New football classifications revealed by FHSAA

A bit of normalcy is coming back to Florida high school football, as the Florida High School Athletic Association announced last week newly realigned districts, regions and classifications for the 2021 season.

The new realignments came a week after an FHSAA Board of Directors special meeting March 8, during which the board voted in favor of a one-year reclassification cycle using the 2020 student-enrollment numbers. 

The decision also brings back mandatory district play for the state’s bigger schools — Class 5A to 8A — that will influence postseason play, as district champions will receive automatic playoff berths, with each being the top four seeds in each region. The other four qualifiers per region will be dictated by MaxPreps power ratings. Meanwhile, Class 1A to 4A will be allowed to continue scheduling freely as they had done before, with playoffs dictated by power ratings.

A change back to district play comes after a weird 2020 season that saw the FHSAA drop required district competition due to the difficulty and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the season, teams were allowed to schedule they wished, and any team wanting to opt into the state playoffs was allowed.

Along with these changes, the decision to stick with the 2019-20 school-year enrollment for this one-year reclassification was largely influenced by shifting student populations at schools that were also caused by COVID-19. 

The end results of the new changes include some interesting scenarios for district play, especially in the rival-heavy Class 8A (Region 3, District 9) — which includes Celebration, Dr. Phillips, Olympia, Osceola, West Orange and Windermere.

“We think we have the opportunity to play in the toughest district in the area,” said Mike Granato, head coach at West Orange High. “There is no complaining about it — we have quality opponents across the board. We're always going to play Dr. Phillips ... and Olympia — these are border games that we are always traditionally going to play, so the fact that it's in the district now just makes it that much more important, and it means that much more to our players and our staff and our community.”

Meanwhile, Ocoee will take on Apopka, Evans, Lake Brantley and West Port in Class 8A (Region 1, District 3) play, while Windermere Prep makes the leap from the Sunshine State Athletic Conference to Class 3A (Region 2). Foundation Academy and The First Academy will remain in Class 2A and play in a full Region 2 that includes schools such as Orangewood Christian and Victory Christian.

“We want to legitimize our schedule and play teams that we played all years in all other sports, so it’s a chance for our guys to experience the FHSAA playoffs — hopefully, if we can qualify,” said Pat Hollern, Windermere Prep’s athletic director. “It actually started with Coach (Jacob) Doss — we were going to (make the move) anyhow.”

Newcomers Horizon High and Lake Buena Vista High find themselves starting off their brand-new football programs in Class 5A (Region 2, District 6) where they’ll take on Eustis, Mount Dora and Tavares in district play.