FHSAA releases new football districts, see where your team ended up
State champion Lakeland has moved into a classification that has two more state champions from 2023 according the new classifications and districts that were released by the FHSAA on Friday morning.
Lakeland is in Class 5A, District 6 with Kathleen, Lake Gibson and Sebring. Its region includes perennial powers Orlando Edgewater and Tampa Bay Tech, and 3S state champion Daytona Beach Mainland and 4S state champion St. Thomas Aquinas are also in Class 5A.
Tampa Bay Tech went 10-3 and lost in the region finals last year to Orlando Jones, and Edgewater went 11-1, losing in the region semifinals to Jones.
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Lakeland coach Marvin Frazier said the district set-up was what he thought would happen. He said he was talking to Sebring coach LaVaar Scott after winning the state title and said there was a high probability that they would be in the same district and have to play each other.
“It just ended up happening because that's one game I probably would have never scheduled because of my ties to them,” Frazier said. “We clinic together. We do everything together. So that's one of those games that I would have stayed away from if I could have, and I think they feel the same. Now we're in the same district so we all kind of saw it coming.”
Overall, Polk teams are spread out in eight districts in seven classifications 7A-1A, and Fort Meade returns to the rural classification. There are no districts in rural.
Three Polk teams are the only Polk teams in their respective district: Davenport (6A-6), Bartow (6A-7) and Mulberry (3A-12).
“I’m excited, it turned out pretty good for us,” Mulberry coach Brad Metheny said. “I thought we would be in with Auburndale and Lake Wales and those guys. Being in with DeSoto and Hardee, we will be competitive. We also can be competitive in our region.”
Metheny said he wasn’t in favor of eliminating the Metro-Suburban classifications but added that it worked out favorably for his team.
Lake Wales’ district got tougher. Auburndale and Lake Region remain district opponents, and they are joined by Jones, which went 10-4 and lost to Homestead, 42-35 in the Class 3M state semifinals.
Lake Wales coach Tavaris Johnson said he hasn’t had the chance to digest all the changes.
“I don’t know what to think about that right now,” he said. “I do like the fact about playing Jones. I don’t understand why they don’t find someone closer.”
Johnson had one overriding thought.
“I just want it to be competitive,” he said “I don’t want blowout games. I want it to be competitive.”
The most competitive district for Polk teams could be 1A-7 with Frostproof, Lakeland Christian and Victory Christian.
Frostproof coach Richie Marsh said how it worked out for the bigger classifications might have been fine, but he was adamantly against how it worked out for the small public schools.
“With six public schools in 1A and the whole rest of the classification being private and dominated private, I’m disappointed,” he said. “We're going to do what we have to do to take care of our Frostproof kids. At Frostproof, we're happy to compete whenever we take the field."
Here are the classifications and districts for Polk teams:
Class 7A, District 6
George Jenkins
Haines City
Ridge Community
Winter Haven
Class 6A, District 6
Davenport
Ocala Forest
Winter Garden Horizon
Lake Minneola
Groveland South Lake
Class 6A, District 7
Bartow
Valrico Bloomingdale
Plant City Durant
Riverview
Class 5, District 6
Kathleen
Lake Gibson
Lakeland
Sebring
Class 4A, District 7
Auburndale
Orlando Jones
Lake Region
Lake Wales
Class 3A, District 12
Arcadia DeSoto County
Wauchula Hardee
Mulberry
Class 2A, District 7
Avon Park
Discovery
Lake Placid
Tenoroc
Class 1A, District 7
Frostproof
Lakeland Christian
Victory Christian
Rural, Region 4
Chiefland
Fort Meade
Hawthorne
Marathon
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: FHSAA releases new football districts, see where your team ended up
