In three of Brevard County’s four high school football playoff games on Friday, players on both sides will recognize familiar competitors.
Cocoa High defenders break up a pass intended for Jones High’s Rashid Salters (in white) in Week 8.
Viera, Palm Bay and Cocoa each face teams they’ve seen within the last 12 months. In the case of the Hawks and Tigers, they’ve faced their next opponent in the last five weeks.
Brevard regional playoffs notes, second week
Those three schools and Melbourne Central Catholic each play at home at 7:30 p.m. Friday seeking to move a step closer to the state championship games to be played in Orlando, Dec. 8-10.
Viera has faced Martin County seven times already since 2012, and Friday’s game will be the fourth in two years. The last meeting was won by the Hawks by more than four touchdowns, but coach Kevin Mays has seen signs that his team won’t overlook this game.
“You’re hoping they don’t have a big head about them,” Mays said, “but I think we’ve had a good week of practice.”
Cocoa’s 41-6 win over Orlando Jones that decided the District 5-4A title on Oct. 14 was essentially decided in the third period, but coach John Wilkinson hoped his team’s familiarity might actually work in its favor.
“We’ve got a couple of guys who grew up with them, so they won’t let us look past them,” he said. “They’re focused in pretty well.”
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Jones started strong on defense, holding the home Tigers to a field goal in the first quarter. Timmy Pratt was the first Cocoa player to find the end zone, three minutes into the second.
In the case of two teams meeting again after a regular-season blowout, Wilkinson agreed that it is typically the loser that must make the most adjustments, assuming it at least executed what turned out to be an unsuccessful game plan.
“I think you kind of have to,” he said. “You’ve got to try something new, unless you just played poorly.”
Palm Bay and Bishop Moore haven’t met this season, but the Hornets ended the Pirates’ playoff run last year, 38-7. In fact, that was the last loss suffered by Palm Bay, which has won all 10 of its games this year and was ranked fourth in Class 5A in the final Associated Press poll of the year.
Viera High’s Mike Vega (25) slips through the line in the first game against Martin County this season.
In the case of Melbourne Central Catholic, the Hustlers didn’t face Clearwater Central Catholic this year either, but Holy Trinity lost at CCC in last year’s opening round of the postseason, 36-0.
Contact McCallum at 321-242-3698 or bmccallum@floridatoday.com. Follow facebook.com/FLtoday.brianmccallum and @Brian_McCallum on Twitter.
Friday’s high school football playoff games
All games at 7:30 p.m.
Class 7A
Martin County at Viera
Class 5A
Bishop Moore at Palm Bay
Class 4A
Orlando Jones at Cocoal
Class 3A
Clearwater Central Catholic at Melbourne Central Catholic
High school sports | floridatoday.com/sports/high-school-sports/