Best public/private high school football teams?

[krenie]

We are considering a move to the area, focusing on Santa Rosa Beach. Would we have additional options for our son to play high school football outside of South Walton High? Are there any public/private high schools in the area that have highly rated football programs (sending players to D-1 schools)? No offense directed at South Walton! Just wanting to explore additional options. Thanks!

 

[beachmouse]

West side of SoWal lets you waiver into Okaloosa schools under many circumstances. Ft. Walton Beach HS has produced a guy who went on to win a Heisman Trophy and a number of other good players, and Niceville HS has a good number of guys who get D1/D2 athletic scholarships every year.

Between those two schools, Niceville has something of a better athletic/academic reputation in recent years and the commute wouldn't be as bad as it would be into Ft. Walton Beach.

If you're talking about further east in Walton County, I'm not sure how the program is at Arnold HS in Panama City Beach. It's still a relatively new school.

In terms of private schools, the only one a reasonable commute from SoWal that's got a high school football team is Rocky Bayou Christian in Niceville, and they've only really had a varsity team for like 1-2 seasons now.

 

[krenie]

West side of SoWal lets you waiver into Okaloosa schools under many circumstances. Ft. Walton Beach HS has produced a guy who went on to win a Heisman Trophy and a number of other good players, and Niceville HS has a good number of guys who get D1/D2 athletic scholarships every year.

Between those two schools, Niceville has something of a better athletic/academic reputation in recent years and the commute wouldn't be as bad as it would be into Ft. Walton Beach.

If you're talking about further east in Walton County, I'm not sure how the program is at Arnold HS in Panama City Beach. It's still a relatively new school.

In terms of private schools, the only one a reasonable commute from SoWal that's got a high school football team is Rocky Bayou Christian in Niceville, and they've only really had a varsity team for like 1-2 seasons now.

Thanks! I'll look into those options!

 

[beachmouse]

Having said that, I think that SWHS football is a program on the rise, and could go from somewhat above average to quite good in the next 3-4 years. If football-playing offspring is a junior or senior and has the possibility to at least be all-conference where you're coming from, I'd say send him to Niceville, but if he's a freshman or younger then the right answer between Niceville and SWHS isn't a given because I think SWHS could be in a pretty good place by the time the recruiting gets serious.

 

[Beach Runner]

Fort Walton Beach High School is probably still a good place to play football. That's where the University of Florida Heisman Trophy winner Danny Wuerffel (as in Danny Wuerffel Parkway in Destrin) played.

 

[beachmouse]

Though the commute from Santa Rosa Beach to FWBHS is pretty ugly during the afternoon a good chunk of the year. (Mornings aren't so bad) I used to do the part of it from Danny Wuerffel to downtown FWB on US 98 for the job from hell, and there were times that it would take me a good hour to get to the turnoff to the Mid Bay Bridge. The Niceville commute from SRB is a lot better even if the miles aren't too different- traffic normally moves well on both the bridge and John Sims.

Another note on the SWHS team is that their head coach used to coach at Niceville, and I assume still can be very helpful in the recruiting process if a player's good enough to play college ball in the Southeast.