Are there certain characteristics that elite high school football teams all share?
The Open Division, a round-robin tournament featuring the top eight teams in the MaxPreps rankings, is coming to Florida high school sports this year.
With that in mind, we looked at the eight top-ranked teams over the past five years to see what, if anything, those teams had in common. Here’s a look at who the top eight teams have been since 2021.
(Editor’s note: The FHSAA will use the MaxPreps rankings after the final regular season game to determine the Open Division field. MaxPreps’ final regular season rankings were unavailable for the 2021-24 seasons, so the final postseason rankings were used.)
2021: 1. Venice, 2. Jesuit, 3., St. Thomas Aquinas, 4. Chaminade-Madonna, 5. Miami Central, 6. Cardinal Gibbons, 7. Apopka, 8. Cocoa
2022: 1. Miami Central, 2. St. Thomas Aquinas, 3. Chaminade-Madonna, 4. Lakeland, 5. Columbia, 6. American Heritage, 7. Jones, 8. Edgewater
2023: 1. Chaminade-Madonna, 2. St. Thomas Aquinas, 3. Cocoa, 4. Miami Norland, 5. Mainland, 6. Lakeland, 7. Columbus, 8. Buchholz
2024: 1. Chaminade-Madonna, 2. Venice, 3. St. Thomas Aquinas, 4. Miami Central, 5. American Heritage, 6. Miami Northwestern, 7. Cocoa, 8. Lakeland
2025: 1. Miami Northwestern, 2. Raines, 3 Miami Central, 4. Cardinal Mooney, 5. Chaminade-Madonna, 6. St. Thomas Aquinas, 7. Armwood, 8. Buchholz
Certainly, no teams are created the same way. From Chaminade-Madonna’s spread offense to Apopka’s vaunted single wing scheme, success can be found in various ways.
But the vast majority of these teams had some very similar qualities that could be used as a predictive model as we head into the 2026 season.
In honor of the Open Division having eight teams, here are eight takeaways/common traits of the top eight-ranked teams over the past five years:
1. Open Division teams come from South Florida …
You can immediately take at least half the spots and reserve them for South Florida powers. In each of the past five seasons, at least four of the top eight schools came from Broward or Miami-Dade counties. St. Thomas Aquinas and Chaminade-Madonna are the only programs that finished the year in the top eight each time. Miami Central finished in the top eight four times — including 2024 when it was forced to forfeit all eight of its regular season wins and missed the FHSAA playoffs. (Yes, MaxPreps kept Central in the top eight even as a 0-9 team, which would have put the FHSAA in an interesting position had the Open Division existed at the time.) Columbus, Miami Northwestern and American Heritage all had multiple top eight finishes.
2. … Or are a traditional football powerhouse
The rest of the teams that have finished in the top eight are a Who’s Who of elite Florida programs. In fact, only 12 programs north of Broward County have been a top eight team at least once over the past five years. And chances are, even if you’re a casual fan, they’re all teams you’ve heard of. Cocoa and Lakeland had three top five finishes since 2021, Venice and Buchholz each had two. The rest of the list is teams annually playing into late November or early December: Raines, Cardinal Mooney, Armwood, Mainland, Jones, Edgewater, Jesuit and Apopka.
3. Open Division teams play challenging non-district games
Teams that finish in the top eight haven’t made it there by playing a bunch of cupcakes during the regular season. Cocoa played Venice and Eau Gallie twice each, Jones, St. Thomas Aquinas, IMG, Seminole, Mainland and Miami Norland during the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Venice opened the 2024 season with Tampa Bay Tech, Northwestern, Bishop Verot, Port Charlotte and Cocoa. Chaminade-Madonna played St. Frances Academy (Maryland), Cardinal Gibbons, Bergen Catholic (New Jersey), American Heritage and Miami Central during the first five weeks of the 2023 season. Every top eight team has at least one elite signature win and/or multiple quality opponents on the schedule.
4. Open Division teams score a lot of points
Duh! This one may be obvious, but teams that finish in the eight typically score 500 points or more during a 15-game season. That’s an average of more than 33 points per game. Venice’s 2024 team, with Winston Watkins Jr. and Gata Wilder, scored 748 points in 15 games — or 49.86 points per game. Chaminade Madonna’s loaded offenses with Jeremiah Smith, Cedrick Bailey Jr., Joshisa Trader and Davion Gause topped the 650-point mark in back-to-back seasons.
5. Open Division teams typically have college-level quarterbacks
No surprise, but it helps to have a stud at the sport’s most important position. Cedrick Bailey Jr., who’s heading into his third season as N.C. State’s starting quarterback, led Chaminade-Madonna’s offense from 2021-23. Texas true freshman Dia Bell, a five-star recruit and 2025 Elite 11 Finals MVP, led American Heritage for most of 2025 until suffering a season-ending injury. His replacement? Miami star receiver Malachi Toney. Georgia Tech starter Alberto Mendoza was Columbus’ quarterback in 2022 and 2023. Purdue starter Ryan Browne was Venice’s starting quarterback in 2021. More than half the quarterbacks who played for teams that finished in the top eight are currently quarterbacks in an FBS or FCS program.
6. Open Division teams have at least one elite playmaker
Again, this should seem like common sense (because it is), but top eight teams all have at least one (sometimes more) absolute nightmare to defend. Smith and Trader at Chaminade, Watkins and Wilder at Venice, Jayvan Boggs at Cocoa, CJ Baxter at Edgewater, Calvin Russell III and Nick Lennear at Miami Northwestern, Jordan Lyle at Aquinas. These were players that kept defensive coordinators up at night … and plans to stop them still failed every week. Open Division teams will have at least one player, maybe more, who can just will their team to victory.
7. Open Division teams typically have a star edge rusher
Just check out some of the names of the edge rushers from the top eight teams over the past five seasons: Rueben Bain Jr., R. Mason Thomas, Damon Wilson, Kenyatta Jackson, LJ McCray, Javion Hilson, Mandrell Desir, Asharri Charles, Elijah Golden, Wyatt Smith. That’s just some of the edge rushers who have terrorized opposing quarterbacks. But that’s an elite list. Bain was an NFL first round draft pick in April; Thomas was a second-round pick. Wilson and Jackson both are on track to be drafted next year. McCray and Hilson were five-star recruits, Desir was a freshman All-American in 2025, Charles and Golden were four-star recruits in the 2026 class. Smith, the son of former NFL All-Pro Justin Smith, is an Ohio State commit. That’s just the cream of the crop. Bottom line, winning teams have at least one player who can get to the quarterback.
8. Open Division teams have a stud at linebacker
Linebacker may be a devalued position in college and the NFL over the past decade, but almost every top eight finisher over the past five years boasts at least one sideline-to-sideline tackling machine on the roster. Edgewater’s Danny Troutman, Lakeland’s Rolijah Hardy and Malik Morris, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Nicholas Rodriguez, Buchholz’ Myles Graham, Miami Northwestern’s Desmond Johnson and Miami Central’s Stanquan Clark and Karon Maycock are just of a few of the elite linebackers on top eight teams over the past few years.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Who’ll be FHSAA Open Division football teams? What history tells us
Reporting by Jon Santucci, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jon Santucci, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
