First Coast Varsity Weekly: Did winning its finale cost Bartram Trail a home playoff game?
Winning, Vince Lombardi said, isn't everything.
Just ask Bartram Trail football.
The Bears achieved possibly their highest-quality win of the football season with last Friday's 24-14 win at Mandarin — only for the ensuing jump in the Florida High School Athletic Association rankings to deny them a home first-round playoff game.
How can that happen? It's complicated.
Entering Week 11, Bartram Trail stood fourth in the FHSAA's Region 1-4S ranking formula. By beating the Mustangs behind 248 yards and three touchdowns from Northeast Florida rushing king and newly-uncommitted prospect Laython Biddle, they climbed to third above Ponte Vedra, which lost to Creekside in a game that ultimately secured the Knights' playoff berth.
But by rising to No. 3, Bartram Trail landed a matchup against No. 6 Navarre, champion of District 1-4S. Under FHSAA procedures, when a district champion plays a non-district champion in the first round, the district winner earns hosting rights regardless of seeding — sending Bartram Trail, which placed second behind Gainesville Buchholz in District 3-4S, on the road to the Panhandle.
If Bartram Trail had remained the No. 4 seed, the Bears would have faced Creekside in the first round. Since neither team won a district, Bartram Trail would in theory have been designated the playoff host as the superior seed in the event of a Longleaf Pine Parkway rematch.
That's assuming, of course, that Bartram Trail would have remained No. 4 even with a loss to Mandarin. Since the exact composition of the FHSAA's formula remains undisclosed, it's possible a loss might have dropped the Bears in the regional seeding.
Amid complicated issues like that one, as well as the rating formula's much-debated exclusion of 8-2 Pace from the Region 1-4S playoffs, the FHSAA's Metro-Suburban format is coming under increasing scrutiny. Members of the board of directors held discussions during Monday's meeting but did not take any action, meaning the status of classification and structure for the 2024-26 cycle will likely come during the winter.
Ice Ice Broncos: Welcome return for Middleburg
The top song on the music charts to start the month the last time Middleburg qualified for consecutive football playoffs: Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" in November 1990.
That tells a lot of the story for the Broncos over the last three decades — and it's why last week's 32-0 triumph over Fernandina Beach, which sealed Middleburg's playoff trip in Class 3M, is cause for celebration in Clay County.
Since those 1989 and 1990 teams, noted for the record-breaking feats of quarterback Alan Hall, Middleburg has more often finished winless (1992, 1996, 2004, 2015, 2020) than qualified for FHSAA regionals (2003, 2016, 2022).
Even though Middleburg faces a more-than-difficult opening-round test against unbeaten St. Augustine, just beginning a playoff streak is a sign of a new day.
While the 2023 playoff race in Northeast Florida largely followed 2022 patterns — Districts 1-4M, 1-3M, 1-2M, 2-2M, 3-2M, 3-4S, 3-3S and 5-2S had exactly the same qualifiers as last year — there were still notable turnaround stories.
It's hard to remember now, but just one year ago, Nease slumped to 2-8. The arrival of quarterback Bryce Frick, the recovery of tailback Cam Smith, the continued emergence of receivers Maddox Spencer and Brayden Felder and several improvements on defense helped the Panthers rise to 7-3 and a District 4-4S title for fifth-year coach Collin Drafts, capped with last week's 47-27 win over Tocoi Creek.
Year one under Steve Reynolds at Keystone Heights was a winner, improving from 2-8 to 6-4 and closing with a three-game winning streak to qualify from District 6-2S. Running back Cartez Daniels led the offense with 850 yards on the ground.
While independent Impact Christian isn't eligible for FHSAA playoffs, the Lions made strides in Bobby Ramsay's second year, climbing from 1-8 to 7-3. Freshman QB Hans Price passed for 1,708 yards and 19 touchdowns, while sophomore Eliyjah Caldwell gained 447 yards rushing and 887 receiving.
Jordan, Barracudas shine in finale
Unlike five other St. Johns County teams, Beachside — as an independent in its second year of FHSAA competition — isn't heading to Friday night's football playoffs.
But as winners of their last nine, the Barracudas (9-1) deserve notice, particularly sophomore quarterback Edward Jordan as he concludes the regular season as Northeast Florida's passing leader.
Jordan wrapped up his season with 244 yards and six touchdowns in last week's 66-22 victory against Class 1M qualifier Providence, finishing 187 of 285 for 2,547 yards, 35 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Three of Friday's touchdowns went to Cohen Beebe, who ended his year with 888 yards receiving.
With abundant talent on offense on course to return for head coach Pete Duffy, including sophomores Drew Watson and Drew Aldrich as well as freshman Brennan Monaco, the Barracuda air show looks like a postseason contender for 2024.
St. Johns swimmers win 3A regionals
Established dynasty Bolles and fast-rising Bishop Kenny already own championship trophies in the pool this November. Based on the regional performances of Nease and Ponte Vedra last week, Northeast Florida swimmers might not be through yet.
Ponte Vedra dominated the Region 1-3A girls meet to record 439 points, followed by Nease (298) in second. Victories in all three relays brought the Sharks 120 points.
