ORANGE PARK - High school football is almost upon us with the upcoming Spring Football about to begin on Mon., Apri. 29 as area athletes start the long journey to fall preparations.

Among the ranks is a new coach at Ridgeview High, a track-fast offensive foursome for Fleming Island High, a second year for coaches at Oakleaf and Fleming Island after rookie seasons that did not pan out as well as expected and enthusiasm at the only school that made playoffs last season.
The start of spring football is a few days of conditioning, a few days of shells; helmets and cleats, a few days of pads and, yes, the first day of contact.
Of course, there are spring games designed to flex a bit of muscle, test some new schemes, see some young tigers and set the tone for summer workouts and an August revival for yet another year of high school football.
Ridgeview has a new coach in former Oakleaf Junior High powerhouse Merlin Smith, a long-tenured veteran of area football. Ridgeview has gone through some tough seasons and Smith brings a love of tough football-grinding opponents with a bevy of fast and aggressive players.
Smith's success at Oakleaf Junior High is near legendary with numerous trips to the conference championships of junior high ball.
Smith at Ridgeview and coach Kyle Kennard at Clay don't get much time to rethink strategies against new teams as the new district includes two powerhouses; Columbia and St. Augustine.

Class 4A, Region 1, District 3:

• Clay (Green Cove Springs)
• Columbia (Lake City)
• Ridgeview (Orange Park
• St. Augustine

At Fleming Island, with a rookie season for coach Chad Parker seemingly undergoing growing pains, that should morph into a team that everyone is excited about just by the fact that the record-setting track 4 x 100 relay team is the quarterback, the running back, a wide receiver and a safety.
Orange Park had a similar scenario a few years ago with the third place in state 4 x 400 relay team being key football players and the idea of just raw speed on the turf makes coaches cringe on defense and drool on offense.
Oakleaf sophomore coach Chris Foy had a stellar squad last year that fell short of playoff expectations, but Foy is a grinder with a knack of conditioning. Foy must find some key athletes in key spots. Foy's young players were dynamite last year and will be expecting some highlight reel schemes to get to the end zone.
Oakleaf is also out of the District of Doom that put four teams into the playoffs last year

Class 6A, Region 1, District 2

• First Coast (Jacksonville)
• Fletcher (Neptune Beach)
• Mandarin (Jacksonville)
• Oakleaf (Orange Park)

Middleburg is now in the same district as Fleming Island and could rattle that cage to the tune of the Clay vs. Fleming Island season opener extravaganza that has been an annual festival for a decade.
Middleburg coach Ryan Wolfe has run a tough schedule since taking over and it has produced playoffs for the Bronco fans. Now the rivalries in the county will count a bit more.

Class 5A, Region 1, District 3

• Beachside (St. Johns)
• Fleming Island
• Middleburg
• Orange Park
• Ponte Vedra

At Keystone Heights, coach Steve Reynolds will see his usual rivalry in Bradford County, but has some new faces to contend with Newberry, Palatka and Santa Fe in district 5-2A.
The other side of the coin is that, in the region 2-2A lineup, are Cocoa (14-1, 11-3 last two years) and 2A champion Berkeley Prep, so there may be some traveling for the Indians.

Class 2A, Region 2, District 5:

• Bradford (Starke)
• Keystone Heights
• Newberry
• Palatka
• Santa Fe (Alachua)