The Orange County Public Schools district released the 2026 football schedules for all 23 of its participating high schools on Wednesday, and there are quite a few interesting matchups on the horizon.
The game that jumps off the list is Jones High traveling to Rancho Santa Margarita, California, to take on a Santa Margarita High team that finished No. 1 in some 2025 national polls.
Other teams have beefed up the strength of schedule.
West Orange has built what looks to be the most difficult schedule among OCPS teams. The Warriors open with Sanford Seminole and added games against Lake Mary, Edgewater, Dr. Phillips, South Lake and Jones.
Windermere, which went 20-0 playing within the OCPS Independent Division the past two seasons, has upgraded its schedule. The Wolverines will face tough opponents in Winter Park, Edgewater, St. Cloud and Dr. Phillips.
Edgewater has rescheduled The First Academy, which beat the Eagles in 2024, and added Lake Nona and historical rival Evans.
Evans also added Lake Nona, Boone, Winter Park, St. Augustine, South Lake and Dr. Phillips.
2026 football schedules for all 23 OCPS schools
Jones head coach Elijah Williams said traveling to face Santa Margarita will be a tremendous challenge, but it’s not just a football trip for his players.
“We used to travel every year out of state, we just haven’t the past two years. This is an experience for our kids. A lot of them have never even been on an airplane before or out of the state,” Williams said. “We have an opportunity to play them so we took it. They won state last year in California and beat teams like Mater Dei and St. John Bosco.”
It’s also about learning and exposure. The Jones players will tour several university campuses in Southern California and will also visit the California African American Museum in Los Angeles, the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade in San Diego and the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park in the San Joaquin Valley.
“We set up some tours while we’re there, and honestly if some of that wasn’t available, we wouldn’t be going,” Williams said. “They’re excited. One of the biggest things and why we chose this trip is because they have the California African American Museum. We went to the one in D.C. a few years ago and it was awesome.”
Jones has traveled out of state for games in the Washington, D.C., area, Texas twice and Georgia during the past eight years. Williams has been at Jones since 2016.
“Anytime we take a trip like this there’s always going to an educational purpose to it,” Williams said.
He estimates that this trip will cost about $35,000, with airfare taking up about $18,000 of that expense. But he said with the support system in place at Jones, funding has never been a problem.
“Normally for a high school, it would be tough, but at Jones High School, our community support and our alumni support. … it is unheard of,” Williams said. “So these trips are actually easy to fund.”
They are also relatively easy to plan after so many long trips.
“We’ve kind of got it down to a T, now,” Williams said. “We have to arrange the flights and the hotels and all of the buses for transportation, the places to practice, where to eat, all of that stuff. But most of that is almost already taken care of.”
The hotels need one certain amenity.
“We try to find the best hotels with the best prices with free breakfast,” Williams said with laugh.
Jones starts off the year with a tough challenge in its preseason Kickoff Classic game, traveling to Miami Central a week before opening the regular season in California.
West Orange coach Geno Thompson has compiled what will likely make up the most difficult football schedule among all Orange County Public Schools this upcoming season. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
West Orange will face two teams that made appearances in 2025 state championship games n 7A state champ Lake Mary and Jones, the 4A runner-up. Also, Dr. Phillips was a 7A region finalist, South Lake made a 6A region final, Edgewater was a 5A region finalist and Seminole is a perennial playoff contender.
“It’s challenging. Obviously when you get to play good, quality opponents like we have on the schedule, it’s only gonna make us better,” West Orange coach Geno Thompson said. “It’s a lot different than the teams we played last year. Last year we had a lot of games that ended, honestly, at halftime, so these are gonna be full four-quarter games for sure.”
Thompson has the luxury of returning a quarterback who is already a two-year starter in AJ Chung. That gives him confidence to be able to compete.
“When you have a quarterback you have a chance, and I strongly believe we have the best quarterback in the state,” Thompson said. “He’s a phenomenal person, a phenomenal leader and he’s gonna get us to wear we need to go.
“We’re young and we’re going to be relying on our 2028 class.”
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.