Mainland Christmas Shootout: Teams and Players to Watch

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Holiday Hoops are here and Prep Hoops will be tuned into the many tournaments happening around the state! We have previewed the Kingdom of the Sun tournament <a href="https://prephoops.com/2023/12/kingdom-of-the-sun-teams-and-players-to-watch-pt-1/">here</a>, and will now provide Teams and Players to watch at this week's Mainland Christmas Shootout. Happy Holidays, thanks for your support and viewership.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>George Jenkins (2-5)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Returning Players:</strong> Maddox Harold (2024), Jaquan Cross (2024), Marcus Smothers (2024)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>My old high school will compete against a talented Lake Highland Prep (6-2) squad on Wednesday, and two North Florida high schools in St. Augustine (5-4) on Thursday and Maclay (3-8) on Friday. New head coach Kenny Davis has taken over for the legendary Marcus Ghent and is looking to carve his own legacy. The Eagles have started slow but will look to implement relentless defense to cause problems this season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lake Highland Prep: </strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1055798' first='Julian' last='Clarke'] (2024), [player_tooltip player_id='1055786' first='Kellan' last='Lewis'] (2024)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>St. Augustine:</strong> Somourian Wingo (2026), Myles Simmons (2024), [player_tooltip player_id='1450221' first='Carl' last='Jenkins Jr.'] (2024)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Auburndale (1-6)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key Returners: </strong>Joshua Clay (2024)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is a rebuilding season for the Bloodhounds who lost a couple of seniors to the next level. The Bloodhounds are in search of a scoring threat as they have fallen five games in a row while dealing with a terrible loss for the community. Auburndale has a decent slate of games this week against Suncoast (4-6), Lakewood (3-6), and St. Augustine (5-4).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Suncoast:</strong> [player_tooltip player_id='1055707' first='Ian' last='Smikle'] (2024)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lakewood: </strong>David Larkin (2024), Melvion Wallace (2024), E'zaveon Holloway (2025)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Ridge (3-5)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Returning Players:</strong> Eddy Hyppolite (2025), Kobe Key (2025), Tarique Kennedy (2025)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A lot of senior production was lost likely why the Bolts are off to a shaky start. The junior trio listed above has helped counter the loss with decent scoring outputs despite dropping their last two matchups. Three tough matchups this week which will be a test for the rising young Polk team.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Gainesville (7-4):</strong> [player_tooltip player_id='1578244' first='Anthony' last='Leivonen'] (2024), Aidan Bell (2025)<br><strong>Boyd Anderson (5-6):</strong> Theodore Richardson (2025), Juawayne Walters (2026), Jayden Silvera (2027)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->