The first tri-county football tournaments start this week. Here’s what you need to know
The brackets are set. The tri-county high school football championships are here. Across the next month, the best in South Florida, the most talent-rich area in the entire country, will be crowned.
The six postseason tournaments begin Thursday before ramping up to full speed Friday with 21 games being played across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Teams across the three counties this year were split into three divisions for schools typically Class 8A, Class 7A and Classes 6A-1A. In each division, 16 teams make the playoffs, split across two brackets. The “Gold Championships” feature the two top-ranked teams from each county plus two at-large teams and the “Silver Championships” feature the next two teams from each county plus two more at-large berths.
The brackets are based on rankings put together by a panel of media members across the Miami metropolitan area. Voters in the weekly poll are Miami Herald sports reporter David Wilson, Sun-Sentinel high school sports beat writer Adam Lichtenstein, The Palm Beach Post sports content editor Phillip Suitts, longtime Florida high school sports guru Larry Blustein, and Herald contributors Bill Daley and Dave Brousseau. Daley and Brousseau are co-chairmen of the rankings committee.
Nearly every public school from across the three counties was eligible, with the exceptions of Palmetto, Homestead, Miami Central, Northwestern and Edison, all of whom decided to opt into the Florida High School Athletic Association’s state series, and a handful of other independents from Miami-Dade County. Most private-school powerhouses — including reigning state champions St. Thomas Aquinas, Chaminade-Madonna and Champagnat Catholic — are not participating, instead playing for FHSAA state titles.
The top four seeds in each bracket host home games this week and the higher-seeded first-round winners will host semifinals next week. Championship games will take place Dec. 21 and 22 at a site to be announced. If a team is affected by COVID-19, it will forfeit and the opponent will move on to the next round.
Losers from the first round of games will advance into a consolation bracket with games tentatively scheduled for Dec. 10 and 17.
All first-round games are set for 7 p.m. on Friday, unless otherwise noted.
Class 8A
Gold
No. 8 Stoneman Douglas at No. 1 Columbus
No. 7 Park Vista at No. 2 Western
No. 6 Jupiter at No. 3 Deerfield Beach
No. 5 Monarch at No. 4 South Dade (at Harris Field Park)
Silver
No. 8 Wellington at No. 1 Palm Beach Gardens (6 p.m.)
No. 7 Coral Springs at No. 2 Boca Raton (6 p.m.)
No. 6 Flanagan at No. 3 Coral Gables (3:30 p.m. at Tropical Park)
No. 5 Miami at No. 4 Coral Glades
Class 7A
Gold
No. 8 North Miami at No. 1 Atlantic (6 p.m.)
No. 7 American at No. 2 Plantation (at PAL Football Stadium Complex)
No. 6 Seminole Ridge at No. 3 Dwyer (6 p.m.)
No. 5 South Plantation at No. 4 Miramar
Silver
No. 8 Miami Beach at No. 1 Blanche Ely
No. 7 Hialeah at No. 2 Everglades
No. 6 Olympic Heights at No. 3 South Broward
No. 5 Fort Lauderdale at No. 4 Royal Palm Beach (6 p.m.)
Classes 6A-1A
Gold
No. 8 Stranahan at No. 1 Killian (Saturday, 6 p.m. at Traz Powell Stadium)
No. 7 Pahokee at No. 2 Dillard
No. 6 Booker T. Washington at No. 3 Glades Central (6 p.m.)
No. 5 Carol City at No. 4 North Miami Beach (at Traz Powell Stadium)
Silver
No. 8 Coral Springs Charter at No. 1 Hallandale
No. 7 Suncoast at No. 2 Coconut Creek
No. 6 Boynton Beach at No. 3 Miami Springs (Saturday, 2 p.m. at Traz Powell Stadium)
No. 5 South Miami at No. 4 Miami Norland (Thursday, 7 p.m. at Traz Powell Stadium)
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 1:24 PM.
