What are the toughest regions and notable district pairings in FHSAA's new football classes?

The Florida High School Athletic Association released the final districts for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years late Tuesday afternoon.

THE FHSAA board of directors voted in December to change the format from Metro and Suburban classes to seven classes — plus one rural class — determined solely by school enrollment.

The Metro and Suburban classes lasted just two years but produced four first-time state champions — Berkeley Prep, First Baptist Academy, Hawthorne and Lake Wales — as well as some thrilling title games with nine contests being decided by a single score.

Here are some quick thoughts on the new districts and classes.

Apopka, Lake Mary and Seminole were the headliners for one of the state’s toughest districts the past two years. Now, two of them will have to wait until the state semifinals to face off for playoff glory. Rivals Lake Mary and Seminole are in District 3-7A, but Apopka was placed in Region 5-7A, which means it will be in a different region in the postseason.

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Traditional heavyweights Apopka and Venice have combined to make seven state championship game appearances since 2017, including Venice’s 35-7 win against the Blue Darters in the Class 8A championship in 2021. The teams both will be in Region 2-7A for the next two years.

Buchholz and Bartram Trail have met in the regional championship game the past two years and once again are in the same district (3-6A). Getting to the regional final will get tougher now that Mandarin, the 2023 Class 4M state runner-up, also is in Region 1.

District 8-6A should be very competitive with Armwood, Plant, Sickles and Wharton. Plant was a state semifinalist in Class 4M last year. Armwood beat Wharton 20-14 in the regional quarterfinal last season.

Lakeland, which won the Class 4S state championship the past two years, gets an interesting addition to District 6-5A in Sebring. The Blue Streaks were a regional finalist in Class 3S last season (losing to eventual state champion Mainland) and were a state semifinalist in 2021. The district also includes Kathleen and Lake Gibson.

Region 2-5A could be one of the best in the state. The list includes Edgewater (District 5), Lakeland (District 6), Gaither (District 7) and Tampa Bay Tech (District 8). In addition to Lakeland’s postseason success, Gaither was a regional champion in Class 3M, while Edgewater and Tampa Bay Tech both lost one-score games to eventual state semifinal Jones in the regional playoffs last year.

Jones, which has won back-to-back regional championships in Class 3M, and Lake Wales, which had a 27-game win streak snapped in the regional championship game in Class 3S, will both be in District 7-4A.

Region 5-2A also makes the shortlist for the toughest region in the state. The lineup includes Bradford (District 5, 2023 Class 2S state runner-up), Cocoa (District 6, 2022 and 2023 Class 2S champion), Berkeley Prep (District 8, 2023 Class 2M champion) as well as Clearwater-Calvary Christian and Tampa Catholic.

Rivals Benjamin and Cardinal Newman remain in the same district (12-1A) and will be joined in their region by First Baptist Academy. The Lions won the 2022 Class 1S state championship and were a state semifinalist last season.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: FHSAA new football classes 2024: Toughest regions and districts