The newest gridiron competition in the Sunshine State is the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Independent Football League, and five Jacksonville-area schools are in the running.
Cornerstone Classical, Englewood, Hilliard, Paxon and Providence are inaugural members of the FHSAA independent series for high school football, announced by the association on July 14 ahead of its August kickoff.
The FHSAA Independent Football League, with the tentatively-titled Division A (for schools with an enrollment of 900 and above) and Division B (899 students and below), will include teams that have opted out of the standard state series but wish to continue football within the association.
The FHSAA is organizing Division A and Division B into North and South regions, with flexible independent schedules and 16-team playoff brackets for each division. The association plans to use the MaxPreps ranking formula to select those playoff teams, eight from the North and eight from the South, for both divisions.
The postseason paths for both Division A and Division B end with finals matching the North and South champions on Dec. 4 at The Villages Charter School. Schools that do not qualify for the Independent Football League playoffs may schedule a postseason bowl game if they choose.
In all, Division A numbers 33 teams, 14 in the North region and 19 in the South, and Division B has 36, 17 in the North and 19 in the South.
Many of the independent league’s programs have traditionally struggled on the gridiron, like Orlando Colonial, which excels in basketball but lists only two FHSAA playoff football appearances all-time (1964 and 1993). But others have fared better, even winning state championships, like Graceville (1988 and 1993) and Hollywood Hills (1973, overcoming Raines in that year’s final).
Of the five Northeast Florida participants, Englewood and Providence competed in standard FHSAA districts last year, with Providence qualifying for the playoffs; Hilliard played in the since-discontinued Rural football division; Paxon played in the Sunshine State Athletic Association for football; and Cornerstone Classical played a partial independent schedule.
The FHSAA Independent Football League adds a second independent option to the calendar in addition to the SSAA, which remains on course for its own schedule in 2026. Area teams listed in SSAA football include Fernandina Beach, Stanton, West Nassau and numerous private schools.
Florida’s football final schedule will be crowded in 2026, despite the FHSAA’s removal of the Rural division and its compression from seven standard classes to six. As it stands, the FHSAA is scheduled for 11 football finals, including the Independent Division A and Division B finals; the six standard finals spanning Classes 1A through 6A; the final of the new Open Division; and the two finals of the Florida Invitational Tournament (FIT) for teams not qualifying for the regular playoffs.
Boyd set to lead Impact football
With fall football practice fewer than two weeks away, two Jacksonville private schools are getting ready for a new routine under new coaches.
Impact Christian hired R.J. Boyd as its next head coach ahead of the start of FHSAA preseason practice, which kicks off on July 27.
He replaces Jerrand Nesmith, who moved across the St. Johns River to take the helm of Riverside in June. Nesmith went 14-9 in his two head coaching seasons at the Arlington school, with two playoff trips.
This is the second high school head coaching season in Jacksonville for Boyd, who coached Eagle’s View in 2024 and finished at 4-7. He previously served on the University Christian coaching staff.
Noted primarily for basketball in its early years, Impact has improved significantly in football from the start of the 2020s, first under Bobby Ramsay and then under Nesmith. The Lions’ last three seasons have finished at 7-4, 6-5 and 8-4, and they have recorded consecutive first-round playoff victories.
With Boyd’s hiring, Jacksonville-area schools have introduced nearly 20 new head coaches ahead of the coming football campaign.
Haynes to lead NFEI football
Former University Christian edge rusher Marquis Haynes is the new next head football coach at North Florida Educational Institute.
Haynes, who will be in his first year of high school head coaching, takes over after the three-year tenure of former Jacksonville Jaguars safety Jamaal Fudge. Haynes announced the hiring on social media, a move subsequently confirmed to the Times-Union by NFEI athletic director Randy Randall.
Fudge posted a cumulative win-loss record of 9-20, a tenure noted for a substantial improvement in the 2025 fall season from 1-7 to 6-5. NFEI surpassed its previous season high for victories, qualifying for the Class 1A playoffs before losing to Tallahassee Maclay.
Haynes, a former University Christian standout edge rusher who won an FHSAA championship in 2012, twice earned All-SEC recognition at Ole Miss and went on to play seven NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers. In 73 NFL games, he recorded 104 tackles, 14 sacks and four fumble recoveries.
For 2026 and 2027, the FHSAA assigned NFEI to District 5-1A alongside Impact Christian, Trinity Christian and University Christian.
NFEI is scheduled to begin its 2026 season with an Aug. 14 kickoff classic against Father Lopez of Daytona Beach.
Spartans’ Harris named All-American
Before Brayden Harris begins his college baseball journey at Florida State, there’s one more major award for the St. Johns Country Day pitching ace.
Harris earned a selection to the Perfect Game High School All-American first team, joining a collection of elite baseball prospects from all across the nation.
Four Florida players in all made the first team, including South Walton pitcher Coleman Borthwick, Gulliver Prep infielder Jacob Lombard and Parkland Douglas pitcher Gio Rojas.
Harris led Florida in strikeouts for the second consecutive year with 165, finishing among Florida’s all-time leaders with 526 career varsity strikeouts in five seasons. He batted .400 with seven home runs this season, and posted a 12-2 record and a 1.07 ERA.
Vu, Boree land national honors
Two Jacksonville-area stars collected top honors from USA Lacrosse Magazine for the South Region, which includes the southeastern quadrant of the United States.
Ponte Vedra’s Baylor Vu was named South Region midfielder of the year following the Sharks’ run to the FHSAA Class 2A championship, the second in school history. The Times-Union’s All-First Coast player of the year, he scored 61 goals and 14 assists after his recovery from a serious knee injury.
Bolles senior FOGO Greer Boree also received South Region specialist of the year. The Yale signee completed his Bulldogs career with 1,298 face-off wins, a record for Florida boys lacrosse.
Around the area
Beachside defender Kate Bachman committed to Samford women’s soccer. … Bishop Snyder outfielder Tristan Silver committed to Barry baseball. … Clay catcher J.C. Rosette committed to Gulf Coast State College baseball. … Episcopal attack Ann Commander committed to Washington & Lee women’s lacrosse. … Ribault forward Zion Hall committed to Livingstone men’s basketball. … Former First Coast catcher Hunter Carns announced his transfer to Georgia baseball from Florida State. … Former West Nassau catcher Sydney English committed to Penn State softball from Santa Fe College, and former West Nassau infielder Reese Green announced her transfer to Campbell softball from North Florida. … Raines named Jovan Tribune boys basketball coach and Michael Nesmith girls basketball coach, while former athletic director and two-time state champion coach Douglas White will serve as head of basketball operations. … Bolles named Dan Dearing director of track and field, returning to the program where he won numerous championships from 2004 to 2019. … Beachside named Tim Weisman head girls basketball coach. … Clay named Rodney Keller head girls weightlifting coach. … Bolles boys lacrosse coach Tom West is taking on an additional role as coach of the U-19 men’s lacrosse team for the United States Virgin Islands. … Former Menendez coach Anthony Rivers was named the inaugural head football coach at Nova Lakes, a new high school in Osceola County. … Former Fleming Island wrestler Chris Fox was inducted into the AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame. … Perfect Game rated Trinity Christian No. 17 in its final national high school top 50 for baseball.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: FHSAA’s new independent football league to field 5 Jacksonville teams
Reporting by Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Clayton Freeman, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
