Well, the talk will end this Friday night at 8:00 when Lockhart Stadium will become the center of the national high school football universe.

Check the fan websites the past seven months and this St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Byrnes, S.C. game was all that has been talked about. On Friday, in the second game of the doubleheader, which will pit Deerfield Beach against St. Cloud (Orlando area) in the opening act at 4 p.m., all those “experts” will finally have the chance to settled the No. 1 vs. No. 2 debate.

Two powerhouses from two states known for not only producing teams, but great players, will clash as a Florida team finally gets a chance to stay home for a national game.

For as long as I can remember, when there is a huge national game, the Florida team is usually on the road, and two of those games, Pahokee and Glades Central, has visited Duncan to play this fabled South Carolina powerhouse. Both lost!

This is a contest that will certainly showcase this area, this community - a football hotbed - to the rest of the nation. If you are a football fan, you have to be overjoyed by the fact that such a huge game will be coming to your own backyard.

Former players and students of both schools have made plans to be on this nationally-televised game, and with the move from Brian Piccolo Stadium to Lockhart, the game will now take on new meaning as this 20,000 seat stadium is certainly a tremendous venue for this game.

St. Thomas, under the direction of legendary head coach George Smith, opened the season on the road with a convincing win against Upper Arlington at Ohio State, 52-7. After a week off, the Raiders came home to play Broward power Boyd Anderson, and while the game was a struggle for three quarters, St. Thomas Aquinas won the game, 46-6.

Last Friday, at the “Furnace” on Cardinal Gibbons campus, the heat and humidity of a 4 p.m. kickoff seemed to bother the fans more than it did the Raiders as this team, without standout running back Gio Bernard, rolled over a much improved team, 35-7 to come into the big game 3-0.

The always impressive Rebels of Byrnes head into Fort Lauderdale this Friday night at a perfect 50-0, with overwhelming wins against Gwinett (Ga.) Central (48-7), Myrtle Beach (65-14), Greer (52-6), Woodland (85-8) and Gaffney (60-7), so you would have to believe that this team is as ready as it will ever be to come south to play the Raiders.

While the Rebels are loaded with athletes, one of the players who is getting plenty of attention is running back Marcus Lattimore, who is being recruited by just about every college in America. Last season, Lattimore ran for 2,300 yards and 30 touchdowns. The Raiders’ defense, which has not broken at all in the first three games will be tested! So will the offense, which will need to be firing on all cylinders.

The Rebels have won 7 Division 4A football championships in South Carolina, including four straight from 2002-2005 under head coach Bobby Bentley.

While the St. Thomas Aquinas-Byrnes game is grabbing all the headlines, it isn’t the only game in town this weekend. Here is a look at the other games involving BCAA teams:

Thursday
Taravella at Boyd Anderson
University School at Everglades
Fort Lauderdale at Flanagan
Cardinal Gibbons at Northeast
Nova at Monarch (Coral Springs)
Hallandale at Miramar

Friday
South Broward at Hollywood Hills (Nova)
Coconut Creek at Ely
West Broward at Piper
Coral Glades at Coral Springs
Coral Springs Charter at Pompano
Western at Cooper City
South Plantation at Stranahan
Cypress Bay at Dillard
Pines Charter at McArthur

You can reach Larry Blustein via e-mail at FloridaKids1@hotmail.com. He can also be heard every Thursday night (9-10) on the Miami Dolphins High School Gridiron Report on WQAM (560 AM).