The layout of South Florida high school football won't look too different after all.

A month after it appeared that some of Miami-Dade County and Broward County powerhouses would be shuffled around, the Florida High School Athletic Association released a much different district realignment plan Friday.

After teams appealed the alignment proposed in mid-December, the final version had large schools in Dade and Broward remaining status quo for the most part.

Because of a petition by the Greater Miami Athletic Conference, 29 of Dade's 35 public schools will play football for the next two seasons in Class 6A. That includes Miami Northwestern, which was set to move to Class 5A in the FHSAA's earlier plan. The other six teams will play in two districts in Class 3A. Dade won't have any teams in classes 5A and 4A.

The move could have set up a showdown with Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas that would have pit the past two consensus national champions in the second round of the playoffs.

Although some new potential rivalries the original plan might have created -- such as Miami Booker T. Washington-Belle Glade Glades Central or Miami Central-Fort Lauderdale Dillard -- won't happen, the appealed version should quell the economic concerns of many athletic directors.

FINANCIAL RELIEF

''I have to thank the FHSAA for honoring our request,'' GMAC executive secretary Cheryl Golden said. ``Being able to keep most of our teams together will save a lot on transportation money and allow us to schedule better with the limited amount of facilities available to us.''

The state will retain its 16-district format in classes 6A-3A and eight districts in classes 2A-1B, with the top two teams in each district advancing to the playoffs. The plan will remain in effect for the next two seasons.

A few longtime rivalries will remain intact, which also should help in a time of economic struggles.

Central, which was scheduled to move down to Class 4A, will stay in the same district as Northwestern. Carol City, American, Hialeah-Miami Lakes, Miami Beach, Homestead and Miami Beach will not move out of 6A, as originally planned.

Miramar will move up one district to 10-6A but will remain nearby, where it could play postseason games against Cypress Bay, Everglades or a number of other Broward rivals.

Some Dade and Broward teams, however, will be on the move:

• Booker T. and Hallandale will try to continue their recent rivalry in Class 3A. Booker T. will move into District 16-3A with Edison, Belen, Key West and Mater Academy. Hallandale moves to a district with Fort Lauderdale Archbishop McCarthy, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton Olympic Heights and Pembroke Pines Charter.

• Miami Norland, Miami Jackson and first-year varsity programs Westland Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens will make up District 15-3A.

Broward also had few changes in the large classifications:

• Boyd Anderson will move into a three-team district with inner-city rivals Dillard and Pompano Beach Blanche Ely. Northeast moved up to Class 6A, where it will move into a district with Deerfield Beach, Douglas and Taravella. Hollywood Hills and Stranahan will move down to Class 4A, where they will be the only South Florida teams.

The biggest shakeup came in Class 2B, where the FHSAA placed 57 schools in what should become one of the toughest classifications. The south region will feature two nine-team districts packed with some of the state's best small-school teams.

SHOWDOWNS AHEAD

Miami Monsignor Pace, Miami Gulliver Prep and Miami Archbishop Carroll, each of which has made at least one appearance in a state semifinal in the past two seasons, will play in the same district. The neighboring district will include defending state champion Pahokee and two of Broward's rising programs -- North Broward Prep and University School, two teams that finished 10-0 in the regular season in 2008.

The rest of the field in Class 2B includes Jacksonville Bolles, which has won nine state titles (more than any other Florida school since the playoff format was introduced in 1963).

Madison County, a state champion in 2007, also will move down from Class 2A.

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