FHSAA announces new winter sports classifications

Four months ago, the Florida High School Athletic Association was planning to switch up its classifications for winter sports, leaving programs with more questions than answers.

Now, that is starting to balance out. The FHSAA released its new classifications March 14, and one of the biggest — and best, in my opinion — changes is happening in basketball, where the number of classes will be cut from nine to seven. The FHSAA said each class’s schools were determined by enrollment only, as requested by the schools themselves.

What this means is the road to a state championship just got more difficult — but it also means fans will get to see more high-quality match-ups. Riverview, previously a Class 9A basketball school, is now in 7A. They will play in District 8 with former district foes Newsome and (Hillsborough) Riverview, and also new foes North Port, Durant, Lennard and Lakewood Ranch.

Even though district games are not mandatory until the postseason district tournament under the new system, it is likely you will see more match-ups between these teams than you would otherwise. The most tantalizing of these for Rams boys basketball fans is Lakewood Ranch, which played in Class 8A this past season and reached the state title game before falling 57-52 to Blanche Ely.

I cover Lakewood Ranch for our sister paper, the East County Observer, and it is a consistently great program. Watching two great coaches in Riverview’s BJ Ivey and Lakewood Ranch’s Jeremy Schiller play schematic chess will be worth the price of admission. We got a preview of it on Feb. 9, when Lakewood Ranch beat the Rams 61-47. In the future, with more familiarity and a more heated rivalry, expect these games to be a lot closer.

As far as the rest of the local schools go: Sarasota will play in 6A, District 11, with Braden River, Charlotte, Venice, Fort Myers and North Fort Myers. Both Booker and Sarasota Military Academy will play in 3A, District 10, with Tampa Catholic, Lakewood, Lemon Bay, Gibbs and Dunedin. Cardinal Mooney is in 3A, District 7, with Bradenton Christian, the Out-of-Door Academy, Saint Stephen’s Episcopal and Imagine School of North Port. Sarasota Christian is in 2A, District 7, with Bayshore Christian, Lakeside Christian, Community Christian, Canterbury and Keswick Christian. 

On the girls side, I am glad Sarasota and Braden River will get to continue their rivalry. There have been some classic matchups in that series over the last few years. And Booker should have an easier time within its district, the biggest threat coming from Lakewood, even if the playoffs will be tougher. Cardinal Mooney’s district is the biggest wild card: Anyone could come out on top.

Booker boys forward Johnnie Williams, who will finish up his senior season with a trip to the Florida Athletic Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game March 23, said based on experience, he believes the cut down on classes will be beneficial for everyone, creating more competition.

“The team next year will be excited,” Williams said. “They will be ready to play anyone and everyone on the schedule.”

Count me as siding with Williams. The biggest positive here, in my opinion, is cutting down the number of state champions we will have. The more champions there are, the less each championship means. I get that certain sized schools shouldn’t be compared to each other, but nine was far too many. Seven is still a lot, but it is closer to an appropriate amount, and will hopefully prevent playoff games from being blowouts. Those aren’t fun for anyone, and fun should always be the number one goal of high school sports.

A full list of the new classifications, for basketball and the other winter sports — like soccer, which actually increased its class size from five to six — can be found on FHSAA.org.