More reclassification won't help area football teams

This is the era of constant change, so stability has become an unreasonable ask.

High school football teams have to accept that modern reality. If they want to succeed, they must truly embrace it.

It’s a telling reflection of the sport’s dynamic nature in Florida, where the wild west only continues to get wilder. And more change is soon to come.

On Dec. 8, the Florida High School Athletic Association released tentative football classifications for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Member schools were given until 1 p.m. on Dec. 15 to submit appeals or corrections before the Dec. 17 release of final classifications.

The association’s board of directors previously voted, 10-3, in favor of moving to Classes 1A-6A and a Rural class for the two upcoming seasons. Back on Nov. 3, that vote cut out Class 7A entirely, making districts larger in the interest of a more balanced, competitive landscape.

It marks the third time in five seasons when a different model will be used. The FHSAA had organized football into a nine-class Metro-Suburban system for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but scrapped that in favor of Classes 1A-7A plus Rural for 2024 and 2025.

So much change in so little time should raise some eyebrows. This situation is far removed from 2011-21, when Classes 1A-8A were the year-by-year model.

The FHSAA — based in Gainesville — promises the best competition for its schools, but considering yet another new format, it’s worth questioning whether that promise can be kept.

“They're always trying to figure out the best recipe, and I don't know if they’ve found it or they're happy with it,” said Lakewood Ranch High Football Coach Scott Paravicini. “But it doesn't surprise me that they have changed again, because it's what they've done the past however many years.”

Photo by Jack Nelson

Reclassification is nowhere near a novel concept. Every two years, the FHSAA re-assesses the student enrollment numbers for each school, and places teams in a class accordingly.

Districts and regions are then formed by aligning schools based on geography, so that travel during the regular season doesn’t pose an inconvenience. Each team must play all its district opponents and district champions are awarded automatic bids into the playoffs.

This football postseason, which ended with the Dec. 10-13 state championships, featured more than a fair share of blowouts — too many. 

Across the regional semifinals in all eight classes, the average margin of victory was 24.2 points. The largest was in 3A, at 36.5, while the smallest was in 5A, at 16.7. 

Cutting out 7A will ensure fewer lopsided results. Why the FHSAA has taken this long to make such a move, though, is puzzling. For years, it has seemingly accepted an abundance of non-competitive regional games.

Locally, Lakewood Ranch and Braden River are the programs affected by the latest reclassification. The Out-of-Door Academy competes in the Sunshine State Athletic Association.

The Mustangs are assigned to Class 6A-District 12 in the tentative classifications. On paper, that doesn’t represent much change, since they competed in 6A-11 for the past two seasons. 

But their schedule — and subsequent likelihood of success — will look dramatically different.

Should the tentative assignments hold, their district opponents for 2026 and 2027 will be Lehigh, North Port, Riverview (Sarasota) and Venice. They played none of those teams in 2025, instead being placed in a district with Palmetto, Parrish Community, Lennard and Gateway.

“There's a lot of people that make decisions above us,” Paravicini said. “We have to figure out a way to continuously win. … We haven't done that necessarily to the (level) that we want to.”

Lakewood Ranch finished at 10-10 in the last two seasons combined, but went 2-6 in district play. As of Dec. 12, the school has no intention to submit an appeal, per Paravicini.

This latest change, though, will hit Braden River harder.

Photo by Jack Nelson

The Pirates were moved down two classifications. They’ll compete in Class 3A-District 12 after spending the last two seasons in 5A-9, and in doing so, are moving from a three-team district to a group of five that will result in less freedom of choice for scheduling.

Should the tentative assignments hold, their district opponents will be Bayshore, Booker, Southeast and Wellen Park for 2026 and 2027. They had formerly been with Manatee and Pinellas Park.

Braden River went 6-13 overall across the last two seasons, including an 0-4 record in district play. The Pirates also lost both matchups to Bayshore and Southeast in 2025.

The pending reality for both the Mustangs and the Pirates looks bleak. 

Venice is a four-time state champion and has won nine regional titles in the last 10 years. Booker, meanwhile, has reached three consecutive state semifinals and will send seven early graduates to Division I college football programs in the spring.

Yes, it’s a positive direction the FHSAA has taken by reducing the number of classifications, but it’s also overdue. Too much change in too little time is rarely a good thing.

“With the changing landscape of high school football, I don't know that you could set something in stone and it'd be a perfect system,” Paravicini said. “It might be perfect this year, but in three years, it might not be perfect anymore.”

This latest move will weed out weaker teams — those who should have never been in the playoffs to begin with. Competitiveness, of course, is paramount.

But it won’t make life on the gridiron any easier for Lakewood Ranch and Braden River.