Perspective

Big picture here:
The idea of "self reporting" is a little bit of a misnomer.   Here's my understanding of the way the process works.
Typically, someone not associated with the school in question provides information to the FHSAA suggesting the school committed impropriety of some sort.  The FHSAA then takes a look at it to see if the information passes the sniff test ("Hmmm, if this is true, this looks like it could be an issue").  If so, the FHSAA sends the information to the school.   Importantly, at this point, the FHSAA has not conducted any sort of investigation; they just pass the information along to the school.   Upon receipt, the school is expected to essentially do their own, internal investigation to "explain" the information that was passed along.  If the school determines that they may have done something wrong, they then "self report" the violation.  The FHSAA then determines if, in fact, a violation has occurred (which they almost always do if a school self-reports a violation) and, if so, what the appropriate sanction should be.  The FHSAA then notifies the school. Generally speaking, the FHSAA rarely ever conducts its own investigation.  However, when they do, if they find the school did something wrong and should have 'self-reported' the misconduct, the FHSAA will come down a little harder on the school than if the school had acknowledged the misconduct from the start. 
Again, this is just my understanding.  Feel free to chime in, especially if you've somehow been involved in the process in the last few years. 

Could simply be a due process issue . . . i.e., if the matter just now came to the attention of the FHSAA, they would have to give the school notice, the school would have to be given time to investigate (I'll write more about that process later) and respond, appropriate board might have to meet, possible appeals, etc.  
While I'm generally not in favor of allowing "guilty" teams to participate in the playoffs, I also understand the general presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and realize it would be tremendously unfair to punish a team for their presumptive transgressions and make them miss the playoffs only to have the school go through the process and not be deserving of punishment. 

I can tell you, without hesitation, that I have an equal amount of disdain for any and all schools that bend and break the rules in order to give themselves a competitive advantage on the field or court.  I don't care whether those schools are in south Florida, southwest Florida or central Florida. 

I believe yours is the best assessment of the situation since the NW team, its coaches and fans are all opposed to this finding.  Unlike Central HS that "SELF-REPORTED" meaning they didn't dispute the violation, a ruling came quickly.  On the other hand like the TFA case, they were also in denial which required the FHSAA to take a couple of months to have an airtight case before handing down the judgement.  Even though in that case they were obviously guilty, the process to bring those charges took quite a bit of time.  So, it probably is way too early for either side to claim their facts are correct. Only time will tell. 

Could simply be a due process issue . . . i.e., if the matter just now came to the attention of the FHSAA, they would have to give the school notice, the school would have to be given time to investigate (I'll write more about that process later) and respond, appropriate board might have to meet, possible appeals, etc.  
While I'm generally not in favor of allowing "guilty" teams to participate in the playoffs, I also understand the general presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and realize it would be tremendously unfair to punish a team for their presumptive transgressions and make them miss the playoffs only to have the school go through the process and not be deserving of punishment. 

How DARE you reply to Jullian a split second before I did? 

Could simply be a due process issue . . . i.e., if the matter just now came to the attention of the FHSAA, they would have to give the school notice, the school would have to be given time to investigate (I'll write more about that process later) and respond, appropriate board might have to meet, possible appeals, etc.  
While I'm generally not in favor of allowing "guilty" teams to participate in the playoffs, I also understand the general presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and realize it would be tremendously unfair to punish a team for their presumptive transgressions and make them miss the playoffs only to have the school go through the process and not be deserving of punishment. 

Could simply be a due process issue . . . i.e., if the matter just now came to the attention of the FHSAA, they would have to give the school notice, the school would have to be given time to investigate (I'll write more about that process later) and respond, appropriate board might have to meet, possible appeals, etc.  
While I'm generally not in favor of allowing "guilty" teams to participate in the playoffs, I also understand the general presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and realize it would be tremendously unfair to punish a team for their presumptive transgressions and make them miss the playoffs only to have the school go through the process and not be deserving of punishment. 

Could simply be a due process issue . . . i.e., if the matter just now came to the attention of the FHSAA, they would have to give the school notice, the school would have to be given time to investigate (I'll write more about that process later) and respond, appropriate board might have to meet, possible appeals, etc.  
While I'm generally not in favor of allowing "guilty" teams to participate in the playoffs, I also understand the general presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and realize it would be tremendously unfair to punish a team for their presumptive transgressions and make them miss the playoffs only to have the school go through the process and not be deserving of punishment. 

