Bishop Verot vs. Miami Springs in Class 3A state baseball semifinal video
Bishop Verot vs. Miami Springs in FHSAA Class 3A state baseball semifinal
In its final meeting of the 2024-25 school year, the FHSAA Board of Directors made key changes in a handful of sports including basketball, baseball, and football.
Here’s a recap of what the Board of Directors voted on in their meeting in Gainesville on June 3:
Shot clock coming to postseason in 2026-27
In a 9-3 vote, the Board of Directors approved a shot clock for boys’ and girls’ basketball postseasons starting in the 2026-27 school year.
The shot clock will be 35 seconds. The amount of time for a team should they grab an offensive rebound was not discussed.
The move came after Cape Coral Athletic Director and FHSAA Board Member Tom Kenna introduced a motion to kill the action item. His motion failed, 9-3.
Baseball best-of-three being modified
After going to a best-of-three in each of the regional quarterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds this season, the board voted 10-1 to scale the tournament back to a one-game regional quarterfinal to be played on a Tuesday, followed by best-of-three regional semifinals on Friday and Saturday the same week, with the regional finals, also best-of-three, taking place Friday and Saturday of the following week. Game 1 will be played Friday with Game 2, and if necessary, Game 3 on Saturday.
There was a brief period about moving to a best-of-three for the state championships in Fort Myers, with the state semifinals being moved back to the higher seed. Those discussions did not establish into a motion.
All regional semifinal and final games will be hosted at the higher seed, with the quarterfinal game being at the higher seed, unless a lower seeded district champion is playing a higher seeded at-large in the FHSAA rankings.
Florida Invitational Tournament expanding in football
With the new Football Invitational Tournament in the rural classification drawing widespread popularity, the board voted 12-0 to expand the tournament into two additional divisions.
The Football Invitational Tournament in the Rural Division allowed the next best 12 teams who didn’t make the playoffs the chance to continue their seasons.
The matchups based on last year’s rankings would’ve been as follows, if the tournament was split into 1A-4A and 5A-7A. There was no indication on how the tournament would be broken down.
Class 1A-4A
(1) South Sumter vs. (8) Gainesville/(9) Jacksonville Parker
(2) Tavares vs. (7) North Marion/(10) Pensacola
(3) Astronaut vs. (6) Auburndale/(11) Tampa Catholic
(4) Rickards vs. (5) Fivay/(12) Dr. Joaquin Garcia
Class 5A-7A
(1) Bartram Trail vs. (8) Lennard/(9) East Lee County
(2) Ocoee vs. (7) Martin County/(10) Hagerty
(3) Ridge Community vs. (6) Boone/(11) Tocoi Creek
(4) Fletcher vs. (5) Crestview/(12) Haines City
Board denies basketball teams to cut down nets
The board voted 12-0 to deny teams from cutting down the nets in the district and regional championship games, citing potential liability issues with putting athletes on ladders with scissors.
The host school would have had to agree with the visitors in both settings to cut down the nets had the motion passed.
Follow Sports Reporter Alex Martin on X: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.