2020 FLORIDA HELMET CHALLENGE: Everything you need to know about the Helmet Challenge

We are happy that we will be a part of the 2020 National High School Helmet Tournament that will decide which helmet from one of the 50 states has the BEST OVERALL HELMET in the country.

However, in order to get there, first, the state must decide which team has the BEST OVERALL helmet in the Sunshine State. We will start doing that over the course of the next week starting Tuesday, June 2.

Here are the details on how all of this will work:

BRACKETS:

2 brackets
Large Schools (5A-8A)
Small Schools (1A-4A)

Independents including SSAC programs (11-man & 8-man) will be placed in the proper bracket based upon their 2018 FHSAA enrollment numbers.

RULES:

Which helmets are selected to compete in?

• All 8 2019 FHSAA State Champions are automatically entered and will anchor a top seed in a quadrant either in the Large School or Small Schools Bracket
• Helmets submitted by coaches will be automatically entered for the Play-In round
• Other helmets entered will be selected by FloridaHSFootball.com. The helmets selected are unique that use a school logo or uses a unique decal that is not considered generic and can be picked out through one of the many decal manufacturers.
• Helmets that are plain in color (except those that are a current FHSAA State Champion), or very basic with numbers and letters of a generic design or as stated using a generic decal will least likely be selected to compete in the tournament.
• HELMET RESEARCH: com has researched nearly 600 helmets for this tournament and has either mockups already created or photos of helmets to be mocked up as closely as possible. The buck stops here when it comes to the determination of who is selected and who is not.

Voting Rules

• All voting rounds will last 24 hours in each round except for the State Championship round that will determine the winner who will represent Florida in the National Helmet Tournament later in June.
• All voting will take place via Twitter at @FlaHSFootball.
• Matchups via Twitter will be posted on FloridaHSFootball.com for viewing. You must have a Twitter account to be able to vote.
• The State Championship voting round will last for 48 hours.
• During the Elite 8, Final 4, Bracket Championship and State Championship Rounds, voting timestamps will be recorded via screenshot with help from the National Helmet Tournament. Any evidence of vote tampering will force a reduction in the vote count for that team. Tampering includes being down by a significant margin and then going into the lead in a matter of several hours among other things that can indicate potential tampering as determined by us and the National Helmet Tournament.
• TIES: In the event that there is a TRUE tie (which means more than one bar is highlighted blue via Twitter), a run-off poll lasting no longer than 2 hours max will help determine a winner to break a tie.

Play-In Determination Rules

• Teams will be selected in a random order draw for the Play-Ins for their respective bracket.
• Groups of four will compete for a Play-In Spot. The winner will advance to the Round of 32 for their bracket.
• In the event in of a tie between two or more teams, please refer to the rules regarding ties under the Voting Rules section.

By The Numbers

• 4 Quadrants per bracket
• Pods of 4 for Play-Ins – A total of 7 Play-ins Per Quadrant Per Bracket (28 Play-Ins Per Bracket)
• An FHSAA State Champion is a seeded top overall in each quadrant in each of the respective brackets.
• 112 teams will compete in the Play-In Round in each bracket (224 totals teams in the Play-Ins between both brackets).

Voting Dates For All Brackets (Tentative)

June 2 – Play-In Round – 24 hours

June 3 – Round of 32 – 24 hours

June 4 – Sweet 16 – 24 hours

June 5 – Elite 8 – 24 hours

June 6 – Final 4 – 24 hours

June 7 – Bracket Championship – 24 hours

June 8-10 – State Championship between the 2 bracket winners – 48 hours