenty of scenarios.

I will say that Northeast will snap its winless streak, but will still finish at the bottom of this district and I think Boynton Beach will finish as the No. 4 team.

The top three is up in the air. Archbishop McCarthy, Boyd Anderson and Dillard all will be in play for the district championship spot.

Of the three, I believe that the Mavericks have the best chance to make the postseason even if they don’t win the automatic playoff bid as district champion.

Predicted Champion: Dillard
Predicted Playoff Team(s): Archbishop McCarthy

Bold Prediction

I’m drinking the McCarthy “Kool-Aid”. I think the Mavericks will find immediate success jumping back into district play – showing that their winning of back to back independent league championships was no fluke.

District MVP

Have to give this honor to McCarthy’s Jacob Baptiste. Say what you want about the level of competition, anytime a player rushes for nearly 2,000 yards – that’s a big deal.

Will it be more difficult for him to replicate those numbers this season? Sure. But he is McCarthy’s No. 1 option on offense and will have ample opportunities to rack up big yardage.

Calling my shot: I think Baptiste finishes with at least 1,200 yards in 2017.

Top Players

Abdul Leiba – Dillard
Abraham Beauplan – Boynton Beach
Andrew Hallman – Archbishop McCarthy
Avery Thornton – Boyd Anderson
Brandon Cummins – Archbishop McCarthy
Braylen Ingraham – Dillard
Bryce Oliver – Dillard
Carlos Ramos – Archbishop McCarthy
Dantae Banton – Boyd Anderson
Denzel Simmon – Archbishop McCarthy
Derek Burns – Archbishop McCarthy
Devin Jordan – Dillard
Devyn Ricks – Northeast
Durand Ford III – Archbishop McCarthy
Gino Sandora – Archbishop McCarthy
Jacob Baptiste – Archbishop McCarthy
Jacquez Chance – Dillard
Jayson Dennis – Boyd Anderson
Jerkevan Harrell – Boyd Anderson
Jermarri Horne – Boynton Beach
Jesse Rivera – Archbishop McCarthy
Johnny King – Boyd Anderson
Johnny Thompson – Northeast
Kenneth Payton – Boyd Anderson
Khymani Martin – Archbishop McCarthy
Malik Occiur – Northeast
Marc Laurore – Boynton Beach
Moises Francois – Dillard
Novric Jackson – Boyd Anderson
Ramsey Baty – Archbishop McCarthy
Raphael Williams – Boyd Anderson
Robert Boyd – Dillard
Romello Rutty – Boyd Anderson
Samuel Alcide – Boynton Beach
Shanoyd Whyte – Dillard
Stanley Garner – Dillard
Stanley Lindsey – Dillard
Tommy Boatman – Boynton Beach
Waymon Smith – Archbishop McCarthy
Willie Tindal – Boyd Anderson