Since we can’t get this year’s brackets totally ironed out, why not briefly look ahead to the upcoming Open Division bracket. Unless amended by the FHSAA Board of Directors, the Open Division will debut in 2026 as a mandatory (not optional) bracket for the top 8 teams in the FHSAA rankings after the regular season. If the Open Division was in effect this year, these would be the opening round matchups:
#8 Bolles @ #1 DeLand
#5 Miami NW @ #4 Buchholz
#6 Mandarin @ #3 Vero Beach
#7 Carrollwood Day @ #2 Cardinal Mooney
Not terrible, but these are some of the teams left out (and their final ranking): Raines (#9); Armwood (#10); Edgewater (#12); Lakeland (#14); C-M (#15); STA (#17). Once again, relying solely on computer rankings may not achieve the desired goals.
And the crazy thing is the parents that filed the suit and in a uproar saying the players don't deserve the punishment. Yes they are right about the players not deserving the punishment. But they are acting as if they didn't go into the summer or this brand new season knowing that FTA still had 1 more year of this ban against. They could've easily went to a completely different school or fought it during the summer or beginning of the season to see if they could get in