Details on Florida's potential elite 32-team open division football championship

Look at which teams would have gotten in if the proposed open division began in 2023; and see who would have missed

Ever thought of what an elite open division might look like among the top 32 high school football teams in the state of Florida? 

That conversation could be turning into reality in 2024.

In a recent Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Board of Directors meeting, held on Nov. 6th, a proposed elite open division of the top 32 teams in the Sunshine State was discussed. The next official FHSAA board meeting is not scheduled until January, 2024. 

You can watch the FHSAA's Nov. 6th Board of Directors' meeting in the YouTube video embedded below. 

The new division could potentially begin in the 2024 season. We could see a return of classifications Classes 7A-1A-Rural, displacing the current Metro-Suburban-Rural system that has been in place for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, according to a county athletic director privy to the proposals. In addition, the Board is looking at the potential elimination of district play for football.

These developments, should they come to pass, will have fans and detractors, but all schools are currently in flux with regards to figuring out how to schedule games for the 2024 campaign. Many programs have already begun this process. 

The proposed 32-team elite open division would be determined by the FHSAA's power rankings at the end of the season and no matter what classification you're in, you would be placed among the state's best, if ranked in the Top 32, to compete in a their own state championship bracket. 

Teams included would not have an option of being able to opt out to compete in a state championship in one of the other classifications. 

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It now begs the question: What would that elite open division have looked like at the close of the 2023 season? 

Take a look below at which 32 teams would have been placed in a hypothetical 2023 edition of an elite open division. Remember, this is all based on hypothetically if the final 32 were determined at the end of the 2023 campaign.

2023 HYPOTHETICAL 32-TEAM ELITE OPEN DIVISION

1. Cocoa

2. Chaminade-Madonna 

3. Miami Norland 

4. St. Thomas Aquinas 

5. Clearwater Central Catholic 

6. Lake Mary

7. Buchholz 

8. Plantation American Heritage 

9. Sanford Seminole 

10. St. Augustine 

11. Bradford 

12. Edgewater

13. Mainland 

14. Cardinal Newman 

15. Treasure Coast 

16. Williston 

17. Eau Gallie 

18. Jesuit 

19. Walton 

20. Carrollwood Day 

21. Delray Atlantic Beach 

22. South Sumter 

23. Homestead 

24. Columbus 

25. Venice 

26. Wakulla 

27. Orange City University 

28. Armwood 

29. Vanguard 

30. Bishop Verot 

31. Lake Wales

32. Benjamin

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Below is the list of notable teams that would have not ended up making the cut for a 2023 hypothetical elite 32-team open division. 

Apopka 

Choctawhatchee

Coconut Creek

DeLand 

Florida State University High 

Fort Meade 

Hawthorne 

Jones 

Lakeland  

Mandarin

Miami Booker T. Washington 

Miami Central

Niceville 

Raines 

Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville)

Winter Park

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FHSAA 2023 CHAMPIONSHIPS BRACKETS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 4M STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 4S STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 3M STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 3S STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 2M STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 2S STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 1M STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 1S STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

2023 FHSAA CLASS 1R STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl