PinellasFB

So absolutely dumb question here.  How are you allowed into the playoffs if you didn't play any district games?  Without being in a district, you aren't assigned a region so it seems like you should be ineligible since you don't have a region to qualify in?  
Excuse my language, but FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY!  They cheat, break all the rules, and then wreck everyone else's playoff experience.  There are teams still in limbo as they sort this out.  FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY!
I have never written a swear word in any post on this forum so for me to start posting language like this, it really means I truly hate that team.  They recruited, broke rules and then decided to be IMG and play a national schedule.  Great, a national team has a different mission than the rest of us who roll with our student body.  GTFO of our playoffs and go play with the other recruiters.  I personally know a kid who transferred into that school this year.  This kid has not played for the same team two years in a row since I first met him in youth ball.  He is home schooled (so no school essentially), has reclassified to develop more, and is the perfect fit for those no-school, sports only mercenaries who play for TFA.  He somehow transfers 100+ miles to another school too?  I guess that's legal... looking at you Lakeland and Venice lol.  
Anyway, did I mention FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY yet?

So absolutely dumb question here.  How are you allowed into the playoffs if you didn't play any district games?  Without being in a district, you aren't assigned a region so it seems like you should be ineligible since you don't have a region to qualify in?  
Excuse my language, but FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY!  They cheat, break all the rules, and then wreck everyone else's playoff experience.  There are teams still in limbo as they sort this out.  FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY!
I have never written a swear word in any post on this forum so for me to start posting language like this, it really means I truly hate that team.  They recruited, broke rules and then decided to be IMG and play a national schedule.  Great, a national team has a different mission than the rest of us who roll with our student body.  GTFO of our playoffs and go play with the other recruiters.  I personally know a kid who transferred into that school this year.  This kid has not played for the same team two years in a row since I first met him in youth ball.  He is home schooled (so no school essentially), has reclassified to develop more, and is the perfect fit for those no-school, sports only mercenaries who play for TFA.  He somehow transfers 100+ miles to another school too?  I guess that's legal... looking at you Lakeland and Venice lol.  
Anyway, did I mention FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY yet?

So absolutely dumb question here.  How are you allowed into the playoffs if you didn't play any district games?  Without being in a district, you aren't assigned a region so it seems like you should be ineligible since you don't have a region to qualify in?  
Excuse my language, but FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY!  They cheat, break all the rules, and then wreck everyone else's playoff experience.  There are teams still in limbo as they sort this out.  FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY!
I have never written a swear word in any post on this forum so for me to start posting language like this, it really means I truly hate that team.  They recruited, broke rules and then decided to be IMG and play a national schedule.  Great, a national team has a different mission than the rest of us who roll with our student body.  GTFO of our playoffs and go play with the other recruiters.  I personally know a kid who transferred into that school this year.  This kid has not played for the same team two years in a row since I first met him in youth ball.  He is home schooled (so no school essentially), has reclassified to develop more, and is the perfect fit for those no-school, sports only mercenaries who play for TFA.  He somehow transfers 100+ miles to another school too?  I guess that's legal... looking at you Lakeland and Venice lol.  
Anyway, did I mention FUCK THE FIRST ACADEMY yet?

My son's team is in the 4A-7A FIT and I don't think there are any truly bad teams in this bracket.  It seems like it would be a better tournament if they either combined 1A-3A with the 4A-7A or Rural FIT bracket.  It's still experimental so maybe FHSAA will make adjustments next year?
As far as why is a 2-8 team in the tournament?  Talking to our coach, you have to opt into the tournament.  There are teams out there who opted out so a 2-8 team had to opt in to agree to travel 6 hrs for a meaningless tournament.  Pensacola HS wants to extend their miserable season for some reason?  Maybe they are young and want some more development time?  I dunno, no way I would have opted in.

My son is a wrestler and the 24th ranked 215 in the state for 3A.  This is definitely going to hurt him initially because wrestling is a really tough sport to jump back into and he will be behind.  The positive is the heavier weight classes (190+) are typically football players so most kids are joining late due to football so it's mostly equal footing catching up.  
Now our basketball team is absolutely gutted by this.  They can't even field a team until they get their guys back from football.

Yeah, I really, really did not want to be in the FIT because I did not want to travel all over the state for some meaningless trophy.  Not only that, the program has to fund this completely on its own from the booster club unlike the playoffs.  However, I've somewhat warmed up to it in the past week once I considered how rare the post-season is for a long-time have-not program like PHU.  It's good for these seniors to be one of the rare senior classes to experience the post-season. 

