2023 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN: Palmetto aims for another district championship under new coach

PALMETTO TIGERS

District: 4S-13

2023 SCHEDULE

* – District Contest

MILEAGE BREAKDOWN

Traveling for the Tigers this season won’t be extensive, with the longest road trip extending into Sarasota County with the road trip to Venice in the later half of the schedule coming in at 38 miles one way. The shortest road trip for Palmetto will be a quick 6.5-mile jaunt down the road to rival Southeast during the season’s midway point. When looking at all the road trips, three of the five road games will require a travel distance of at least 20 miles, but certainly not as long of road trips as other teams face during the season. Palmetto will travel 217 miles round-trip this coming season, with all five road games only traversing through Manatee, Sarasota, and Pinellas counties.

To Gibbs: 21 miles
To Riverview: 28 miles
To Southeast: 6.5 miles
To Lakewood Ranch: 15 miles
To Venice: 38 miles

One-Way: 108.5 miles
Round-Trip: 217 miles

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

FloridaHSFootball.com has developed a weighted strength of schedule formula that weighs a team’s strength of schedule using data trends from the previous five seasons to measure a team’s overall strength of schedule. This includes all team records for all opponents and other weighted factors given about the teams on a schedule.

For Palmetto, the strength of schedule is about where you expect it to be for a program that has been amongst the annual contenders in the FHSAA state series. The Tigers, which took home a district championship last season and has been competitive in playoff games over the last decade, the schedule will feature some solid programs that will test the Tigers in all directions.

When looking at the schedule, state runner-up Venice is a huge boost to the strength of the schedule for Palmetto, having been to the state championship game for the last two years with a 1-1 record in those games during that time. With Venice expecting to be just as tough again, this game will have much impact on the Tigers when it comes to the FHSAA playoff power rankings during the season.

Other teams that have boosted Palmetto’s strength of schedule include Braden River, Riverview (Sarasota), Sarasota, and Manatee. Those teams each reached the regional playoffs last season, with Riverview surprising many people as they reached the regional finals after playing a tough schedule. Between those teams and Venice, those teams had a combined winning percentage of 54.2 percent last season.

As such, our weighted strength of schedule formula gives Palmetto a strength of schedule of .624 entering the 2023 season. This means Palmetto is willing to challenge themselves for games but also knows a balanced schedule is necessary. While games like Southeast and Ida Baker are all right, there is a question if IMG Academy White helps in that balance when there are other quality programs that Palmetto could potentially play in the region. Despite that little factor, the Tigers should be in the mix for another district championship and a playoff berth this season based on their schedule.

MORE: Find all the links to all the schedule breakdowns published here

KEY DISTRICT GAME

10/27 – Manatee: With only three teams in the district requiring only two district games, this one is the one that is circled on the calendar as it was this game that determined the district champion last season, and it should again. As a home game, this game should be packed as fans of the two oldest programs in Manatee County square off with everything on the line, including bragging rights and a playoff berth.

KEY NON-DISTRICT GAME

10/20 – Venice: How could any other game be the key non-district game, given that Venice has been to the state championship for the last two years? There is no other game that will come close to this. Venice will be strong again, and the environment at Powell-Davis Stadium will be electrified. For the Tigers to win here on the road, they will need to play sound football, but this game will provide a huge lift toward playoff seeding for the Tigers.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Palmetto’s schedule is where we would expect it to be to enter the season, where they have a competitive schedule. Still, they did not overextend the schedule to where they could end up in trouble towards the end of the season, where playoff hopes could be jeopardized. While the Tigers enter the season with a new head coach, most of the schedule is a carryover from last season, which also helps tremendously in that regard. Overall, expect the schedule here to help carry Palmetto into another playoff berth and another district championship under the new leadership of Rashad West.