TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – St. Thomas Aquinas football has won seven straight state titles. Chaminade-Madonna has won seven in the last nine years. Dominant streaks like that are a reason many in Florida felt a way to level the playing field was long overdue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it and rehearsing it and vetting it for about two years now,\u201d said Ricky Bell, who is on the Board of Directors and is also the head football coach at Leon High School. \u201cNow it\u2019ll be a reality this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reality is an Open Division, which the Florida High School Athletic Association\u2019s Board of Directors voted to pass unanimously on Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe it does get us closer to that, maybe it creates a competitive style we all want, or it\u2019s just a unique opportunity for eight teams to match up and play,\u201d said Florida High head football coach Jarrod Hickman. \u201cWe\u2019ll see how that goes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo have the top teams face off, there\u2019s a lot of interesting scenarios,\u201d added Mike Posey, the Athletic Director and head baseball coach at North Florida Christian. \u201cI know some coaches will probably be against it, some for it, but it\u2019ll be interesting to see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n The top eight teams according the MaxPreps rankings, on the Maxpreps website, regardless of classification, separate into the Open Division at the end of the regular season, playing for their own state title.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a coach inside of it, you\u2019re torn a little bit about that,\u201d said Hickman.<\/p>\n Hickman\u2019s Seminoles play in Class 2A, the same division Chaminade-Madonna is in, and with the Lions potentially removed from the 2A playoffs, that would open the door for others to compete.<\/p>\n \u201cMatching up with a big school in a fun conversation is good, but I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s what is best for everybody and I think we\u2019ll all figure that out this year.\u201d<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not just football impacted.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if we would have been the overall champion, but we were dominantly the best team in 5A.\u201d<\/p>\n Girls volleyball one of ten sports outside of football that will also have the Open Division. Chiles has won back-to-back Class 5A state titles, but head coach Kaitlin Jahn is certain it\u2019s not what\u2019s best for volleyball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was intended to help schools outside of those metro areas, a place like Tallahassee of Pensacola, coaches have been complaining and board members have noticed that those schools don\u2019t get a shot at a state championship,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are here to say we can compete with those schools.\u201d<\/p>\n And if Chiles were to make the top eight?<\/p>\n \u201cYour next 7A state champion or 3A state champion, are they really a state champion?\u201d she asked. \u201cWe don\u2019t know, because the best teams in that division have been taken out of the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside of football, the Open Division teams are decided by the FHSAA Power Rankings by Maxpreps, which are on the FHSAA\u2019s website. The top eight teams in all other sports will be decided after district tournaments. <\/p>\n All sports will utilize a pool play system in the Open Division. Teams in the top eight would compete in two pools of four teams each.<\/p>\n Pool A will include seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8, while Pool B will include seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7. Each team will be guaranteed at least one home contest in pool play. At the conclusion of pool play, the top two teams from each pool will advance to the State Finals host site for a single-elimination tournament to determine a state champion.<\/p>\n Travel is another worry amongst coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cThe travel budget for high school sports cannot accommodate that,\u201d said Jahn. \u201cYou could be playing two games, back to back weeks, Tallahassee to Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an administrative nightmare if you\u2019re traveling all over the state three or four weeks in a row,\u201d added Posey. \u201cIf you had a school that was that was football, volleyball, and baseball, that\u2019d be a real budget buster.\u201d<\/p>\n But the reality? The Open Division is here.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, coach speak, you have to worry about the first ten, and go from there,\u201d said Hickman.<\/p>\n Football and volleyball will be the first sports to test the Open Division in the fall.<\/p>\n To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> <\/a>and X<\/a> (Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here<\/a>. Please include the article\u2019s headline in your message.<\/p>\n Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 WCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n