With district play wrapping up across the city last Friday, the playoffs have begun taking shape for high school football in Orlando.
The high school football season is almost over. Just one week remains before the season ends and the Playoffs begin. Many districts completed play Friday night and are set for the postseason to begin.
There are still a few things to sort out before the road to the Citrus Bowl begins and the high school football season reaches its conclusion. There are still teams fighting to make the Playoffs and matchup to watch out for as the bracket gets set for next week’s beginning of the playoffs.
Who is in and who is out? Who needs to do more?
Here is a district-by-district run down of the area teams and where they stand entering the final week of the season.
District 8A-2
One of the more competitive and packed districts in all the state has a much clearer picture entering its final week of play.
Lake Brantley has won the packed district, completing an undefeated mark with a 42-21 win at Winter Springs last week. The Patriots play the Bishop Moore Hornets in a big clash of area powers in their finale at home.
Jared Bernhardt has established himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the region with another stellar performance last week — 114 rushing yards on five carries plus a kick return touchdown.
Bernhardt should be mentioned with Woody Barrett for top quarterback in the region. His emergence this season has been a big part of Lake Brantley’s sudden emergence.
For the district though, Lake Brantley is in. University (Orange City) took the second spot with Oviedo failing earlier in the year to defeat the two teams ahead of them. The season turned out to be a disappointing one for Seminole. And the high-powered Lake Mary offense could not muster enough points or steal wins agains the power teams in the district.
The Patriots will face Sandalwood High in two weeks at Lake Brantley.
District 8A-3 & 8A-4
Timber Creek finished a perfect season in 8A-3 with a 33-14 win over Orlando University High School on Friday. Boone finished as the district runner up.
They will play some local powers in their regional matchups in the Playoffs with Boone traveling to West Orange and Timber Creek hosting Apopka.
West Orange is likely the best team in the Orlando metropolitan area behind the strong dual-threat quarterback Woody Barrett. The Warriors defeated both district powers in Apopka and Wekiva, staving off an upset attempt from the Mustangs last week. This is the first back-to-back district championships for West Orange in program history.
Apopka, the defending 8A state champions, did not clinch their spot in the playoffs until that Wekiva loss. The Blue Darters defeated the Mustangs a few weeks ago to put their destiny in their own hands.
Apopka cruised to a 49-14 win over Evans, the bottom feeder in this four-team district, to officially clinch a spot in the playoffs.
Should West Orange and Apopka win this week, as expected, it would set another huge matchup between the two schools.
District 8A-5
Dr. Phillips did not have the perfect regular season the team has been accustomed to for the last few years, but it once again finished with a perfect record in district play.
The Panthers 8A-5 with a 42-3 win over Cypress Creek for their 33rd consecutive district win. Dr. Phillips had a relatively easy time in the district.
What was not easy was for Oak Ridge. The Pioneers defeated Olympia last week to clinch the runner-up spot 32-16 behind Chris Tooley’s three-interception game.
Oak Ridge made the playoffs for the third straight season.
Dr. Phillips will host Steinbrenner High School while Oak Ridge will travel to Manatee.
District 7A-4
The district came down to one game last Friday when Hagerty faced Edgewater. The Huskies won 35-21 over the Eagles to win their first district title in school history.
Gabriel Diaz had 244 yards on 23 carries for Hagerty in the big win to get the home playoff game.
Hagerty will face Bartram Trail High School while Edgewater heads to F.W. Buchholz High School in the Playoffs.
District 7A-5
Lake Nona High School fell short of the playoffs thanks to Harmony’s 35-34 win over last place Libertyville.
District 5A-13
Bishop Moore won its district easily, defeating Eustis 56-0 to wrap up play. No team in the district finished with a record better than .500. The Hornets won their district games by 282 total points — 35.3 points.
The Hornets though have challenged themselves out of district and will have one more in Lake Brantley before the playoffs start.
The Hornets will play Palm Bay Magnet School.
District 4A-5
Lake Highland Prep went winless last year and took a major step forward this year in going 6-3 this year. All three of those losses came in district play and they got just one win in the district, against bottom feeder Atlantic.
That is not enough to get back to the postseason. And even though the Highlanders lost to Jones, Jones too could not muster enough to make the postseason.
Jones lost 24-21 to Lake Highland on Friday to secure third place in the district. But the Tigers did not do enough to get past Astronaut, they lost to them 15-14 on Oct. 2. That sealed their fate. One point is all that kept Jones from reaching the playoffs.
District 3A-3
Trinity Prep secured a trip to the playoffs a few weeks ago. However without starting quarterback Jared Herron, Trinity failed to win the district, losing to Ocala Trinity Catholic on Friday 48-14.
The Saints will still make the playoffs, but the prospects look bleak if Herron remains out. They were bleak in the competition to win the district this week.
Now Trinity will have to travel to play Tampa Catholic High School.
