High school football could look a little different in Florida next season.
During a meeting of the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Athletic Director Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday, the group endorsed a handful of proposals that would affect the sport beginning this fall.
American Heritage qualified for the 2017 playoffs as the No. 4 seed in its Class 3A region. Next season, there could be six playoff qualifiers per region. (Andres Leiva/Palm Beach Post)
The first would add two more teams from each region to the state playoffs for Classes 1A-4A.
Last season – the first under the FHSAA’s revamped playoff system – four teams per region qualified for the postseason based on points.
This year, six teams would qualify, with the top two seeds earning byes into the second round.
The changes were made in an effort to allow more teams to qualify for the playoffs, and also give the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds the opportunity to play a home game, thereby increasing revenue for their schools.
The FHSAA’s Board of Directors will vote to implement the change at its Jan. 29 meeting. If approved, the rule will take effect beginning this fall.
ADAC voted on a handful of other football-related proposals Wednesday. They are:
1. To clearly define the FHSAA’s procedures for postponed and interrupted games. These procedures are expected to be modified before August in order to be enforced for the 2018 season.
2. To increase points for a loss. Starting this fall, 35 points will be awarded for losing to a Category 1 team (previously 30). The five-point increase also applies for losses to Category 2 (30), 3 (25) and 4 (20) teams.
Category 1 teams are those that won 80 percent or more of their games; Category 2 teams won at least 60 percent of their games but no more than 79 percent; Category 3 teams won at least 40 percent of their games but more than 59 percent; and Category 4 teams won less than 39 percent of their games.
3. To approve a 40-second play clock pending approval by the National Federation of State High School Associations at the NFHS Football Rules Committee meeting next week in Indianapolis.