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A hiatus in a situation like this is not necessarily a bad thing. Its sort of like how Venice is not playing Braden River anymore, we’ve won I think 10 of the 12 times the two teams have met up and 6 over the past 3 years. I’m not surprise Suwannee didn’t take that game, they’re just tired of getting their asses kicked

Omg basketball gyms are really this small smh in the rest of this state

Dillard Gym (click on picture in story, go to 3rd picture to give you an idea oh how I got my numbers.) What I think is happening is that you are looking at gyms through Dillard colored glasses. What I can see probably about 15 across, 25 rows, 4 sections puts that section at about 1,500 plus some extra for the side sections if the other side is similar you are talking 3,000. Which would be great for a basketball game. Don't get me wrong. Now, compare this to a school like Boyd Anderson a school that is only 12 minutes away from Dillard. Or this video of PK Yonge Or this video from Buchholz High School (the gyms at Eastside, Gainesville, Buchholz, Santa Fe) are all the same size. This is why I don't think you could do the home games for state finals (in basketball anyway).

I made the drive to Pensacola from Bradenton in 1984 to watch the Southrisge vs Woodham game, as I recall there was a good representation of Southridge fans at the game.(The game was played on a Saturday at noon and the 3A that evening with then Soph Emmett Smith Escambia HS met St Pete HS ) The stands were filled regardless......Something in my memory tells me that Southridge may have flown to the game? The 1985 games were both played on Friday night, and Woodham and well as Escambia had several hundred fans at both games, stadiums at both Manatee and Southeast were filled to capacity. I went to both games that evening because Manatee had taken firm control of the game against Woodham, so I left at halftime to see most of the 2nd half of the Southeast versus Escambia game, primarily because I wanted to see Emmett play. Sat with the Lakeland folk at Dunedin for the 1986 Friday night title game, and obviously because of the proximity of the schools it was standing room only I believe the football Championship games should be played on campus for football, alternating between south and north regions from year to year. They could very easily play these games on Saturday to accommodate the extreme examples of travel that Florida has. You just cant beat however the feeling of a packed stadium, in a local community and while I never played in conditions like that...... I can only imagine what its like to play in a packed stadium! I've made trips to Miami to Pensecola to watch Championships games, as well as seeing the game at Hawkins Stadium......and from a this fans perspective it was always a euphoric experience when played on campus home and away!!! Basketball is a whole different story, as most HS gyms couldn't even begin to reasonably accommodate the kind of attendance you'd generate for a state championship game. Manatee's basketball team my freshman year went 32-0 before losing at the semi-final game which was played at a host site in Orlando as I recall in 1976. Manatee never played outside the Tampa Bay area, before advancing to the final 4 games in Orlando that year. I went to the regional final game in Tampa against Jefferson HS I think and I want to say it was played at one of the community college's in Tampa.....I cant remember which one exactly. But I just wanted to point out the concept of playing the finals at a host site isn't a new one at least for Basketball anyways........I think the thing that was different back then, was that travel prior to the finals for most teams wasn't a big deal as regions were geographically confined within a limited area.......so the only real travel would have been the finals

If FL had gyms like in Indiana then a state title could be held there but it makes no sense with how small gyms are in FL