Yeah, I really, really did not want to be in the FIT because I did not want to travel all over the state for some meaningless trophy.  Not only that, the program has to fund this completely on its own from the booster club unlike the playoffs.  However, I've somewhat warmed up to it in the past week once I considered how rare the post-season is for a long-time have-not program like PHU.  It's good for these seniors to be one of the rare senior classes to experience the post-season. 

https://www.gobound.com/fl/sunshinestate/sunfb/2025-26/brackets
 
There are no standings besides the 8-man division, as there are no districts in the 11-man/Atlantic division. Teams schedule their own 10 games and are ranked based on 3 categories. The top 8-ranked teams in North and South are in the State Championship bracket for 11-man and Atlantic. 8-man has divisions, so the state championship bracket consists of 6 division winners and 10 wildcard teams, based on rankings. All other brackets are determined by rankings, but they are consolation brackets and not a State championship.
 
If you're having a good year based on the three criteria, then you will play against others who are having a good year in the playoffs; if you're having a bad year, then you will be paired with others who are struggling, but it's not a state championship. Gives everyone something to play for, but does not give out multiple 11-man state championships or multiple Atlantic State championships

....a good week of football.
Thursday - Fort Pierce Central @ St Lucie West in a HIGHLY entertaining game won 34-32 by FPC. I thought FPC overlooked them, but SLW has a decent QB with a live arm and 3-4 guys who are tiny, but can fly and are had to tackle in space. Key play (IMO) came early in the 2nd when FPC was leading 14-0 and driving again, when they completed a pass across the middle for a 1st down, but the WR was stripped and it was scooped by a SLW DB for a 70 yard TD and two point PAT to make it 14-8. Central led 28-16 at half, and was set to receive the 2nd half kickoff. Everyone in the stands thought SLW would try another onside kick, but evidently not FPC, as they kicked a little looper about ten yards to the side, and a kid from FPC looked at the football like it was some alien animal with claws and fangs that just dropped out of the sky, and SLW recovered, scored and cut it to 28-24. FPC finally secured the win after stopping SLW around midfield with 3 minutes to go and picking up three first downs to take a knee. Great effort by SLW, who lost their starting QB to what appeared to be a serious injury late in the 4th, as he had to be loaded into an ambulance. His mom posted the next day that he was fine and at home. FPC lost standout WR AJ Hill early in the 2nd with what appeared to be a knee injury. 
Friday - Eau Gallie @ Atlantic with Mr. Cannon sitting with us. Eau Gallie has some really good, young athletes, but very little depth and a lot of kids playing both ways. After trading scores in an entertaining first half that saw EG cut it to 27-18 with 4 seconds to go on an electrifying 61 yard TD run by QB Xavier Lherisse, Atlantic's speed and athleticism took over and sophomore QB Pedro Martinez led them on multiple scoring drives in the 48-18 win. Martinez is cat quick and deadly throwing on the run. I don't know if they will beat West Boca this week, but they are capable of it. That's a dangerous offense when things are clicking. 
Saturday - East St Louis, Illinois @ IMG. It was our first trip to IMG. Fantastic facilities and campus, including a luxury hotel. These were (obviously) two big, fast and physical teams. IMG won 38-14, but it was a far more competitive game than that. ESL threw a pick six, lost a fumble at the IMG 5 on 1st and goal, gave up a 97 yard kickoff return to open the 2nd half, and had a 1st and 10 at the IMG 13 and came away with nothing. The moved the ball fairly consistently, but IMG had too many fresh bodies for them on a day that hit close to 90 degrees by the time the third quarter was over. I'd give them an A+ on facilities, but an F on game atmosphere. No band, no cheerleaders, piped in music and sound effects all led to a sterile atmosphere. Throw in a small crowd and a day game, it really didn't have that feel of a high school game. BTW, it should be against the law to start a football game before 6 PM in the state of Florida. Speaking of the crowd, hats off to the 200+ fans from ESL who made the trip. They were REALLY loud from start to finish, and reminded me a lot of Miami NW fans with their support. It was a pleasure sitting with them. Gotta mention the drive over and back. We had originally planned to go out to the beach, then spend the night, but after sitting out in the heat, we were zapped, so we came back to The Fort. The drive (we went to Venice last year as well) is mind numbing with cattle ranches, prairie grass and utility poles lining the road. My wife kept dozing off on the way back and I cut the air way down and in my face to help me stay  awake. 
 
If nothing changes, we're going to hit the Martin Bowl on Thursday for Jensen Beach @ Martin Co and of course, the Muck Bowl on Friday and tailgate with Mr. Cannon and whoever else wants to join us as we dine off the food trucks. 

Couldn’t agree with you more Jambun.
 
