The FHSAA, after announcing the dissolution of its two-year stint with Metro and Suburban high school football classifications, has announced a return to seven “A” classifications to go along with one Rural grouping for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.
Following the 2021 football season, the FHSAA announced it would go from its standard eight-class setup, strictly determined by school size, to a nine-class format, with four considered Metro for schools in higher-population areas, four Suburban classes and then one Rural class.
Some notes as a result of the reshuffling:
St. Thomas Aquinas, who won a Florida-record fifth straight state championship earlier this month, drops to 5A. Where in 2023, the Raiders’ 3M classification included 10 schools from Miami-Dade County — including the team they edged for the five-peat, Homestead — this year, their 5A class will have only two teams from south of Broward, Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy and North Miami.
After two straight years of Soul Bowl rivals Blanche Ely and Dillard playing a second time in the 3M regional playoffs, there will be no postseason matchups the next two years, at least, with Ely going to 5A and Dillard 4A.
Meanwhile, in the one 3A district that contains Broward teams (Pompano Beach, Somerset Academy and Stranahan), the fourth team is the football powerhouse that was also was trying to accomplish a five-peat this year, Miami Central.
There are 10 Palm Beach County schools in 7A, compared with five from Broward, but only five Palm Beach teams total in classes 5A, 4A and 3A (Atlantic and Forest Hill in 5A, Boynton Beach, Dr. Joaquin Garcia and Suncoast in 4A, and no schools in 3A).
The redistricting is considered tentative until the completion of the FHSAA appeals process.
These are the new districts as they pertain to schools in Broward and Palm Beach counties:
7A
12-7A: Jupiter, Palm Beach Central, Palm Beach Lakes, Wellington
13-7A: John I. Leonard, Lake Worth, Park Vista, Santaluces
14-7A: Boca Raton, Coral Glades, Stoneman Douglas, Spanish River
15-7A: Cypress Bay, Taravella, Western, Miami Goleman
6A
12-6A: Dwyer, Palm Beach Gardens, Royal Palm Beach, Seminole Ridge, West Boca Raton
13-6A: Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Monarch, Piper
14-6A: Cooper City, Nova, South Broward, South Plantation
15-6A: Flanagan, West Broward, Miami Dr. Krop, Miami Beach
5A
14-5A: Atlantic, Blanche Ely, Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach, Forest Hill
15-5A: Boyd Anderson, Hollywood Hills, McArthur, St, Thomas Aquinas
16-5A: Everglades, Miramar, Pembroke Pines Charter, North Miami, Hialeah Gardens Mater Academy
4A
14-4A: Boynton Beach, Dillard, Dr. Joaquin Garcia, Northeast, Suncoast
15-4A: American Heritage, Archbishop McCarthy, Miami Norland, Plantation
3A
15-3A: Pompano Beach, Somerset Academy, Stranahan, Miami Central
2A
10-2A: Glades Central, Clewiston, Fort Myers Bishop Verot
11-2A: Inlet Grove, King’s Academy, Somerset Canyons
12-2A: American Heritage-Delray, Calvary Christian, North Broward Prep
13-2A: Cardinal Gibbons, Hallandale, Pine Crest
1A
12-1A: Benjamin, Cardinal Newman, SLAM, Fort Pierce John Carroll
13-1A: Somerset Academy Key, Somerset Prep, St. Andrew’s, St. John Paul II
14-1A: Chaminade-Madonna, Avant Garde, Florida Christian, Miami Edison
Pahokee is the only school from Broward or Palm Beach to be in the 32-team Rural classification.