High School Football Playoff Preview

As football season comes to a close, all teams are looking forward to one thing: the playoffs. Florida high schools from around the state have been preparing for this the entire season, and the games start Friday.

Football Matchups

Fort White vs. Madison

Fort White is currently sitting at 6 and 4 overall while Madison is sitting at 3 and 6.

Wildwood vs. Williston

Wildwood is sitting at 7 and 2 overall while Williston is at 10 and 0.

Union County vs. Hawthorn

Union County is sitting with 6 and 2 overall while Hawthorn is at 7 and 3.

P.K. Yonge vs. Holy Trinity (will be held on Nov. 18th)

P.K. Yonge is currently sitting with 3 and 7 overall while Holy Trinity is at 6 and 4.

Crescent City vs. Bradford

Crescent City is currently 4 and 6 overall while Bradford is 9 and 1.

North Marion vs. Eastside

North Marion is currently 7 and 3 overall while Eastside sits with 7 and 2.

Pace vs. Buchholz

With Hurricane Nicole making its way through Florida, the Pace vs. Buchholz game has been moved from Thursday to Friday. The two teams are set to compete in Newberry.

Buchholz is currently sitting at 7 and 2 while Pace is sitting at 7 and 3.

Within the past couple of weeks, Buchholz has given up a couple of points. When asked what has changed, head coach Mark Whittemore said, “Anytime you give up points, it’s always a concern.” He says that the team tends to think of themselves as a “gritty defensive bunch.”

“We’ve just had a couple bumps in the road here, we’re fixing things this week obviously as we head into the play-offs,” said Whittemore.

Whittemore also commented about Pace High School, saying they are a “offensively run dominant team.”

“We need to make sure that we are gap sound and we’re doing what we need to do to defense them correctly,” said Whittemore.

Newberry vs. Chiefland

Newberry has a lot of new talent on their team. Even as a team made up of predominately younger players, head coach Edward Johnson states that he always knew they would make it to the playoffs.

“A lot of outsiders thought we weren’t, but I knew we had some special talent even though we’re young, these kids can play and they’re hungry to get to the play-offs, but also to chase the ring.”

When asked about Chiefland’s Offense and Defense, Johnson said, “offensively they’re going to try and run it down your throat.”

“Defensively, we’re still trying to figure that out.” “I think they’ll ty to play us a little differently, it looks like they like to play a lot of man-to-man coverage, fly infield  gaps and tackle. They’re a physical team.”

Lincoln vs. Columbia

Colombia’s head coach Demetric Johnson said he thinks his team has made some major improvements.

“We’ve made some drastic improvements from the first part of the season. We kind of started off a little rocky over at Buchholz the first opening night. “

When asked about Lincoln, Johnson said they have a very good defense. He also said their starting quarterback got hurt earlier on, but Johnson does not know the extent of it.