Teams with Most Final 4 Appearances in the 2010's

[OldSchoolLion]

Since 2010, 21 teams have made the Final 4 of their respective classification 4 times or more.  Below is the number of times each of these teams has appeared in a state semifinal.

Cocoa(4A)-9

Madison County(1A/2A/3A/4A)-9

Armwood(6A)-7  

St Thomas Aquinas(7A)-7

Victory Christian(1B/2A)-7

Booker T Washington(4A)-6

Central/Miami(6A)-6

Clearwater Central Catholic(3A)-6

Trinity Christian(5A/3A)-6

Bolles(4A)-5

Columbus(8A)-5

Plant(7A/8A)-5

American Heritage Delray(3A)-4

American Heritage Plantation(5A)-4

Baker(1A)-4

Champagnat(2A)-4

Dr Phillips(8A)-4

Manatee(7A/8A)-4

Naples(6A)-4

Osceola(7A/8A)-4

University Christian(2A)-4

 

[OldSchoolLion]

..for some perspective.  Below are some teams that were powerhouses in certain decades.  Despite their dominance, they did not appear in more than 5 state semifinals that decade.  Now, due to the increase in classes, 5+ semi appearances in a decade is becoming fairly common.  We even have teams making the semis every year.  Is it any wonder people have grown to have unrealistic expectations of teams?  Imagine a team like Cocoa moving up in class and not making the semis after 12 straight semi appearances.  I would imagine that anything less today would be considered a great disappointment amongst their fans.

 

Lincoln in the 00's-5 state semi appearances

Southridge in the 90's-5 state semi appearances

Bradenton Southeast in the 90's-4 state semi appearances

Manatee in the 80's-4 state semi appearances

Clewiston in the 80's-4 state semi appearances

Merritt Island in the 70's-5 state semi appearances

[Cat_Scratch]

On 1/14/2019 at 8:12 AM, OldSchoolLion said:

..for some perspective.  Below are some teams that were powerhouses in certain decades.  Despite their dominance, they did not appear in more than 5 state semifinals that decade.  Now, due to the increase in classes, 5+ semi appearances in a decade is becoming fairly common.  We even have teams making the semis every year.  Is it any wonder people have grown to have unrealistic expectations of teams?  Imagine a team like Cocoa moving up in class and not making the semis after 12 straight semi appearances.  I would imagine that anything less today would be considered a great disappointment amongst their fans.

 

Lincoln in the 00's-5 state semi appearances

Southridge in the 90's-5 state semi appearances

Bradenton Southeast in the 90's-4 state semi appearances

Manatee in the 80's-4 state semi appearances

Clewiston in the 80's-4 state semi appearances

Merritt Island in the 70's-5 state semi appearances

You would be correct. If Cocoa moved up to 5A and didn't make the Semi's I bet the team would be disappointed in themselves. I can't imagine how the fans would react. Probably lose their minds and want a new coach or just stop going to the games.

I actually think Cocoa would be fine in 5A up to the semi's. I would be disappointed if they were beaten before making it to the semi's. See how that works...I do understand that it goes in cycles though.

[OldSchoolLion]

...and yet more perspective.  Below are teams that have appeared in 3 or more state title games in one or more of the past 5 decades.  In the 1970's and 1980's, no team in the larger classes appeared in more than 3 state title games in one decade.  Now we have teams making title games 5 or more times in a decade.  Is it any wonder some fans/parents go off the deep end now when their team does not advance in the playoffs?  IMO, the excess classes have contributed to an environment of unrealistic expectations.

 

1970’s (5)

Atlantic/Delray-3

FAMU-3

Glades Central-3

Merritt Island-3

Milton-3

 

1980’s (6)

Glades Day-8 

Baker-5 

Manatee-3

Suwanee-3

Titusville-3

Woodham-3

 

1990’s (10)

Bolles-5

Southridge-4

St Thomas Aquinas-4

University Christian-4

Frostproof-3

Glades Central-3

Glades Day-3 

North Florida Christian-3 

Southeast-3

Union County-3

 

2000’s (16)

St Thomas Aquinas-7

Bolles-6

Pahokee-6

North Florida Christian-5

Fort Meade-4

Lakeland-4

Northwestern-4

Armwood-3

Chaminade-3

Edgewater-3

Madison County-3

Naples-3

Nease-3

Plant-3

Trinity Catholic-3

Trinity Christian-3

 

2010’s (19)

Armwood-7

Miami Central-6

St Thomas Aquinas-6

Miami Booker T Washington-5

Trinity Christian-5

American Heritage/Delray-4

American Heritage/Plantation-4

Bolles-4

Champagnat-4

Cocoa-4

University Christian-4

Apopka-3

Chaminade-Madonna-3

Dr Phillips-3

Madison County-4

Northwestern-3

Plant-3

Raines-3

Trenton-3

•  

[SPCjessica2004]

Excellent research!  St. Petersburg Catholic made their only state semi final in 2004. We fought hard but came up short against Pahokee. I remember how much had to go right for us to even get to that point.  It's hard to imagine teams making the state semi's so often unless they're a legit powerhouse even with as many classifications as we have today.

I'm not sure how 2019 will turn out but the teams that have earned 5 state semi's in the 2010's will have spent at least 50% of the decade with the designation as a state qualifying team. Florida is regularly listed as a top 3 state in the country for football.  Those teams deserve some serious respect for getting that far as often as they do.
 

[OldSchoolLion]

16 minutes ago, SPCjessica2004 said:

Excellent research!  St. Petersburg Catholic made their only state semi final in 2004. We fought hard but came up short against Pahokee. I remember how much had to go right for us to even get to that point.  It's hard to imagine teams making the state semi's so often unless they're a legit powerhouse even with as many classifications as we have today.

I'm not sure how 2019 will turn out but the teams that have earned 5 state semi's in the 2010's will have spent at least 50% of the decade with the designation as a state qualifying team. Florida is regularly listed as a top 3 state in the country for football.  Those teams deserve some serious respect for getting that far as often as they do.
 

No doubt, Jessica.   What's funny is that there were great teams of the past who did not get much recognition because there were so many fewer teams made the playoffs back then.  Imagine today if just two Miami-Dade teams amongst all of the classes advanced in the playoffs...imagine how many good teams would get left behind.  

This is why it is difficult to compare the results of today versus those of yesteryear.  The playoffs were a whole different ballgame back then.  From round 1 you were in a battle.  Manatee winning 3 state titles in the 80's may not sound that impressive, but winning three titles in a decade back then would likely be on the same scale as winning 6 today.  

[HuffyLegend]

Missing from the list is Victory Christian (2A Lakeland)

** been to last 6 state semi-finals (lost finals in '13 & won in '14); only other team in Florida to be in last 6 semi's is Cocoa.