{"id":451312,"date":"2026-11-09T01:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T01:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/451312\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T01:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T01:34:16","slug":"high-school-football-playoff-matchups-revealed-whos-in-from-sw-florida-and-whos-playing-whom-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/451312\/","title":{"rendered":"High school football playoff matchups revealed: Who\u2019s in from SW Florida and who\u2019s playing whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maria<\/a>GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

The road to a state championship is officially underway for teams across the Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n

The Florida High School Athletic Association released its 2026 high school football playoff brackets Friday, Nov. 6, revealing which Southwest Florida programs will continue their seasons and who stands in their way.<\/p>\n

Four local teams enter the postseason as district champions: Bishop Verot, Naples, Cape Coral and St. John Neumann.<\/p>\n

From familiar rivalries to challenging first-round matchups, here\u2019s how the postseason is shaping up across Southwest Florida.<\/p>\n

Southwest Florida\u2019s first-round playoff matchups<\/p>\n

The following matchups and seedings are based on the FHSAA\u2019s official postseason bracket release.<\/p>\n

CLASS 1A – REGION 3<\/p>\n

No. 8 First Baptist Academy at No. 1 Carrollwood<\/p>\n

No. 5 Community School of Naples at No. 4 St. Petersburg<\/p>\n

No. 6 Victory Christian at No. 3 St. John Neumann<\/p>\n

CLASS 3A – REGION 4<\/p>\n

No. 7 Key West at No. 2 Bishop Verot<\/p>\n

CLASS 4A – REGION 3<\/p>\n

No. 8 Gulf Coast at No. 1 Port Charlotte<\/p>\n

No. 5 Clearwater at No. 4 Dunbar<\/p>\n

No. 7 Estero at No. 2 Tampa Jesuit<\/p>\n

No. 6 South Fort Myers at No. 3 Naples<\/p>\n

CLASS 5A – REGION 3<\/p>\n

No. 8 Cape Coral at No. 1 Armwood<\/p>\n

The first round of the FHSAA high school football playoffs for Classes 1A – 6A begins Friday, Nov. 13.<\/p>\n

INDEPENDENT – SOUTH A<\/p>\n

No. 8 Oasis at No. 1 Fort Lauderdale<\/p>\n

No. 7 Ida Baker at No. 2 Cooper City<\/p>\n

INDEPENDENT – SOUTH B <\/p>\n

Evangelical Christian School at Canterbury<\/p>\n

Independent playoff games begin Thursday, Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

Playoff storylines to watchPort Charlotte looks to build on its rivalry momentum<\/p>\n

The Pirates enter the Class 4A postseason as the region\u2019s No. 1 seed after closing the regular season with a commanding 42-6 victory over Charlotte in the Peace River Rivalry.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Logan Flaherty and playmaker Elias Pearl have helped fuel Port Charlotte\u2019s explosive offense, while the Pirates\u2019 defense and special teams have consistently made an impact.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll open the playoffs against Gulf Coast, led by running back Gio Marenco.<\/p>\n

Naples and South Fort Myers renew their postseason rivalry<\/p>\n

One of the most intriguing first-round matchups features two familiar opponents.<\/p>\n

Third-seeded Naples will host sixth-seeded South Fort Myers in a rematch of last year\u2019s playoff opener.<\/p>\n

The Wolfpack defeated Naples during the 2025 regular season before the Golden Eagles returned the favor in the postseason.<\/p>\n

South Fort Myers also welcomes back quarterback Jaydon Henderson, who returned for the regular-season finale after missing six games with a hand injury.<\/p>\n

Bishop Verot\u2019s defense could be the difference<\/p>\n

The Vikings enter the Class 3A playoffs as the No. 2 seed in Region 4 after allowing just 89 points all season and recording four shutouts.<\/p>\n

Bishop Verot will host Key West in the opening round, looking to carry that defensive dominance into the postseason.<\/p>\n

Local programs face challenging road tests<\/p>\n

Several Southwest Florida teams will need to deliver strong performances away from home to keep their seasons alive.<\/p>\n

Cape Coral, despite winning its district championship, draws top-seeded Armwood, which enters the playoffs 9-1.<\/p>\n

Estero travels to Tampa Jesuit with record-setting quarterback Maddox Stewart leading the Wildcats\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Oasis and Ida Baker begin their independent playoff campaigns on the road. For Ida Baker, it\u2019s the Bulldogs\u2019 first postseason appearance since 2020.<\/p>\n

As the postseason unfolds, count on Gulf Coast News for the latest scores, highlights and continuing coverage of high school football across the Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n

All playoff matchups and seedings are attributed to the Florida High School Athletic Association\u2019s Nov. 6, 2026, bracket release.<\/p>\n

DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The road to a state championship is officially underway for teams across the Gulf Coast.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[174786,10051,209,211,210,174789,17237,65412,10124,174785,56,897,536,1745,31779,2559,213,5387,7974,1093,10048,174788,14483,24630,2073,1100,10039,1521,22786,174787],"class_list":["post-451312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-armwood","tag-bishop-verot","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-class-1a","tag-defense","tag-district-champions","tag-estero","tag-fhsaa-playoffs","tag-florida-football","tag-fort-myers","tag-gulf-coast","tag-high-school-football","tag-ida-baker","tag-key-west","tag-late-news","tag-naples","tag-no","tag-nov","tag-oasis","tag-playoff-matchups","tag-port-charlotte","tag-postseason","tag-region","tag-season","tag-south-fort-myers","tag-southwest-florida","tag-st-john-neumann","tag-tampa-jesuit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}