Catholic Schools 15W-21L Versus Public Schools in State Finals

[OldSchoolLion]

Below is a list of 20 Catholic high schools in Florida and the number of appearances each has made in a state football championship.  Unless noted, all of these schools have been open for more than 50 years.  There is well over 500 seasons of football represented, and they made a total of only 44 state finals appearances.  Almost half of those appearances were by St Thomas Aquinas. These Catholic schools have a record of 15-21 in state final matchups versus public schools.  Immediately below are 4 Catholic schools that had to wait a long time between state final appearances.

Bishop Moore  45 years   

Christopher Columbus 32 years

Chaminade-Madonna 28 years

Tampa Jesuit  24 years

 

Lee County

Bishop Verot - 2 appearances (1990, 1994*)

 

Dade County

Belen Jesuit - 1 appearance (2009*)

Christopher Columbus - 3 appearances (1980*, 1982*, 2014*)

Immaculata-Lasalle - 0 appearances

Monsignor Pace - 1 appearance (2003-won)

 

Broward County

Archbishop McCarthy (opened in 1998) - 0 appearances

Cardinal Gibbons - 1 appearance (1990*)

Chaminade-Madonna - 6 appearances (1974*,  2002, 2003*- won, 2005*-won, 2016, 2017-won)

St Thomas Aquinas - 17 appearances- all games played against public schools (1991, 1992-won, 1996, 1997-won,  1999-won, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007-won, 2008-won, 2010-won, 2012-won, 2014-won, 2015-won, 2016-won)Note:

Note: Although not a Catholic school, American Heritage Plantation has been playing football for a long time and took quite a while to experience consistent success.They made the state finals in 1998 and did not return for 15 years.

 

Palm Beach County

Cardinal Newman - 0 appearances

Pope John Paul II (opened in 1980) -  0 appearances

 

Central Florida

Bishop Moore - 2 appearances (1970*, 2015-won)

Clearwater Central Catholic - 1 appearance (2013)

John Carroll - 0 appearances

Melbourne Central Catholic - 0 appearances

St Petersburg Catholic - 0 appearances

Tampa Catholic - 2 appearances (2007*, 2009)

Tampa Jesuit - 3 appearances (1968*-won, 1992*, 2002*)

 

North Florida

Ocala Trinity Catholic (opened in 2000) - 4 appearances (2005*-won, 2006*, 2008*, 2010-won)

Pensacola Catholic - 1 appearance (2004*)