Chris' Prediction:
St. Augustine is all about history, and being the oldest continuously settled city in the U.S., it thrives off of it. Friday night the thirteen year losing streak for Nease will be history after they come out with a victory against Joey and the boys.
This week's prediction is very tuff, but when you live with someone for six weeks straight in a RV, you do everything the same, and I want to spice up our relationship with a little controversy. People (Mike) want to talk so much about the loss of Tim Tebow for Nease, but St. Augustine lost three very good players by the names of Brandon James (Florida), Jacques Rickerson (Florida), and Quintin Hancock. People (Mike) want to bring up the fact that Nease hasn't won a game against St. Augustine in thirteen years, and that the quarterback, Quinterrance Cooper, for SAHS is 20-0 in his career. You all (Mike) can keep hanging with Mr. Cooper because I am going to chill with James Wilson (USC), Mario Butler (Georgia Tech), Justin Grant (Florida), and the 7-0 QB Ted Stachitas. The offensive line for Nease will control the line of scrimmage, and the cornerbacks will stop any pass game for St. Augustine.
Both of these teams are defending State Champions in their respected divisions, so you know talent will be in full force Friday night, and that is why this prediction has been so hard. The truth is that this last week I was watching Animal Planet, and they were talking about yellow jackets and panthers. Yellow jackets sting and then die, while panthers bite for the jugular. I am going to go with the team that has the mascot that goes for the kill, and predict a 21-16 win for the Panthers.
P.S. You can call me Ponce de Leon because I am pretty much the "Fountain of Youth" to the writing game.
Mike's Prediction:
In my last journal entry I said that Nease is probably the bigger name at this point. This is mostly due to last year's QB Tim Tebow, who was billed as the #1 signal caller in the nation. The hype around Tebow and Nease's state title last year brought a ton of publicity, a national spotlight, and it is fair to say that more people have been hearing about Nease football. All this said, apparently the Yellow Jackets of St. Augustine haven't got the memo about Nease's rise to prominence. Will this be the year for Nease to put the 13 year losing streak to an end?
I'm going to say negative ghostwriter the pattern is full, mostly because I can. Coach Wiles' Yellow Jackets return a decent part of their team last year that defeated Tebow and company. They also have the luxury of playing on their home turf in a classic backyard rivalry that is sure to pack the stadium with supporters. Most importantly, I look to the veteran leadership of QB Quinterrance Cooper. He took his team up to Nease and won on the road last year, has never lost in 20 starts behind the center, and is a battle tested leader that has been in state championships and tight games before. Cooper has got everything any coach desires of a QB before going into a big game.
Lastly, as much as thinking that 13 years of losing doesn't affect players who were potty training when that streak began, it does. St. Augustine expects to keep the streak going and Nease is likely to feel the ominous gloom of past games lost in the last minute when this game comes down the crunch time. Any competitor can relate to the difference between expecting victory and fearing that something is just going to go wrong like it always has.
Call me petty and superstitious if you want, but a game this closely matched forces me to take this little stuff into account. You on the other hand, might just want to go flip a coin outside like I did before I wrote this.