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
| 178t. St. Petersburg | 73 points | ||||
| The Green Devils have made the playoffs four times in the last ten seasons, finding their best success in this stretch in 2008 and 2009. | |||||
| 178t. Wharton | 73 points | ||||
| The Wharton Wildcats can’t claim their state title appearance from the early 2000’s into our 10 years of research, but a recent resurgence of success in the program have helped the team overall. | |||||
| 180t. Coconut Creek | 72 points | ||||
| This program hasn’t had any recent success, but they can credit five playoff appearances in the last 10 seasons to their name. | |||||
| 180t. Sickles | 72 points | ||||
| Sickles is an emerging program and can look back on the 2013 season as the most successful ever in the history of the school. Overall the Gryphons have four playoff appearances in our 10 year stretch of research. | |||||
| 180t. Spruce Creek | 72 points | ||||
| While the Hawks have not seen the postseason since 2008, when they did make it they were highly successful. | |||||
| 183t. Hawthorne | 71 points | ||||
| The Hornets are rarely talked about these days, but if you look back over the last ten seasons, this team saw a nice stretch of success. A state semifinalist finish in 2009 helped their ranking greatly. | |||||
| 183t. Keswick Christian | 71 points | ||||
| This now-independent program has success during the mid-2000’s including a deep run in 2007 that surprised some folks. | |||||
| 183t. Newsome | 71 points | ||||
| This is another young program that has been mostly successful when they do make the playoffs, with the 2012 season being their most successful season to date. | |||||
| 186t. First Baptist (Naples) | 70 points | ||||
| This program has only been around for a few years and has made the playoffs only the past two seasons. However, the success of those two years helped the Lions a lot. | |||||
| 186t. Vanguard (Ocala) | 70 points | ||||
| Vanguard only made the playoffs four times in the last ten seasons, but their successful deep playoff run 2010, helped the Knights push higher into the Dynasty Rankings. | |||||
| 186t. West Florida | 70 points | ||||
| The West Florida Jaguars have been have a huge amount of success over the last few years and that includes some impressive win totals and upsetting in the first round of the 2013 playoffs. All that helps them get ranked here. | |||||
| 189t. Cardinal Newman | 67 points | ||||
| The Crusaders have made the playoffs seven times in the last 10 seasons, but only broke past the first round once during this stretch. | |||||
| 189t. Lake Highland Prep | 67 points | ||||
| This downtown Orlando program, can look at 2009 and 2010 as their most successful years in the last 10 seasons, in which the Highlanders went past the first round both times. | |||||
| 191t. Eagle’s View | 66 points | ||||
| Eagle’s View has had moderate success over the last ten years, most of that can being credited to now former head coach Ryan Keith. | |||||
| 191t. Eustis | 66 points | ||||
| Eustis hasn’t seen the playoffs since the mid-2000’s, but when they did make it, they found success. | |||||
| 191t. Palm Beach Lakes | 66 points | ||||
| Although not much success as of recent the, Rams can look back to the mid-2000’s to find where they had the most success. | |||||
| 194. Chipley | 65 points | ||||
| 2011 can be looked as the the big year in the last 10 years, in which the Tigers reached the inaugural Class 1A state finals. | |||||
| 195t. Admiral Farragut | 64 points | ||||
| The Blue Jackets have seen most of their success in the last five seasons including reaching the Class 2A state final in 2011. | |||||
| 195. Northeast (Oakland Park) | 64 points | ||||
| Most of the success that the Hurricanes have had in the last ten years can be traced back to former head coach Donnell Bennett. | |||||
| 197t. Barron Collier | 63 points | ||||
| This Collier County team has always been a playoff contender in most years, but has not made it past the first round at all in the seven times the Cougars made the playoffs in the last 10 seasons. | |||||
| 197t. Hollywood Christian* | 63 points | ||||
| This now-defunct program had a successful stretch in the playoffs during the early to mid 2000’s. | |||||
| 197t, Martin County | 63 points | ||||
| The Tigers have made the playoffs four times in the last 10 seasons. | |||||
| 197t. Riverdale | 63 points | ||||
| This Fort Myers program has made the playoffs six times in the last 10 seasons, but only got past the first round once. | |||||
| 197t. Yulee | 63 points | ||||
| Credit Derrick Henry’s success for getting Yulee ranked inside the top 200 of the Dynasty Rankings. | |||||
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
