Hey, let's talk football—real football, the high school kind where state championships actually mean something on a Friday night under the lights.I've crunched the numbers on these 63 years of title games, and the story they tell is pretty fascinating: the game we love has gotten a whole lot more explosive offensively, but the price we've paid is that the finals aren't quite as nail-bitingly close as they used to be.    Back in the day—think 1960s through the 1990s—games were lower-scoring, grind-it-out affairs. Total points usually hovered in the low-to-mid 20s, winners scored around 20–25, and the average margin sat right around 15 points. The 1970s were the golden era for competitiveness: 14.8-point average margin, with a bunch of seasons where the championships genuinely felt like coin flips.Fast-forward to the 21st century, and it's a different sport. Spread offenses, up-tempo schemes, and rule changes have turned these games into track meets. Average total points jumped to 34.3 per game—that's almost 40% higher than the 20th century. Winners are routinely dropping 35–40+ on the board. But those bigger scores have come with bigger blowouts: average margin widened to 18.6 points. The very closest modern years (2010, 2022, and your 2025) can still hang with the old classics, but overall, the 20th century owns the top of the “most competitive” leaderboard.The explosion in classifications plays a big role too.   When you go from 4 title games a year to 8 or 9, you're naturally going to get a wider range of talent matchups—some epic battles, but also some lopsided ones that drag the average margin up. The data bears that out: 4-class years averaged the tightest games (14.9-point margins), while the current 8–9 class era averages the widest (18.4).And speaking of 2025—removing those two rough 60–0 combined shutouts, the other six games averaged an 8-point margin. That's legitimately impressive in this high-scoring era. It puts 2025 solidly among the better modern years for drama, even if the raw average gets pulled up by the blowouts.Bottom line: we've traded some old-school suspense for modern fireworks. The games are way more fun to watch when points are flying, but those classic 17–14 or 20–13 slugfests that had entire towns holding their breath? Those feel like they're becoming rarer in the championship spotlight   1. Overall Scoring Trend: Games Have Become Much Higher-Scoring Total points per game (Average Score column) have risen dramatically over time. 1960s: ~24.5 total points/game 1970s: ~23.6 1980s: ~26.3 1990s: ~28.1 2000s: ~32.9 2010s: ~35.7 2020s (2020–2025): ~34.3 The jump is especially noticeable starting in the mid-2000s, with many years exceeding 35–40 total points. This aligns with broader high school football trends: spread offenses, rule changes favoring passing, and generally faster-paced games.Winner points have gone from ~20–25 in early decades to consistently 30+ (often 35–40) in recent years. Loser points have also risen, but more slowly (from ~8–10 to ~15–20). 2. Competitiveness (Average Margin): Mixed PictureAverage margin of victory across all 63 years ≈ 16.6 points.Decade averages for margin: 1960s: 16.9 points (small sample, some extremes like 1965's 34.3) 1970s: 14.8 points (the most competitive decade on average) 1980s: 16.2 points 1990s: 15.3 points 2000s: 16.3 points 2010s: 18.7 points 2020s (so far): 17.2 points The 1970s stand out as the closest overall. Recent decades show slightly wider margins on average, despite occasional very competitive years (e.g., 2022: 11.0, 2010: 9.5). 3. 20th Century vs. 21st Century 20th century years (1963–1999, 37 years): Avg total points: 24.9 Avg margin: 15.2 points Top 10 most competitive years: 9 of the top 10 are 20th century Top 20: 18 of 20 are 20th century 21st century years (2000–2025, 26 years): Avg total points: 34.3 (+38% higher) Avg margin: 18.6 points (wider by ~3.4 points) 21st-century games are much higher scoring but, on average, less competitive. However, the very best (closest) modern years can compete with the old ones (e.g., 2010 and 2022 crack the top 10). 4. Impact of Number of Classifications (More Classes = More Games)The number of classes has grown from 1–4 in early years to 8–9 recently, meaning many more championship games per year.Average margin by # of classifications: 1–3 classes (mostly 1960s): 17.0 points 4 classes (1970s–early 1980s): 14.9 points (closest group) 5 classes (1980s–1990s): 16.4 points 6–7 classes (late 1990s–2000s): 16.2 points 8–9 classes (2000s–2020s): 18.4 points (widest margins) More classifications correlate with both higher scoring and larger average margins. Possible reasons: More classes → smaller enrollment bands → potentially bigger talent gaps in some matchups. Higher-scoring era coincides with the 8-class era, and blowouts become more lopsided when offenses are explosive. 5. Most and Least Competitive PeriodsMost competitive years (lowest margins): Almost entirely pre-2000, with 1970s and select 1980s/1990s years dominating.Least competitive (highest margins): Bottom 10: 7 are 2010s (2011, 2013–2015, 2018) or 2024; others are early outliers (1965, 1987). The 2010s contain both extremes: the #5 most competitive year (2010) and several of the worst. 6. 2025 in ContextAs noted, 2025 ranks 21st overall (13.7 margin) and ~8th-best in the 21st century. Given two 60–0 combined blowouts pulling the average up, the other six games averaging 8-point margins is impressive—2025 is legitimately one of the more competitive modern years.   Summary TakeawayHigh school football state championship games have evolved into much higher-scoring affairs since the early 2000s, but that offensive explosion has come with somewhat reduced average competitiveness (wider margins). The golden era for close finals appears to have been the 1970s–1990s. Recent years show more variance—capable of both tight battles and big blowouts—likely amplified by having 8–9 games per year instead of 1–4.

Thanks, always appreciate your honest, objective analysis.  5A Region 2 is not very strong, and will run through Lakeland, Osceola, and possibly Tampa Gaither.  But 5A as a whole is very solid, so should make for some interesting matchups come playoff time.

Didn’t Osceola snap Lakeland’s state record win streak?

Our HC most likely is fine with it from a scheduling standpoint as he always wants challenging games and in the previous district the past couple of years he has had to really work to find those.  Very similar to our district in the 2005 thru 2007 or so years.   Now he will only have to find 4 additional opponents as St. Cloud is a given as opposed to finding 7 others.  We feel most years we can compete with the best as is reflected in the stats put out by Laz.  Obviously, Lakeland will be the biggest hurdle in this 6 team district and I am sure Nulli feels the same way about us.

Ray, curious how you feel about Kowboys' new district -- Auburndale, Bartow, Lake Gibson, Sebring, AND Lakeland?