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Star-Banner high school football game of the week: Trinity Catholic at Florida High

john patton
·2 min read

Welcome to Week 1 of the high school football season.

Let's break down the Star-Banner high school football game of the week: Trinity Catholic (0-0) at Tallahassee Florida State University School (0-0).

Their last meeting

These two teams met in Ocala last Nov. 26 in the Class 3A, Region 1 final. The Seminoles left with a 17-12 victory, and Celtics’ coach John Brantley said the difference in the game was “one or two plays” and some “dumb penalties.”

Trinity Catholic coach John Brantley before the preseason game against Buchholz on Aug. 19, 2022, in Ocala.
Trinity Catholic coach John Brantley before the preseason game against Buchholz on Aug. 19, 2022, in Ocala.

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The Week 1 matchup

Some of the standouts from that contest have graduated with FSU’s biggest loss being quarterback/defensive back Tre Donaldson, who is now enrolled at Auburn where he is a point guard on the basketball team.

Brantley said after that game that the Celtics were graduating only six seniors, but among them were quarterback Cole Gonzales, who Brantley called “the heart and soul of this team” and defensive end Elijah Russell, who was the Star-Banner’s defensive player of the year in 2021. Gonzales is now at Western Carolina and Russell at Marshall.

But these are consistently good programs that tend to reload. Florida High is 33-5 combined the last three seasons, and the Celtics have won at least one playoff game in every year since 2018.

This will be the only potential meeting of the season between these two programs, as Trinity is now in Class 1S and the Seminoles are in 2S. Look for the Celtics to make a lengthy run in 1S and possibly come away with the third FHSAA state championship in school history (along with 2005 and ‘10).

The rest of the Marion County Week 1 schedule

Forest at North Marion (7 p.m.), Vanguard at Gainesville (7:30 p.m.), West Port at Dunnellon (7:30 p.m.), Lake Weir at Interlachen (7:30 p.m.), Belleview at Lecanto (7 p.m.), St. John Lutheran at Land O’Lakes Academy at the Lakes (7 p.m.), OCA at Winter Haven All Saints Academy (7 p.m.).

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: High school football: Trinity Catholic gets rematch with FSU High in Week 1