2024 Schedule Analysis: Winter Haven beefs the schedule up in hopes for a deeper playoff run

The Winter Haven Blue Devils are coming off a district championship season in 2023 and their 2024 schedule has them setup for another potential repeat as district champions. Here is a look at our analysis of their 2024 schedule.

WINTER HAVEN BLUE DEVILS

2023 Record: 7-4

2024 District: 7A-6

2024 SCHEDULE

All Kickoff Times are 7:30 p.m. ET unless noted

* – District
** – Preseason (FHSAA)  

Week 0 – Fri. 8/16 – at Sebring** 
Week 1 – Fri. 8/23 – Lake Wales
Week 2 – Thu. 8/29 – Lake Region (Eagle Lake)
Week 3 – Fri. 9/6 – at Knoxville Catholic (TN)
Week 4 – Fri. 9/13 –  Lakeland
Week 5 – Fri. 9/20 – at Haines City*
Week 6 – Fri. 9/27 – BYE WEEK
Week 7 – Fri. 10/4 – at Parrish Community
Week 8 – Fri. 10/11 – George Jenkins (Lakeland)*
Week 9 – Fri. 10/18 – Lake Gibson (Lakeland)
Week 10 – Fri. 10/25 – at Ridge Community (Davenport)*
Week 11 – Fri. 11/1 – at Auburndale

ROAD TRIPPING

When looking at the road games to be played by the Blue Devils the first game that stands out as being a long-distance trip is the trip to Knoxville Catholic in Week 4. It will be a true road test of to see if the Blue Devils will be ready for a tougher game the following week against defending State Champion Lakeland. That road trip alone will result in the majority of the mileage that the Blue Devils will have on the road in 2024. The next longest road trip will be over to Manatee County to take on Parrish Community which will come around the midway point of the season in Week 7. Outside of those two road games the remainder road games will be inside Polk County for the regular season schedule for the Blue Devils.

Mileage distances listed one-way/round trip

To Knoxville Catholic: 662/1,324
To Haines City: 13/26
To Parrish Community: 64/128
To Ridge Community: 14/28
To Auburndale: 8/16

Total 2024 Milage: 761/1,522

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

The Blue Devils will see six teams on their schedule that were in the playoffs in 2023 including one being Lakeland who won back-to-back Class 4M state championships the past two years. Lake Wales Lake Wales who won the Class 3S state championship in 2022 was a regional finalist in 2023 giving the Blue Devils at least two teams on the schedule that went deep in the playoffs. Haines City, Auburndale, and Parrish Community are the other teams that were in the playoffs in 2023. 

As such when we look at trying to determine SOS most would determine just looking at last year’s win-loss record which we feel sometimes isn’t enough data to work with. Instead, we looked at the 2022 and 2023 combined winning percentage of every team with the 2023 season weighted the most heavily to determine the SOS for each team in 2024.

Winter Haven SOS for 2024: .597

2-Year Combined Opp. Win-Loss: 137-85

THREE KEY GAMES

• 9/6 – at Knoxville Catholic: This will be a true road test game for the Blue Devils who will have to see if they can face the strongest of challenges and see how they handle tests of adversity. The result of this game will be critical in the next key game the following week.

• 9/13 – Lakeland: With the defending state champions coming to Denison Stadium, this will be a huge game that will be electrifying on the new turf field at the stadium. If the Blue Devils can get a win here or if nothing less keep it to what we would determine a quality loss that is close, it could carry the Blue Devils a long way for the remainder of the season.

• 10/25 – at Ridge Community: This game is likely going to be for the District 7A-6 championship and at that point the playoff fate for the Blue Devils will be decided here. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS

We love the fact that head coach Carl White who is going into his second season at Winter Haven has scheduled a tough road game going out of state against a quality opponent in Tennessee. Also love the fact that the Blue Devils will host Lakeland which honestly will be their biggest test of the season to see if they can defeat the defending state champions. Coach White should be proud of the schedule he built for his team for the 2024 season, and it will be one that fans in Winter Haven will enjoy following.