Florida has long been known for one of the best states in the nation when it comes to high school football, but how do we tell who is really the best football team in a certain time frame? There are many answers to this question, but we are going to provide you with our answer. That answer is 10 years.
Why 1o years? It is a decade and we felt it would be a good thing to keep things in perspective. Going beyond 10 years or cutting it short with the amount of information readily available for us ton consider could have many different effects.
With that we are launching what we believe is the first ever attempt to establish dynasty rankings for high school football in Florida. We have compiled data from nearly 450 teams that have made the playoffs in the last 10 years and we taking a look at the top 200 teams based on a points system we came up with.
First, we took 10 years worth of the Associated Press/Florida Sports Writers Association final regular season polls and gave teams points in each classification based upon final standing. That means a first place team in any classification would get 10 points.
Second, we came up with a playoff points system going from 32 points with the state champion of each classification down to 1 point for the worst team in the playoffs. To make this as simple as possible, the later a team exited the playoffs, they received a higher point value after records were imputed with amount of points determined based upon overall winning percentage. If a bracket only had 16 teams the highest 8 teams were given 32 points down to 25 points. The last 8 teams, which exited in the first round got points anywhere from 8 points down to 1 point.
As the points added up it became clear this was easily the best way to determine dynasty rankings and we think you will be impressed what our formula has churned out on our end.
With that said, we want to present to you the first part of the Florida HS Football Ultimate Dynasty Rankings, which will expand out over 10 days. Everything will be counted down in groups and you can easily share them with anyone using our share buttons above.
Breakdowns: 1-25 | 26-50 | 52-75 | 76-100 | 102-123 | 127-150 | 151-175 | 178-197
Condensed list: View full condensed list here
The Varsity Message Board: Share you thoughts on the Ultimate Dynasty Rankings here
| 151t, Baker County | 88 points | ||||
| While most of the points for success came during the Bobby Johns-era, Ryan Sulkowski is credit with getting the Wildcats to the second round in 2012. Overall, this team has seen the playoffs four times over the last ten years. | |||||
| 151t. Fort Walton Beach | 88 points | ||||
| The Vikings have had a little bit more success over the last 10 years compared to their crosstown rival, Choctawhatchee, but hasn’t seen the playoffs since 2009. | |||||
| 151t. Frostproof | 88 points | ||||
| If we went further back than we did, Frostproof would be higher up on the list in the Dynasty Rankings. However, making the playoffs six times in the last ten years is not a bad feat at all for the historical record book. | |||||
| 151t. Plantation | 88 points | ||||
| This Broward County program has been recently turning some great seasons capped with trips past the first round of the playoffs. Overall, the Colonels have made the playoffs five times in the last 10 seasons. | |||||
| 151t. West Boca Raton | 88 points | ||||
| The Bulls have seen the playoffs six times in the last ten seasons and three times within the last five years. | |||||
| 156. Gaither | 85 points | ||||
| This Tampa-based team has pulled through the best of times and the worst of times over the last ten years, as the Cowboys have been to the playoffs six times in that stretch. | |||||
| 157. Fort White | 84 points | ||||
| This southern Columbia County program has become very successful in recent years, finally winning their first district title this past season. In the last 10 years the Indians have made the playoffs six times. | |||||
| 158t. Milton | 83 points | ||||
| Although Milton has a lot of heritage and history behind them, the Panthers have still continued to find ways to make the playoffs, even if the season doesn’t look as good on paper. In the last 10 years the Panthers have seen the postseason five times. | |||||
| 158t. New Smyrna Beach | 83 points | ||||
| The Barracudas have had some moderate success with making the playoffs making four trips into them over the last ten seasons. Three of those times were past the first round or deeper. | |||||
| 158t. Pine Castle Christian* | 83 points | ||||
| This school might no longer have a full football program, when they were around, they did have some moderate success making the playoffs four times. | |||||
| 161. East Gadsden | 82 points | ||||
| The Jaguars of East Gadsden can credit their deep playoff runs over the last three seasons as some of the biggest reasons they are ranked despite the age of the school. | |||||
| 162. DeSoto County | 81 points | ||||
| While the Bulldogs have not had much success since 2009, they racked up enough points to get ranked this high within the Dynasty Rankings with 2008 being the best year in the ten year stretch. | |||||
| 163t. Bayside | 80 points | ||||
| The Bears have seen the playoffs five times in the last ten seasons and really found their groove in 2009 and 2010 when they ran deep in the brackets. | |||||
| 163t. Rockledge | 80 points | ||||
| If 2002 and 2003 were included on this, the Raiders would be ranked a lot higher with two state championship titles in the trophy case. However, that is not the case here, but the Raiders still have had success at times during the last ten seasons. | |||||
| 163t. Royal Palm Beach | 80 points | ||||
| While Royal Palm Beach might not be talked about a lot, they can see the success they have had over the last ten years as they have made the playoffs five times. | |||||
| 163t. Tarpon Springs | 80 points | ||||
| The Spongers can sponge up the fact they have been to the playoffs six times in the last ten years and making it past the first round two of those times. | |||||
| 167. Cardinal Gibbons | 78 points | ||||
| While this team has a hard time breaking through to the second round when they make the playoffs, successful regular seasons over the last ten seasons have helped a lot when getting points in the Dynasty Rankings. | |||||
| 168t. Ed White | 77 points | ||||
| This Jacksonville-based team has a history of challenging teams who were expected to top them for district titles and so forth over the years. Overall, the Commanders made the playoffs six times in the last ten years. | |||||
| 168t. South Fortk | 77 points | ||||
| South Fork can claim they have been the most successful of all of the Martin County schools in the last ten seasons. The Bulldogs have made the playoffs six times during this stretch. | |||||
| 170. Choctawhatchee | 76 points | ||||
| The Indians have been one of the more successful Panhandle teams over the last few decades. However, the last ten years saw them make the playoffs five times including a run to the regional finals this past season. | |||||
| 171t. Cardinal Mooney | 75 points | ||||
| Cardinal Mooney can look back to the mid-2000’s for where their success likes at, but overall has only made the playoffs four times in the last ten seasons. | |||||
| 171t. Dillard | 75 points | ||||
| Dillard has a lot of heritage within their program and has recently been turning the page having found the playoffs the past seasons in a row and having seen past the first round three times in the last ten seasons. | |||||
| 171t. Sandalwood | 75 points | ||||
| The Saints have been a challenger for the playoffs most seasons, but only has seen the playoffs four times in the last 10 seasons. | |||||
| 171t. Vernon | 75 points | ||||
| The Vernon Yellow Jackets can look back to 2004 and 2005 to find the success that land them in the Dynasty Rankings. Don’t be surprised if they fall greatly in the update next year. | |||||
| 175t. Evangel Christian* | 74 points | ||||
| This school had success right up to its final year of existence when it won the Class 1B state championship. The remnants of this program can now be found at Victory Christian. | |||||
| 175t. Orange Park | 74 points | ||||
| For the few seasons the Raiders had Danny Green as their head coach, they made the most of it, getting to the playoffs three times and the Regional Finals twice. | |||||
| 175t. South Plantation | 74 points | ||||
| The Paladins have made the playoffs five times in the last ten seasons, but has only found the first round once during that stretch. | |||||
Breakdowns: 1-25 | 26-50 | 52-75 | 76-100 | 102-123 | 127-150 | 151-175 | 178-197
Condensed list: View full condensed list here
The Varsity Message Board: Share you thoughts on the Ultimate Dynasty Rankings here
