Cocoa (Fla.) at Trinity (Louisville, Ky.)
Jamel Dean will lead Cocoa into a big-name road contest in Kentucky.
File photo by Vincent Carchietta
What to watch: Two teams seemingly always eager for a chance to play out-of-state opponents meet up at Trinity's Marshall Stadium. It's the fifth in a string of six non-Kentucky teams for Trinity (2-2) to open the season. Conversely, this will be the only non-Florida team Cocoa (2-0) plays this year, but the Tigers have faced nine out-of-state opponents in the past four years. Although Cocoa will suit about half as many players for Friday's game as Trinity, the overall talent comparison looks pretty congruent. Cocoa has had two players sign with FBS colleges the last two years and could have at least a half dozen scholarship players in its current senior and junior classes. Most notably, the Tigers have Ohio State-bound senior defensive back
Jamel Dean and Florida-committed junior DB
Chauncey Gardner on their roster. Trinity's top college prospect is probably running back
Donald Brooks. The 5-11, 185 senior had five touchdowns and nearly 300 rushing yards in a 36-27 win over Colerain (Cincinnati) last week.
Just the facts: Trinity's victory against Colerain boosted its record to 20-14 versus out-of-state competition since 2004. … Cocoa went 3-0 in games against teams from Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas in 2010 but lost four out of five games versus non-Florida teams the next three years.
Mitch Stephens: Trinity 24, Cocoa 21
Kevin Askeland: Trinity 35, Cocoa 18
Jamie DeMoney: Cocoa 22, Trinity 21
Stephen Spiewak: Trinity 21, Cocoa 14
Leland Gordon: Trinity 40, Cocoa 21
Colin Ward-Henninger: Trinity 27, Cocoa 24