Winning individual regional finals for the Sharks were Annabelle MacAdams in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:05.78), Kate Pelot in the 100 backstroke (57.13) and Penny Zarczynski in the 100 breast (55.79).
The Nease boys, also Class 3A champions in 2022, scored 337.5 points to hold off Pensacola Washington and Tallahassee Chiles in their regional meet. Freshman Luke Zardavets won the 100 breast in 57.22, and teamed with Brandon Gear, Walker Lanoue and Jack Mainville to win the 400 freestyle relay in an All-American consideration time of 3:07.15.
Fleming Island also celebrated three individual regional titles for Ava Brinkman in girls diving and Maryn McDade in the 50 and 100 free, while Nease's Olivia Moore (girls 200 free), Nease's Charlotte Driesse (girls 200 individual medley) and Fletcher's Maxwell Shaver (boys diving) also won events.
In Class 4A, Creekside won the Region 1 girls championship with victories in the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay, finishing with 377 points to Winter Park's 323 and Lake Brantley's 316. The Knights also earned a boys victory from Hayden Sunman in the 100 back.
Bartram Trail placed second in the boys standings and sixth in the girls list, with wins for Thomas Frost (boys 200 IM and 500 free), Luke VanDeusen (boys 100 and 200 free), Elle Fox (girls 200 IM), Jenna Frost (girls 200 and 500 free) and both boys free relays.
For Atlantic Coast, Jayla Covington earned a Region 1-4A title in the girls 100 back.
Shark attack in cross country
Ponte Vedra opened the cross country postseason with victory on home turf.
The Sharks' girls placed 1-2-3 with Lindy White (18:24), Daisy Ross (18:32) and Hilaree Vega (18:47) in Saturday's District 2-3A meet held on their own course, easily winning the team standings with 21 points ahead of Fleming Island and Matanzas.
The race averted disruption despite a shooting at the same time less than a mile away at Davis Park, in which St. Johns County police fatally shot an armed burglary suspect outside a youth sports event.
Fleming Island scored 31 points to hold off Ponte Vedra (51) and Menendez (87) in the boys race, paced by senior Graham Myers at 15:51. John Keester IV, Roman Mollicone and Jacob Campbell also broke 16:40 for Fleming Island.
In the District 1-4A meet at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, the Nease boys placed five runners under 16:15 for a 24-point victory ahead of Creekside and Tallahassee Chiles. Matt Ryan (15:25), Finn Thomas (15:29), Sai Jayaraman (15:30), Nate Corkran (15:52) and Wyatt Pittman (16:12) paced the Panthers, while Creekside's Tanner Simonds won the top individual honors with a blistering personal best of 15:18.1.
Creekside's Alyson Johnson (18:33) and Sarah Rose (18:39) finished 1-2 in the girls race, where the Knights had to settle for third in the team standings behind the balance of Gainesville Buchholz and Niceville.
Bolles swimmers smash more records
Bolles is used to life at the top of Florida's swimming world, and on Saturday, they rewrote even more pages in the state record books.
In the first event of the Class 1A championship meet in Ocala, the quartet of Lucero Mejia Arce, Victoria Edgar, Julia Murphy and Kate Meyers-Labenz combined for a girls 200-yard medley relay time of 1:40.93, setting an FHSAA record and a school record.
They weren't done: About two hours later, Meyers-Labenz and Murphy combined with Lila Higgo and Simany Lee to swim 1:31.22 in the girls 200 free relay, also good for an FHSAA record.
Higgo also broke the Bolles record with 1:59.52 to win the 200 individual medley, surpassing Yi Ting Sow's 1:59.91 from 2003, and Murphy dipped under 54 seconds with a 53.96 in the 100 butterfly to beat the 54.63 set by Megan Fonteno in 2009.
The Bolles boys, meanwhile, set a single-meet record of 628 points for their 36th consecutive championship.
Around the area
St. Johns Country Day infielder Seth Alford committed to the University of North Florida for baseball. … Bishop Kenny's Evan Gardner committed to Mount St. Mary's men's swimming. … Former Bolles midfielder Avery Patterson, now at North Carolina, was voted to the All-ACC first team in women's college soccer. … Former Mandarin midfielder Adrienne Trerotola, now at The Citadel, was selected to the Southern Conference all-freshman team. … Former Bolles runner Jillian Candelino was selected to the All-SEC freshman team in women's cross country for Tennessee. … South Florida HEAT's Kaii Winkler shattered a pair of national high school records, going 1:32.68 in the Class 1A boys 200 free and 42.14 in the opening 100 yards of the 400 free relay. … Erika Pelaez of South Florida HEAT also set three girls FHSAA records, swimming 21.98 in the 50 free, 51.29 in the 100 back and 47.78 in the first 100 of the 400 free relay. The 400 free relay itself set a state record of 3:19.39. … Fernandina Beach's Hampton Walker set a new school record of 21.64 in the boys 50 free, and the Pirates also broke a school mark in the 200 girls medley relay.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Bartram Trail home FHSAA playoff game vanishes by beating Mandarin
