2023 SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN: Bradford seeks another deep playoff run after successful 2022 under Jamie Rodgers

BRADFORD TORNADOES

District: 2S-6

2023 SCHEDULE

* – District Contest

MILEAGE BREAKDOWN

Being the only school in the county, Bradford has to travel outside the county regarding road games, resulting in miles added on the bus trips during the season. The shortest road trip will be the jaunt to Middleburg, just over 20 miles at 20.3 miles. The season’s longest road trip will come in Week 5 when the Tornadoes visit Munroe Day to Corry Field in Quincy, which will be 169 miles one way or 338 miles. Overall the Tornadoes will rack up over 570 miles round trip in their road trip travels for away games during the 2023 season.

To Baldwin: 26.2 miles
To Middleburg: 20.3 miles
To Munroe Day (Corry Field): 169 miles
To Oakleaf: 28.8 miles
To Tocoi Creek: 41.8 miles

One-Way: 286.1 miles
Round-Trip: 572.2 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.

After reaching the state semifinals, the Tornadoes made one replacement to the schedule, with Dunnellon being replaced by Oakleaf, which is coming off a .500 season, just missing the playoffs. With that said the Tornadoes keep the same schedule that saw them get to the heights they reached in 2022 in head coach Jamie Rodgers’ first season with the Tornadoes.

When looking at the schedule deeper, Baker County, a huge rival that the Tornadoes saw twice last season (once in the regular season and in the regional finals), Suwannee, and Munroe Day are the three best opponents that will be on the schedule. Suwannee reached the regional finals last season, while Munroe Day had a historic season, reaching the state semifinals for the first time in program history. Those opponents alone boost the Tornadoes’ strength of schedule significantly.

Other opponents on the schedule for Bradford that reached the playoffs in 2022 include Baldwin, Middleburg, Eastside (another team that Bradford ended up playing twice last season), and Palatka, giving the Tornadoes seven of ten opponents that are coming off playoff appearances last season. That alone helps boost the schedule even further for the Tornadoes. Of the three non-playoff teams on the schedule for Bradford, only Keystone Heights finished the 2022 season with a non-winning record.

As we look at the weight strength of the schedule, our formula gives Bradford a .656 strength of schedule coming into the 2023 season. That means Bradford has a schedule that will challenge them with seven playoff teams on the schedule but also has games that will be winnable. This should be boosted well for the Tornadoes regarding the FHSAA power rankings, but ultimately the team’s destiny will be controlled on the field.

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

KEY DISTRICT GAME

10/13 – Tocoi Creek: While it came down to the game against Palatka last season for the district championship, in all honesty, Bradford dominated the district. However, Tocoi Creek showed vast improvement from year one to year two, and in the first year of their district, even with a new head coach coming in, they will be even more prepared to take on the Tornadoes this season. As such, this is the crucial district game that the Tornadoes need to be ready for because if Tocoi Creek comes out of the gate with solid wins early in the season and they pull off the upset victory, it will significantly impact playoff rankings.

KEY NON-DISTRICT GAME

8/25 – Baker County: We could put a lot of the non-district games as a key non-district game, but any rivalry, especially those in a non-district slot, has a great impact on a team, and this game has no short of the effect it has on the Bradford community. This game was crucial not once but twice last season for the Tornadoes, and with this being the season’s opening game, this game will set the tone going into the following week against another long-standing rival in Baldwin waiting on deck. Win or lose, this game will have a significant impact on the direction of what the 2023 season will look like in Starke.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

With Bradford’s schedule mainly remaining the same as last season, the Tornadoes know what it will take to repeat the performance from last season. With many of the athletes returning once again and Coach Rodgers back for his second season with the Tornadoes, there should be very little to no drop-off when going against the teams on the schedule. If there is one game that Bradford wants to play better in this season is the season finale against Suwannee, a game that they dropped that cost them a chance at a perfect regular season. Overall, Bradford has a great chance of another deep playoff run, but will any teams on the schedule this season stand in the way of that happening? That is a question the season will tell us more about pretty soon.