MIAMI — Next year, the Open Championship will be played in Florida high school football, but it’s uncertain how the eight teams will be determined.
Craig Damon, executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association, told USA TODAY FLORIDA on Dec. 12 that he was open to human oversight of the process.
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“We plan on having something other than just rankings,” Damon said. “We are exploring options.”
The open division will put the top eight teams in the state into their own division, separate from the rest of the division.
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If based solely on regular season FHSAA power rankings, the eight teams in the 2025 Open Division would be DeLand, Cardinal Mooney, Vero Beach, Buchholz, Miami Northwestern, Mandarin, Carrollwood Day and Bolles.
This list could be controversial for a number of reasons, including the exclusion of national power St. Thomas, which won its seventh consecutive state championship on Dec. 11.
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Carrollwood Day lost to eventual Class 1A state champion Cardinal Newman in the state semifinals to end the regular season with No. 120 Florida’s top record.
Human oversight similar to the College Football Playoff Committee would allow the FHSAA to ensure the best teams in the state advance.
This article originally appeared in The Palm Beach Post: FHSAA ‘exploring options’ to determine open division football teams
