2022 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN: Tampa Jesuit looking to defend state championship with a tougher 2022 schedule

Tampa Jesuit is coming off a perfect season in 2021 going 15-0 en route to the Class 6A State Championship that included a major victory over Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas. Now as the Tigers start to look ahead to the 2022 season, the stakes are even higher and the takers for scheduling a game against them become even thinner.

JESUIT TIGERS

District 3M-5

2022 SCHEDULE

Kickoff times 7:30 p.m. ET unless noted
* – District Contest
Fri. 8/26 – @ Tampa Wharton
Fri. 9/2 – Port St. Lucie Treasure Coast
Fri. 9/9 – BYE WEEK
Fri. 9/16 – BYE WEEK
Fri. 9/23 – @ Seffner Armwood
Fri. 9/30 – Tampa Leto*
Fri. 10/7 – Clearwater Central Catholic
Fri. 10/14 – @ Tampa Gaither*
Fri. 10/21 – Tampa Bay Tech
Fri. 10/28 – @ Tampa Hillsborough*
Fri. 11/4 – @ Tampa Catholic

MILEAGE BREAKDOWN

The nice for Jesuit this season is they will not have to travel outside of Hillsborough County for any of their five away games that are on the schedule. However, as we all know travel times can vary thanks to how notorious Tampa traffic can be, especially for the first two away games as the other three away games will be under 10-mile one way or under 20-miles round trip.

To Wharton: 23 miles
To Armwood: 16 miles
To Gaither: 8 miles
To Hillsborough: 4 miles
To Tampa Catholic: 3 miles

One-Way: 54 miles
Round-Trip: 108 miles

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

Jesuit has gone out and scheduled a tough slate of games with seven of the nine games scheduled to date reaching the playoffs last season including one team that reached the state finals while another was a state semifinalist. This gives a solid boost for the Tigers to have one of the toughest schedules in the state come the start of the season.

Tampa Wharton, 9-3 playoffs
Port St. Lucie Treasure Coast, 10-2 playoffs, state semifinalist
Seffner Armwood, 4-6
Tampa Leto, 1-7
Clearwater Central Catholic, 8-4 playoffs
Tampa Gaither, 6-5 playoffs
Tampa Bay Tech, 14-1 playoffs, state runner-up
Tampa Hillsborough, 10-3 playoffs
Tampa Catholic, 7-4 playoffs

2021 Overall: 59-35 (.628)

KEY DISTRICT GAME

10/28 – Tampa Hillsborough: Hillsborough has been one of the top teams in Hillsborough County for years and with these two having contended for the district championship last year in their former Class 6A district, the stakes remain the same in their new Class 3M district. Jesuit should have the edge in this one given the amount of returning players they will have on the roster this season, but this game will have all the feels of a playoff atmosphere when fans arrive at Hillsborough High that night.

KEY NON-DISTRICT GAME

9/2 – Port St. Lucie Treasure Coast: This is going to be a great game and great challenge going into the second week of the season for the Tigers who are going up against a team that came all-so-close to reaching the Class 8A state championship game last season. Treasure Coast is a Class 4M team for the next two years. This game will show a lot where Jesuit will stand early on, but also will give fans a good glimpse of Treasure Coast and to see if there is a lot of drop-offs or not compared to last year.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

This is a good schedule for Jesuit and could be bolstered further if the Tigers find a 10th game to avoid having a double-bye week situation in back-to-back weeks early in the season. The combination of having Treasure Coast as well as Tampa Bay Tech on the schedule is a good sign that the Tigers want to continue their winning ways with quality competition. The biggest thing here is for the Tigers to not get complacent and forget that a team like Armwood is going to reload after missing out on the playoffs last season due to some rules issues that forced forfeiture of games towards the end of last season. Overall, Jesuit will be fun to watch with their schedule in 2022.