The first round of the state playoffs begin Thursday and Friday for 192 football teams, the dream to win a state title is their for every team.
The playoff format is simple just ‘survive and advance’ and move on to the next round of the playoffs. It takes 4 wins to win the small school state title (1A-4A) and 5 wins to win the big school state title (5A-8A).
So without further ado, here is my prediction for all of the eight classes.
Projected spreads are from notorious expert Joe Pinkos, who has a mathematical formula for picking high school football games across the state of Florida.
First round
Region I-8A
Lake Brantley (6-4) at Spruce Creek (7-3)
Pinkos: Spruce Creek by 1
Corey: Lake Brantley
Outlook: Lake Brantley runs the triple option and it can be very difficult to try to stop in just a week of preparation. Hard to believe but Spruce Creek was 2-3 at one point and has since rolled off five straight wins to go along with two quarter wins over Sandalwood and Mandarin in the District 1-8A shootout.
Sandalwood (7-1) at Seminole (9-0)
Pinkos: Seminole by 3
Corey: Seminole
Outlook: Logan Wright looks to lead the Saints on a deep playoff run but can one man really lead his team to Orlando. Yes they have a defense, but somebody else on offense needs to step up and relieve pressure from Wright. Seminole is a balanced team with over 1600 yards passing and 1800 yards rushing and could provide plenty of challenges for the Saints defense to stop.
Other games to keep an eye on
Wekiva at Winter Park
Timber Creek at Apopka
Manatee at Dr. Phillips
Final 4
Apopka over Dr. Phillips
Southridge 0ver Flanagan
State title
Pinkos: Vero Beach over Deerfield Beach
Corey: Apopka over Southridge