Could simply be a due process issue . . . i.e., if the matter just now came to the attention of the FHSAA, they would have to give the school notice, the school would have to be given time to investigate (I'll write more about that process later) and respond, appropriate board might have to meet, possible appeals, etc.  
While I'm generally not in favor of allowing "guilty" teams to participate in the playoffs, I also understand the general presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and realize it would be tremendously unfair to punish a team for their presumptive transgressions and make them miss the playoffs only to have the school go through the process and not be deserving of punishment. 

For those interested in data, here are some numbers to consider:
460 teams played under the FHSAA umbrella this year.  240 (52%) teams qualified for the state playoff series.  That seems like a lot.  My view is that if you didn't make the playoffs, look in the mirror first before blaming others.
Here is the breakdown of quarterfinal games across classes 1A-7A:
#1 seed vs. #8:  28-0 #2 seed vs. #7:  25-3 #3 seed vs. #6:  21-7 #4 seed vs. #5:  18-10 higher seed vs. lower seed:  overall 92-20; about what you expect.  This suggests that the seeding system is fairly accurate, especially not giving a top 4 seed and home game automatically to district winners.  You don't deserve an automatic top 4 seed by winning a piddly 3- or 4-team district.  It would be a different story if districts had 7 or more teams. Comparing this year's quarterfinals under the enrollment-based classes vs. last year's Metro-Suburban classes, the median (half higher/half lower) margin of victory in both years across all quarterfinal games was 26 points.  In 2023, 30% of the quarterfinal games had a running clock, whereas the total was 34% in 2024.  It will be interesting to see if the remaining games are more or less competitive than last year.
On to the region semifinals...
  
  

The coach was quoted as sayiing:  "Playing with ineligible players . . . recruiting . . . providing benefits to potential transfer students . . . that's all pretty commonplace down here in South Florida.   I needed to come up with something that stood out!  Something that set me apart from all the others. Something neither Miami-Dade nor the FHSAA could ignore.   I gotta say, I think I hit this one out of the park." 

The coach was quoted as sayiing:  "Playing with ineligible players . . . recruiting . . . providing benefits to potential transfer students . . . that's all pretty commonplace down here in South Florida.   I needed to come up with something that stood out!  Something that set me apart from all the others. Something neither Miami-Dade nor the FHSAA could ignore.   I gotta say, I think I hit this one out of the park." 

The coach was quoted as sayiing:  "Playing with ineligible players . . . recruiting . . . providing benefits to potential transfer students . . . that's all pretty commonplace down here in South Florida.   I needed to come up with something that stood out!  Something that set me apart from all the others. Something neither Miami-Dade nor the FHSAA could ignore.   I gotta say, I think I hit this one out of the park." 

Do you understand how much you come over as a total a^^ hole?
Perhaps you get some kind of grotesque high off of being like that. I cannot help you as I am not a medic. 
Needless to say, this is my first and last response to anything you may post for the remaining time I post on this message board. 

THAT S--T, I'm holding you personally responsible for this!  

THAT S--T, I'm holding you personally responsible for this!  

Well obviously he is back after a years hiatus. I didnt mean to wake his slumber. My bad

THAT S--T, I'm holding you personally responsible for this!  

THAT S--T, I'm holding you personally responsible for this!  

Florida natives hold 5 of the top 25 career yards. 
 
1 - Emmitt Smith
3 - Frank Gore 
13- Edgerrin James 
17- Fred Taylor 
25 - Derrick Henry 

I'll go ahead and peg the over-under for this game at around 140.    And I'll take the over. 

I’ve joked thruout the season that all laws & rules apply to the entire state, not us from South Florida. I said that because us down in So Flo KNOW rules are stretched & broken. When the FHSAA took 2 games away from Western & 1 from Norland because of Rules Violations, shots were fired. When they took the entire season away from Central because of the use of an ineligible player for the entire season, a LOUD & clear statement was made by the FHSAA down here in So Flo. 
Cheating & breaking rules aren’t going to be tolerated. The OUTCRY from the team’s & neighborhoods SHOULD, but WON’T BE, we broke the rules & their are consequences. Being ethical & upright will be buried with typical & all too familiar shouts of injustice etc….
It’s a SHAME we just can’t do the right thing & run our football programs according to the by laws & rules…..

I could see a certain official that used to post on here pulling that ego stuff.

I’m shocked, surprised, stunned, dazed, upset, flabbergasted, astonished, amazed, flummoxed, baffled, confounded, bemused and bewildered by such revelations.  It’s absolutely unimaginable.  
It’s almost as if someone down in South Florida has said “Forget our long-standing traditions of ‘honor among thieves’ and 'snitches get stiches,' If I’m going down, everyone is going down!”  (Cue the maniacal laughter).