Florida's top eight high school football teams will compete against each other in a new Open Division playoff this fall, the first time in FHSAA history that the best programs across all classifications will battle for a single state title. For Coral Reef, coming off a 9-2 season in 2025, the format adds a second championship tier above the standard six-class bracket.

The new tournament, reported by the Miami Herald's Andre Fernandez https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/high-school/article316679891.html on Tuesday, selects its field based on final MaxPreps state rankings at the end of the regular season. The eight qualifiers split into two pools of four, seeded 1 through 8. Each pool plays a round-robin over the first three weeks of the playoffs. The top two from each pool advance to semifinals at The Range at H.G. Morse Stadium in The Villages, and the Open Division final lands at Pitbull Stadium at FIU in mid-December alongside the Class 6A through 1A title games.

The format runs in addition to the regular classification tournaments, not instead of them.

What It Means for the Barracudas

To earn an Open Division berth, Coral Reef would need to finish among the top eight teams statewide in the final MaxPreps rankings. That's a high bar. The expected South Florida contenders include Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, which enters 2026 carrying seven consecutive state titles; back-to-back state champion Plantation American Heritage; and Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna, which has reached 10 straight state title games.

Had the Open Division existed in 2025, Aquinas, Chaminade-Madonna and Miami Northwestern would have landed in the same pool, meaning only two could have advanced.

For the Barracudas, the realistic path to a state championship still runs through their classification bracket. But a dominant regular season could put them in the Open Division conversation for the first time.

Upcoming Schedule

As we reported July 21 https://palmettocutlernews.com/articles/fhsaa-independent-league-draws-belen-jesuit-dade-christian-coral-reef-stays-in-district-play-mruoe27l, Coral Reef opted to stay in district play rather than join the FHSAA's new Independent Football League. Official statewide practices began Tuesday, and the Barracudas open their season Friday, Aug. 14 with an away non-conference game at Belen Jesuit. Their home opener is Thursday, Aug. 27 against Goleman.