 I’ve seen Atlantic Delray play Ely, Norland and Eau Gallie.  Ely and, surprisingly, Eau Gallie had no answer for ADR’s explosive offensive attack. ADR played Norland on a Thursday night.  Let’s just say, the atmosphere was less than electric.  The marching band left after playing the national anthem.  You could tell that ADR was not as engaged emotionally as they should’ve been.  As we know now Norland is a good but certainly not a spectacular team this year. It was Norland’s type of game until the fourth quarter before ADR exploded for 27 points.  Game over.  Like JD said, ADR just wore out Eau Gallie.  Now the question is can ADR be this successful against better teams?  They will have a chance to show this week against West Boca Raton.  Was Norland an outlier?  We shall see.  
 
Last week ago Thursday, I attended the North Broward Prep at Pine Crest game. I must say I like it when I don’t have to pay for parking and a game ticket.  That being said, Pine Crest School has security that is similar to the White House.  If you are not safe at that school you are not safe at any school. Now to the game, North Broward Prep was definitely the more talented team. Pine Crest is what you would expect from a small private school that doesn’t operate like Chaminade.  The  North Broward Prep fans would disagree with me but the referees did not decide who won this game. I say it was coaching.  First of all, the Pine Crest coaches know what type of team they have, know what they cannot do, and optimize what they can do.  Hate to be critical but it appeared North Broward Prep coaches rely on having superior talent.  Especially in this game, the tortoise eventually outsmarted the hare.  With less than two minutes to go and the game tied, North Broward Prep had the ball.  They twice successfully ran the short out pass to their 6’4” receiver.  I know you see what is coming.   They ran the same short out pass to the sideline where the Pine Crest corner back was sitting on the route, intercepted it, took it to the house and Pine Crest wins 20-14.
Now for the extra curricular.  Sometime during the second quarter the North Broward Prep fans thought the referees had it out for them.  It grew worse and worse as the game went on even to the point in the third quarter where fans were leaning over the fence and began arguing with people on the Pine Crest sideline.  (Pine Crest has stands only on the home field side.).  One fan, who appeared to be on roids, put his leg over the fence like he was ready to jump down on the Pine Crest sideline to get it on.  This guy was over tanned, wearing a tank top and old school gym shorts that we wore before the Fab Five at Michigan changed the style to long shorts.  At that point the police came and got him.  Normally, he would’ve been escorted out of the stadium.  Instead, after speaking with him for about 10 minutes, they let him walk up back in the stands. After the game was over both teams had gone through the handshake line.  Both teams were walking to separate end zones for their post game talks.  Not a player, but someone from Pine Crest went into the group of North Broward Prep players and started attacking one of them. This caused a melee that lasted for almost a minute. After breaking this up, the PA announcer told the Pine Crest fans to stay where they are until the North Broward Prep fans and players had left the stadium.  

A few weeks ago I made a big deal out of what it was like to sit on the Northwestern side in their game against Central.  It was a lot of fun. By contrast, it was a lot of fun to watch these parents and others behave like nut cases.

This is what is lacking in Florida to my view. Fans like JDHoss, who don't have any relatives or ties to any schools, but attend high school games because he is a football fan, and enjoys the talent the state offers. More fans like this would be a huge positive. 

It's a nice idea but there are two problems with this model:
1. Districts are geographically tied.  It will be much harder to group teams locally.
2. Teams can drastically change strength year to year, depending upon graduation and transfers.  A four year average smooths this out but last years playoff team could be this year's 1-9 team (I can show you examples from this season).

It's a nice idea but there are two problems with this model:
1. Districts are geographically tied.  It will be much harder to group teams locally.
2. Teams can drastically change strength year to year, depending upon graduation and transfers.  A four year average smooths this out but last years playoff team could be this year's 1-9 team (I can show you examples from this season).

I'm beating the dead horse but again, the main issue is talent flows to just a few teams in seemingly every district.  There are the small number of receptors and a large majority of donors for this transfer chaos.  Not only that, you now have Rise Preparatory Academy placing it's guns-for-hire at various schools. Some of these schools, like West Boca HS, have more RPA starters than starters who actually attend their school.  I really hate how the "non-traditional learning" system is completely abused here.
Edit:  Not every district follows this talent flow though.  Distict 10, in 6A R3, has four teams East Lake, Palm Harbor, Steinbrenner and Largo.  For the most part, all of these schools roll with their own players so the district games are all competitive.  Largo is in a talent-rich area for athletes so they tend to be the favorite while Palm Harbor tends to have the toughest time finding really fast guys in our neighborhood.  Steinbrenner is rich with great facilities and great coaching so they sometimes get great players to transfer there but I don't think they actively recruit.  East Lake is in a similar demographic as Palm Harbor but they always have really good skill position players.  I have no idea how they find those players but they probably grab kids from Tarpon Springs and the occasional south county player that somehow attends East Lake HS.  Anyway, my point is the district is balanced and I wish all districts were like this.  

