The Biggest Snubs That Missed Out on This Year’s FHSAA 2024 Football Playoff Field

For every high school that gets into the playoffs, so many others feel like they got snubbed. Here are this year's teams that just missed out on the postseason.

Quan Hagans of Astronaut tries to get past Alex Banachoski of Space Coast during their game Friday, September 13, 2024. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK / Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

When the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) revealed which high school football programs would be making the 2024 postseason, many teams rejoiced in hearing their names announced.

On the other end of that, there was a list of teams not too pleased with how things played out in the brackets.

We list down below the teams that we feel they may have had a pretty strong argument on qualifying for the postseason this fall.

Astronaut (6-4; Class 2A)

The night before the brackets were revealed, the War Eagles thought they did plenty enough to assure themselves of a playoff spot in the Class 2A playoffs, especially in Region 2. Astronaut defeated The Villages in a Class 2A, District 6 contest, 21-20, in what seemingly would give the War Eagles the nudge over the Buffaloes. Wrong. Instead, The Villages, even though they lost to Astronaut the night before and finished at 5-4, ended with a 4.374 rating compared to the War Eagles' 3.293 rating. It ended with Astronaut being left out and plenty of people chiming in all over social media about the War Eagles being somehow left out when it seemed like the decision was made on the field.

Stranahan (5-5; Class 3A)

No other team in Class 3A, Region 4 had to be feeling better about their chances dramatically increasing of making the postseason due to Miami Central's rule violation and forfeiture of eight games than the Dragons. Reasons being they were a benefactor of one of those forfeits and that they played your typical tough South Florida slate of games. Now you could blame the final two losses to Fort Lauderdale and Cypress Bay as what prevented Stranahan in, but it looks on paper that the Dragons' wins were stronger than Barron Collier, who ended up being the No. 8 seed.

South Sumter (4-6; Class 3A)

South Sumter head coach Ty Lawrence was not a happy camper seeing the Red Raiders left out of the Class 3A playoff picture on Friday evening. Though the Red Raiders lost some games during the regular season, thought process by him and many coaches was playing a tough schedule would also factor in to getting your program into the postseason. When you think about it that way, not many teams in Mid-Central Florida played a tougher slate than South Sumter, with games against playoff-qualifying teams like Bradford, Dunnellon, Eastside, Hawthorne, Niceville and Vanguard. The Red Raiders only beat Eastside out of that group of teams, but came very close versus a few others. Regardless, South Sumter will be watching from home this fall.

Tavares (7-3; Class 3A)

Another team that absolutely had themselves an argument and out of the same region as South Sumter was Tavares. The Bulldogs finished with a solid 7-3 record and even owns a victory over a playoff team in The Villages, a 22-0 win. All three of Tavares' losses came against teams that quailified for the postseason in Bishop Moore, Mount Dora and South Lake. Despite all of that evidence, the Bulldogs got left out of the 3A playoffs and head into the off-season. A really tough ending to what was a good regular season for Tavares.

Dr. Joaquin Garcia (7-3; Class 4A)

Trust us when we say the Bulldogs will have plenty more opportunities in their short history to notch their first-ever playoff berth in program history. They looked to do it in Year 2 and fell just short, but certainly had themselves an argument to make their way in. A very respectable 7-3 record was in need of a win against a team that got into the big dance. Problem was that the Bulldogs losses all came to teams that made the postseason in Dillard and Royal Palm Beach. Also lost to Wellington, who didn't make the playoffs.

Fivay (7-3; Class 4A)

The best season in program history fell just short of getting into the postseason. Fivay finished the regular season with a 52-0 win over Pasco, which the week before the Falcons defeated a 3-7 district champion Hudson team. Falcons also defeated another district champion, Crystal River, giving Fivay two victories against district champs. Losses to much improved North Marion, playoff-bound River Ridge and district champion Zephyrhills was too much to overcome to leapfrog Lecanto.

Nova (7-3; Class 6A)

Nova had to watch the FHSAA bracket reveal and wonder what more the could've done during the regular season to vault them into the playoffs. Two of their three losses came against playoff teams (Fort Pierce Central & South Broward), with just the loss to Pembroke Pines Charter being to a non-postseason qualifier. For all the good the Titans did throughout the season, it ended up not being enough to brings the boys from Davie into the 6A dance.

Ridge Community (7-3; Class 7A)

Richard Tate has done a tremendous job with the Bolts, but somehow it wasn't enough to bring Ridge Community into the 7A playoffs. The Bolts are another team that had three losses, but two of them came up against playoff-bound clubs in Haines City and Lake Wales. A 7-0 loss to Auburndale likely hurt the Bolts' playoff chances the most, but to be sitting on the outside looking in with the kind of season Tate's team just had has to be frustrating.

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