September 27 1985 Middleburg v Paxon - Slugfest '85 - Paxon and Middleburg Going Toe-to-Toe

Описание: Called by the Florida Times Union: "The Super District." In 1985, The FHSAA in not wanting any Metro Jacksonville team to win or compete for a State Championship, came up with a brilliant plan: Place all the areas toughest, winning Top Football Teams in the Area in one District (creating an SEC slaughterhouse), so they would completely eliminate each other and wipe each other out.

The cause of this: Lee barely edging a powerful Middleburg team in 1984 (Lee losing to Escambia in first round in 1984), and then after beating Middleburg again in 1985, losing in the first round of the playoffs to Ocala Forest, resulting in Escambia repeating in 1985, all of this preceded by Palatka's domination (courtesy of NFL star John L. Williams and Co.). FHSAA could see the writing on the wall, and that North Florida football was on a path to take-off and dominate for years to come.

The Super District consisted of: Robert E. Lee; Raines; Palatka; Englewood; Paxon; St. Augustine and Middleburg. The modern day equivalent of: Georgia; LSU; Florida; South Carolina; Mississippi State, Arkansas and Tennessee all playing each other at the same time, resulting in a Championship Game every Friday Night.

This plan worked brilliantly, as it opened the door for Pensacola Escambia (weakest schedule in all of Florida football at the time) to cakewalk its way right to the State Championship game led by future NFL Running Back Emmitt Smith.

This is the Story of Real Florida Iron Man Football - Middleburg Broncos - 1985, and as the Legendary Coach Corky Rogers described them, "Don't believe any lies about this Middleburg team, whose head coach cleverly and cunningly to downplay how great they are, as being "slow, small and weak" - don't win games week-after-week...they are tough, relentless and highly-disciplined and if you let them get going, they will beat you and you will lose." Kamikaze Defense - Never Surrender - Middleburg Broncos Football. This Middleburg 1985 team led by seniors Super 11 QB Charlie Libretto, Mark Harris (Defensive Captain), Ronnie "Ditch Witch" Witcher (Offensive Captain), Damon Tucker, Randy Rogers, Mark Pierce, Dennis Denkins, Lacy McClanahan, Rick Rhodes, Billy Huether, John McCormick, Randy Musselman, Scott Saxon, JD Weiland, Bo Turner, Jimbo Pennington carried on the tradition of the 1984 team with honor and dignity, leaving everything on the field week in and week out, as the Runner-Up Champ of the Super District (2nd only to Lee) and no one else.

In the end, Lee won out in the Super District by beating Middleburg in the Championship game (led by Future NFL stars Edgar Bennett and Leroy Butler), but suffering such great casualties in the process of running through the "SEC Super District" gauntlet, could not advance to the state Championship game. Note: Raines Wide Receiver - Ronald Lewis (NFL - 49ers), couldn't even make it out alive, losing to Palatka, who (Palatka) ended up getting trounced by Middleburg in Palatka in front of 10,000 screaming fans, as each team knocked each other out.

Here's how this season unfolded, better than what the FHSSA could've ever imagined in its wildest dreams: Middleburg beat Englewood, Englewood beat Raines, Raines beat Middleburg, Raines beat Lee; Lee beat Palatka, Palatka beat Raines, Lee and Palatka beat Englewood and Middleburg beat Palatka, resulting in Middleburg playing Lee at Lee, for the Super District Championship game (won by Lee).....and Escambia cakewalking to the State Championship Game with little to no resistance, after Lee fell to Ocala Forest by one point - with Escambia wiping out Forest the next week.

The Super District Plan by FHSAA worked to perfection, as only Bolles High School and University Christian (both private schools in the Metro Jacksonville area), were the only two teams to play in a state Championship game for the next 10 years from 1985 to 1995; and of no coincidence, since 1985 the only non-private metro Jacksonville teams to ever win a state championship are: Raines (3) and St. Augustine (1).