Back to The Future Night for Ray Woodie and son
We could call it "Back To the Future Night" when Carrollwood Day visits Out-Of-Door-Academy Friday night in a Class 2A-District 5 matchup.
The do-it-all Mr. Everything for the Tampa visitors is freshman quarterback Ray Woodie III, a chip off the old block son of Ray Woodie, former Palmetto and Bayshore head coach and current USF assistant.
The first thing dad wants you to know is that his kid is better than dad was when he was a ninth- grader. That's a ringing endorsement for the elder Woodie, who was a standout at Palmetto, played at Bethune-Cookman and put some time in the Canadian Football League before an injury ended his career.
Dad was a hard hitting linebacker, son is a hard-hitting safety who loves to play quarterback. Hey dad, your son knows where the money is. Can't fault him for that.
The young Woodie has put in a solid season (especially for a freshman) for 5-1 Carrollwood Day, completing 39-of-70 passes for 722 yards and six touchdowns with six interceptions.
"He grew up wanting to play quarterback, spends a lot of time watching film and Jon Gruden has helped him quite a bit," Woodie says. "He is about 6½ feet tall about 170-175 pounds
and is still growing with long arms. I expect he will be about 6-4 or 6-5."
Due to his traveling requirements and a lot of Saturday games, Woodie has not seen his son play in person that much, but USF head coach Willie Taggart has afforded him some spare time.
"He says 'you gotta go see this kid play. We need to offer him,'" Woodie says with a laugh.
Dad Woodie is able to see all his son's games on video and offer his critique, but says his Ray III is very knowledgeable, especially for a freshman.
"He has been watching film all his life and really understands offenses and defenses," Woodie says
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Shhhh don't let this get out.
When Paul Maechtle pulled into the parking lot at Southeast High last Friday night with the Cardinal Mooney football team he now coaches, the former Seminoles head coach had a memory jolt he was happy to keep to himself.
"When I coached at Southeast, every time we pulled into the parking lot after a road game we would sing the school fight song," Maechtle said. "When we pulled in with Mooney, the song went off in my head. It was muscle memory and I started singing it to myself."
Maechtle said Southeast senior Kevin Johnson reminded him of Dyral McMillan, one of the best running backs in school history, who played at Miami and USF.
"He is not as physically strong as Dyral but he is little bigger and taller and has that square body shape that is tough to bring down," Maechtle said. "He has enough to make people miss and has the power and speed to go the distance. He has a chance to play Division I and will get some looks. The Braden River coach told me they had a real hard time of bringing him down. He doesn't get tired. If you don't tackle him the first time, he can make it a long night for you."
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None of the students are old enough to remember it, but Venice, Braden River's opponent Friday in a showdown game between two undefeated teams, was once a struggling program that couldn't buy a win.
From 1993 through '96 the Indians were 2-38 and went 0-10 in the final two years of that run.
Things began to change when Venice weakened its schedule and won some games. Eventually the program built itself up, culminating with a state championship and 15-0 record in 2000.
The closest game for Venice in the 2000 postseason was 24-21 victory over Manatee in the region final that ended Joe Kinnan's first reign as the Canes' head coach. The Indians defeated Palm Beach Dwyer 77-14 in the state title game.
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Brett Timmons remains arguably the best candidate for any school looking for a football coach.
Timmons, who played on Southeast's two state title teams and Tulane's undefeated team, briefly helped Matt Kitchie at Tampa Leto, but is now just watching and waiting for the next opportunity, whether it's high school or college.
Timmons had a nice run as head football coach at Out-Of-Door-Academy until he left prior to the season in what both said was a mutual agreement.
"I live in Tampa now," Timmons said. "It was good to help Matt, but now I am just watching what is happening in the college or high school world, nothing else. I am open to things."
This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Back to The Future Night for Ray Woodie and son ."