LAKELAND — Football practice started on Monday, classes begin next week, Frostproof plays its Kickoff Classic in less than two weeks on Aug. 7, while everyone else will play on Aug. 13 or 14, the regular season begins the following week then away we go.
Every year there are changes of a varying degree beyond simply new players, from new rules to new coaches. Some changes are just for Polk teams and others affect all teams from around the state.
Here’s what is new for high school football in 2026.
3 Polk teams have new head coaches
Including Corey Boatman’s recent promotion to head coach at Winter Haven to replace Carl White, three Polk County schools have new head football coaches.
Ali Cannon took over in the spring at Ridge Community for Richard Tate, who retired after a long career, including 26 years as a head coach at four Polk County schools, Kathleen, Ridge Community, George Jenkins and Bartow.
Norris Kennedy, a former standout offensive lineman who graduated in 2001 has taken over for Ray Grant at McLaughlin, which played its first varsity season last year and went 2-8.
FHSAA to use MaxPreps for for ranking playoff teams
The FHSAA has abandoned its own power rankings system, which was based off MaxPreps but had tweaks to the formula. There often have been differences in the FHSAA rankings and the MaxPreps rankings that caused confusion and frustrated fans, players and coaches.
When the idea to use rankings to select playoff teams instead of simply allowing district runners-up to advance, there was concern that teams would run up the score to help improve their rankings. The FHSAA sought to prevent this by limiting points/runs differential in its formula, although the exact differences in the two algorithms used were never released.
FHSAA adds Open Division
Over the summer, the FHSAA Board of Directors finally approved the long, talked-about Open Division (for all sports). For football, MaxPreps rankings will be sued to selection the top eight teams. The team will be placed into two pools of four teams and will play single-elimination to determine the state champion.
Although the final regular-season FHSAA rankings aren’t available, the final rankings released after the regional playoffs last year had Lakeland ranked No. 9. Eventual 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas. The top eight team were Gainesville Buchholz (6A), Miami Northwestern (3A), Vero Beach (7A), Sarasota Cardinal Mooney (2A), DeLand (7A), Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna (1A), St. Thomas Aquinas (5A) and Jacksonville Raines.
All Saints, Santa Fe Catholic join new FHSAA Independent League
All Saints is back playing 11-man football and along with Santa Fe Catholic has moved its football program from the Sunshine State Athletic Association and back into the FHSAA. The two private schools have joined the newly formed FHSAA Independent League.
The schools are divided into two divisions, based on enrollment, Division A and Division B with each division divided into North and South regions. All Saints and Santa Fe are in Division B, South Region.
MaxPreps rankings will be used to seed postseason teams with eight teams from the North Region and eight teams from the South Region advancing to the postseason in each division.
The playoffs will advance to two championship games at The Villages Charger School on Dec. 4. Teams not participating in the playoffs are permitted to schedule a bowl game.
Reclassification cycle begins: Auburndale goes, Kathleen goes down, Fort Meade moves over
This also a year that new classification and districts go into effect. The number of classes was reduced from seven to six and eliminated the rural division. Among the changes that involved Polk County teams, the reclassification moved Auburndale up into a 5a district with Lakeland and moved Kathleen from Lakeland’s district into a 4A district with Lake Wales.
Davenport moved into a nearly all-Polk 6A district with George Jenkins, Haines city, Ridge Community and Winter Haven. Poinciana is the other team in the district.
Fort Meade went from the Rural district into a a district that includes perennial powers Lakeland Christian and Victory Christian. McLaughlin and Moore Haven are also in the district.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Here’s what’s new in high school football as practice for 2026 begins
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger | USA TODAY Network
