Football, volleyball playoff pairings coming soon
The Florida High School Athletic Association already is gearing up for the playoffs, less than one month since an unusual start to fall sports ramped up under COVID-19 precautions.
Postseason volleyball district pairings and football region tournament brackets will be revealed over the next two weeks. The rollout for each will look much different than in the past.
FHSAA associate executive director Justin Harrison said during Monday’s board of directors meeting in Gainesville that only minor changes were necessary for fall sports playoffs after every public school in Palm
Beach County and Broward County and “a majority” of schools in Miami-Dade County opted out of tournament play while working to reopen campuses and get back on playing fields.
Classifications will remain the same as were originally outlined for fall sports, which also include bowling, golf, cross country and swimming and diving. But revisions in some districts and regions were unavoidable. Those changes were made primarily in the larger classifications because of the absence of so many schools from south Florida.
“Our goal as a staff was to try to make the least amount of changes,” Harrison said of new region groupings. “The higher the classification, the more there was change.”
A blind draw for volleyball district tournaments will be released by the FHSAA on Wednesday. Football region tournament brackets will be posted on Wednesday, Oct. 7. No rankings will be considered when putting those brackets in place.
That means the two best teams in a volleyball district could be randomly picked to face off in a win-or-go-home semifinal when the playoffs begin Monday, Oct. 12. Only dis
trict champions and runners-up earn a spot to regionals, as was the norm in previous years before the FHSAA moved to a MaxPreps power ratings for the seeding system in 2019.
Football region tournament contests, which would include “play-in” games on Nov. 6 or Nov. 13 for regions that now have more than 16 teams, will also be put together via a blind draw. Home teams will be decided by a coin flip. The final regular-season date for football was scheduled for Nov. 6, creating a potential conflict for some regions.
Almost all public schools in populous South Florida bowed out of the football state playoffs. But that optout list does not include five schools that claimed FHSAA championships last season, when MiamiDade and Broward County teams went 7-0 in finals to sweep every classification above the 1A rural division.
The reigning champion Miami programs that opted out were Columbus Catholic, which edged Apopka 21-20 in last season’s 8A final; and Booker T. Washington, which won the 4A title.
The five title teams from 2019 that are in the 2020 playoff field are:
•St. Thomas Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale, which beat Edgewater 28-23 in last year’s 7A final for its 11th FHSAA championship.
•Miami Central, which won its sixth 6A crown since 2010.
•5A champ Miami Northwestern, which owns seven FHSAA titles.
•Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna, which won its third consecutive 3A title.
•Hialeah Champagnat, which captured its third 2A title in the past seven seasons.
One Miami public school team, Palmetto, opted in for Class 8A football. The Panthers, regarded as one of the top teams in 8A prior the pandemic, were placed in Re
gion 3 alongside eight Orange County teams — including Dr. Phillips (1-1), Boone (1-1) and Lake Nona (2-0).
The FHSAA previously gave the green light for all football teams throughout the state to automatically qualify for postseason play, regardless of records. That concession was made because some school districts were unsure when it would be safe to open schools, much less get teams ready for competition.
It was also noted during the meeting that if a team is forced to withdraw from a postseason contest due to COVID issues it would forfeit its place in the playoffs.
It is still unclear where the large-class football championship games will be played from Dec. 17-19 for Classes 8A through 5A. Harrison and FHSAA football coordinator Frank Beasley said the association is still exploring options since pulling out of its deal with Daytona Stadium following the 2019 finals.
The FHSAA calendar for fall, winter and spring sports remains unchanged, according to FHSAA executive director George Tomyn.
The current schedule allows for baseball and softball players to begin a new arm-conditioning training program beginning on the first Monday in January. The additional days of preseason preparation had been pushed in recent years by the baseball advis
ory committee with a focus on the arm safety of pitchers. The board voted to alter the language to allow for all players from both sports to take part in those supervised workouts before the official start of tryouts.
Tomyn told the board that of the 362 football games scheduled to be played in the first three weeks of the season statewide, 20 were canceled due to COVID-19. It included 13 in Week 3.
As of last Wednesday, Tomyn noted that there are 58,891 high school students on active athletic rosters this fall in Florida.
“That is because this board gave them the opportunity to do that,” Tomyn said, referring to a series of lengthy board of director meetings over the summer that resulted in a return-toplay plan.
Football leads the way with over 26,000 participants this fall followed by volleyball with more than 11,000 in play.
Tomyn had his contract as top administrator of the association extended through June 2023 at Monday’s meeting. It was revealed that he voluntarily took a 20% pay cut and that his staff agreed to wage freezes during the current school year. Tomyn is eligible to renegotiate his contract next summer.