FHSAA releases first 2022 football rankings: Where do Northeast Florida teams rank?
It's one more reason to circle Oct. 14 on the football calendar.
District rivals University Christian and Trinity Christian, as well as Bradford, held top-10 spots when the Florida High School Athletic Association released its first set of high school football rankings on Tuesday afternoon, the first step toward building the bracket for the new Metro/Suburban playoffs this November.
University Christian ranked third overall among the state's teams, while two-time defending champion Trinity Christian placed fifth and Bradford stood 10th in the statewide list. Chaminade-Madonna and Miami Central placed first and second in Florida.
University Christian and Trinity Christian face off on Oct. 14, potentially with the District 1-1M championship at stake.
Also leading in their respective regions are undefeated Bishop Kenny in Region 1-2M, which also includes the likes of Bolles, Jackson, Raines and White, as well as Union County in Region 3-1R.
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The FHSAA plans to release its rankings, derived from a variant of the MaxPreps formula, weekly through the close of the regular season. This formula, already in use for volleyball, basketball, soccer and other team sports, replaces the RPI system that used in the 2019 and 2021 seasons to allocate playoff berths.
Under this year's format, district champions will qualify automatically for the postseason, and the FHSAA will use the rankings to select at-large qualifiers — four per region per class in the 2M, 3M, 4M, 2S, 3S and 4S categories, and two per region per class in the 1M and 1S classes. In the rural 1R class, the six top-ranked teams in each region advance to the postseason.
See the full rankings for Northeast Florida teams.
Inside the numbers: 5 quick observations from the first FHSAA football rankings
Stats leaderboard: Northeast Florida high school football statistical leaders after Week 5
DISTRICT 1-4M
Mandarin 2.370
Sandalwood -2.509
Atlantic Coast -14.536
OTHER REGION 1-4M CONTENDERS
Winter Park 12.626
Lake Brantley 11.625
Hagerty 10.187
Lake Mary 9.726
Sanford Seminole 8.794
Apopka 4.876
Lake Nona 4.110
Orlando Boone 3.018
DISTRICT 1-3M
First Coast 5.664
Fletcher 2.748
Englewood 2.347
Parker -5.434
OTHER REGION 1-3M CONTENDERS
Edgewater 16.865
Tampa Bay Tech 12.986
Oviedo 11.090
Seffner Armwood 9.974
Winter Garden Horizon 9.688
Tampa Wharton 7.186
Orlando Jones 7.137
Lyman 3.773
DISTRICT 1-2M
Raines 9.964
Jackson 7.493
Ribault -4.321
DISTRICT 2-2M
Bishop Kenny 12.395
Episcopal 8.561
Bolles 4.338
Wolfson 0.333
DISTRICT 3-2M
White 9.063
Riverside -2.021
Westside -8.787
OTHER REGION 1-2M CONTENDERS
Bishop Moore 0.679
DISTRICT 1-1M
University Christian 17.033
Trinity Christian 16.992
Providence 1.382
North Florida Educational -1.904
Christ's Church -5.504
OTHER REGION 1-1M CONTENDERS
Orlando First Academy 9.688
Orlando Christian Prep -0.407
Winter Garden Foundation Academy -0.981
DISTRICT 3-4S
Gainesville Buchholz 15.149
Bartram Trail 14.241
Creekside 8.693
Fleming Island 3.988
Oakleaf 1.523
DISTRICT 4-4S
Ponte Vedra 4.285
Flagler Palm Coast 4.217
Nease -4.846
OTHER REGION 1-4S CONTENDERS
Niceville 12.682
Lynn Haven Mosley 8.678
Pace 8.649
Navarre 6.578
DISTRICT 3-3S
Columbia 5.490
Middleburg -1.303
Orange Park -7.000
Ridgeview -9.402
DISTRICT 4-3S
St. Augustine -1.266
Matanzas -2.563
Menendez -5.365
Clay -5.554
Gainesville -13.274
OTHER REGION 1-3S CONTENDERS
Pensacola Pine Forest 12.401
Tallahassee Lincoln 4.185
Escambia 3.839
Choctawhatchee 0.736
Tallahassee Rickards -1.181
DISTRICT 4-2S
Wakulla 9.324
Taylor County 3.974
Suwannee 1.271
OTHER REGION 1-2S CONTENDERS
Florida High 13.852
Walton 11.571
Pensacola Catholic 11.541
Panama City Bay 9.702
South Walton 6.501
West Florida 4.239
DISTRICT 5-2S
Baldwin 10.330
Baker County 7.736
Yulee 3.477
Fernandina Beach -0.916
West Nassau -2.788
DISTRICT 6-2S
Bradford 15.264
Tocoi Creek 7.364
Palatka 6.049
Keystone Heights -5.108
OTHER REGION 2-2S CONTENDERS
North Marion 6.234
Gainesville Eastside 5.026
DISTRICT 3-1S
Ocala Trinity Catholic 3.899
P.K. Yonge -5.054
St. Joseph -8.597
OTHER REGION 2-1S CONTENDERS
Melbourne Holy Trinity -3.005
Father Lopez -4.958
REGION 3-1R
Union County 10.197
Mayo Lafayette 6.490
Hilliard 4.083
Branford 2.997
Madison County 2.996
Fort White -1.288
Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX, and sign up for the First Coast Varsity newsletter at https://profile.jacksonville.com/newsletters/first-coast-varsity/.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: FHSAA football rankings: Northeast Florida rankings after 2022 Week 5