The FL power rankings are completely broken.  Any high school algebra two student can come up with something better than this.  I am a mathematician so this really drives me up the wall.  If you don't want margin of victory in the formula, then your formula is broken.  There is nothing more to say.

The FL power rankings are completely broken.  Any high school algebra two student can come up with something better than this.  I am a mathematician so this really drives me up the wall.  If you don't want margin of victory in the formula, then your formula is broken.  There is nothing more to say.

Sebring is better than you guys are giving them credit.   They've played a brutal schedule and played a lot of good teams tough.  They are definitely better than their record.

The root cause is all of the talent concentrates on a few teams in each region.  Now, some of these teams are even getting in-season transfers to fill weaknesses or replace injuries.  There's a few in this forum who like seeing these super teams because they enjoy seeing high level football with great athletes.  While I can appreciate their reasoning, this is not how HS sports is supposed to work.  Everyone is supposed to have holes and weaknesses.  A great season is defined by those who have the least holes or better yet, schemes around their weaknesses.  You are supposed to rise and ebb with the talent running through your program in any given four year period.  You are NOT supposed to simply reload every year, never experiencing the ebb.  The problem with all of the talent accumulating on just a few teams is exactly what this thread is complaining about, no competitive games.  I mean anyone can win at HS with a super team.  You don't even have to coach, so what's the point?  Do you *really* need to win that badly?
Anyway, I'm not changing anything by bitching about it here so I guess I'm just venting.  I would not buy players... oops I meant recruit players... oops I meant accept "academic transfers", even if I had spare money to waste on stupid shit.  My value system just doesn't value a high school football win to justify wasting money on it.  I love watching my sons teams win but I want to win the right way.

Sebring is better than you guys are giving them credit.   They've played a brutal schedule and played a lot of good teams tough.  They are definitely better than their record.

Student-athletes in Florida cannot accept money or gifts of monetary value for their athletic skill, fame, or performance.  Doing so jeopardizes their amateur status and eligibility to compete in FHSAA activities.  However, student-athletes can profit from use of their Name, Image, and Likeness through a properly executed NIL agreement.  FHSAA Bylaw 9.9 governs NIL activity:  https://fhsaa.com/documents/2024/8/12//Bylaw_9_9_Final.pdf?id=5628

They also have a D1 center and state champion wrestler that will be an early enrollee at Ole Miss this December.

They also have a D1 center and state champion wrestler that will be an early enrollee at Ole Miss this December.

Osceola is a program that builds the right way, IMO.  They have a very strong youth program that feeds into the school, which is in a talent-rich area.  Hence, why you guys lose a lot of talent to the recruiters.  And yes, West Boca literally does not have a starter that actually attends the school this year.  I think all 22 (or at least 15-16+) are Rise Preparatory Academy "attendees."  I use that word loosely because remote learning is literally up to the drive of the attendee.  If they wan to train all day and take bullshit classes to stay eligible, they can do that.  At least RPA encourages them to take their studies seriously, even if it is basket weaving for most of them.   My point is even if RPA is a legit learning experience, this is total abuse of the rule that allows a student to play for another school if their school doesn't have a team.  This is RPA's design, which is to intentionally not have a team so they can place their mercenaries at their school of choice, all the while RPA profits from the voucher program.  Abuse of the system all around and I hate it.

West Boca is a total bullshit team.  I know for a fact that more than half of their team doesn't even attend the school, maybe even as high as 100% of their starters don't actually attend West Boca.  This is complete bullshit to me.  What was supposed to be a program for the rare home schooled and even rarer purely academic private school with no sports is now a complete free agent free for all, complete with in-season transfers.  

We all know what the real problem is.  Removing the single biggest factor in a any power index, margin of victory, makes any power index worthless.  A 3-point loss to Mater Dei should boost any team into the top 5 of any index.  Yet this 3-point loss is no different than another school losing 70 - 0 to Mater Dei.  It just doesn't make any mathematical sense yet the decision makers don't care about accuracy.  There is a very simple solution to the core issue which is they don't want teams intentionally running up scores to improve their rankings.  The solution is to cap scoring margin at 35 points, which is the running clock margin. The running clock distorts any margins > 35 points anyway so just cap it there and teams will not have any incentive to run it up beyond this point.  I mean, this is too simple so there's no way they would adopt this suggestion.