JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida High School Athletic Association has released new region assignments for high school football teams, with few changes and no area schools moving up or down in classification.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FHSAA was forced to shake up its postseason format this season. That resulted in teams having to decide if they would opt-in to the playoffs or opt-out and try and play a full regular season slate.
Recommended Videos
After all of that reshuffling and many teams in South Florida opting out, what’s left are very similar looking region assignments and a much different looking playoff format.
The FHSAA will determine playoff seeds by blind draw, something that the Orlando Sentinel’s J.C. Carnahan reported that could come as early as next week.
Teams who opted to compete in the postseason were automatically given a berth. That’s great news for schools like Paxon and Wolfson, programs that would have little shot to make it under normal circumstances.
While all teams who declared for the postseason qualified, it doesn’t automatically mean that they’ll make the finalized bracket when all is said and done. In Classes 5A-8A, only 16 teams per region make the tournament. In 1A-4A, eight teams per region make it. Regions with more than those limits will have play-in games if necessary on Nov. 6 and 13.
Five area regions are affected by those numbers, which means play-in games will be needed to determine final playoff teams in those.
Region 1-6A has 18 teams, Region 1-5A and 2-5A have 17 teams, Region 1-3A has 10 teams and Region 1-2A has nine teams
Region 1-8A
Bartram Trail
DeLand
Flagler Palm Coast
Mandarin
Nease
Oakleaf
Sandalwood
Sanford Seminole
Spruce Creek
Orange City University
Ocala West Port
Region 1-7A
Atlantic Coast
Creekside
Crestview
First Coast
Fleming Island
Fletcher
Gainesville Buchholz
Navarre
Niceville
Tallahassee Chiles
Tallahassee Leon
Tallahassee Lincoln
Tate
Region 1-6A
Columbia
Daytona Beach Mainland
Daytona Beach Seabreeze
Englewood
Fort Walton Beach
Gainesville
Gulf Breeze
Lee
Lynn Haven Mosley
Matanzas
Middleburg
Milton
New Smyrna Beach
Pace
Ponte Vedra
Pensacola Escambia
Pensacola Washington
St. Augustine
Region 1-5A
Baker County
Bishop Kenny
Fort Walton Beach Choctawhatchee
Panama City Beach Arnold
Paxon
Pensacola
Pensacola Pine Forest
Raines
Ribault
Suwannee
Parker
Tallahassee Godby
Tallahassee Rickards
Wakulla
West Florida
Westside
Yulee
Region 2-5A
Belleview
Citrus
Clay
Crystal River
Dunnellon
Eustis
Gainesville Eastside
Lake Weir
Leesburg
Menendez
Mount Dora
North Marion
Ocala Vanguard
Orange Park
Port Orange Atlantic
Ridgeview
Tavares
Region 2-4A
Bolles
Bradford
Fernandina Beach
Keystone Heights
Palatka
South Sumter
Villages
West Nassau
Region 1-3A
Baldwin
Episcopal
Interlachen
Jackson
Gainesville P.K. Yonge
Pensacola Catholic
Tallahassee Florida High
Trinity Christian
Walton
Wolfson
Region 1-2A
Aucilla Christian
Quincy Munroe
North Florida Educational
Rocky Bayou Christian
Tallahassee FAMU
Tallahassee Maclay
Tallahassee North Florida Christian
Tallahassee St. John Paul II
University Christian
Region 2-2A
Daytona Beach Halifax
Deltona Trinity Christian
Gainesville St. Francis
Ocala St. John Lutheran
Orangewood Christian
Lakeland Victory Christian
St. Joseph
Winter Garden Foundation Academy
Region 3-1A
Bell
Branford
Dixie County
Fort White
Hamilton County
Hilliard
Lafayette
Madison County
Union County