Mainland is the biggest mover inside the latest High School Football America Florida Top 25 high school football rankings, powered by NFL Play Football. The Buccaneers move six spots to No. 17 this week after a 28-24 win over former No. 11 Bartram Trail, dropping the Bears to No. 19. This week, the Bucs, No. 96 in the HSFA 300 national rankings, will play Raines, ranked No. 227 nationally.
Then there’s the game that keeps grabbing headlines — No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas and No. 7 Cocoa. STA grabbed a 37-36 last second win, but it was what happened down the stretch that angered everyone on the Cocoa side and even Florida Today sportswriter Jon Santucci, who made his feeling known on X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday, Cocoa appealed the game with the Florida High School Athletic Association, but the appeal was denied.
On Monday, the Broward Football Officials Association apologized to Cocoa High School, according to Santucci. Below is a snippet from Santucci’s story:
Cocoa athletic director Mark Carstens said he spoke with Jeff Pratt of the BFOA, who apologized for “the egregious clock management errors” during the final minutes of the game.
Florida Today
There are two big head-to-head matchups, led by No. 3 Chaminade-Madonna and No. 6 American Heritage (Plantation). C-M has climbed to No. 5 in the HSFA 300 national rankings. American Heritage is No. 13 in America.
The other head-to-head is No. 9 Edgewater and No. 10 Jones (Orlando).
High School Football America Florida Top 25
| Ranking/Team | Record | Last Week |
| No. 1 IMG Academy | (3-0) | 1 |
| No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas | (2-1) | 2 |
| No. 3 Chaminade-Madonna | (3-0) | 3 |
| No. 4 Miami Central | (1-1) | 4 |
| No. 5 Columbus (Miami) | (3-0) | 5 |
| No. 6 American Heritage (Plantation) | (2-0) | 6 |
| No. 7 Cocoa | (2-1) | 7 |
| No. 8 Cardinal Gibbons | (2-1) | 8 |
| No. 9 Edgewater | (3-0) | 9 |
| No. 10 Jones (Orlando) | (1-2) | 10 |
| No. 11 Norland | (3-0) | 12 |
| No. 12 Armwood | (3-0) | 13 |
| No. 13 Vero Beach | (2-0) | 16 |
| No. 14 Venice | (1-2) | 17 |
| No. 15 Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville) | (1-1) | 15 |
| No. 16 Northwestern (Miami) | (1-2) | 18 |
| No. 17 Mainland | (3-0) | 23 |
| No. 18 Lakeland | (1-2) | 19 |
| No. 19 Bartram Trail | (2-1) | 11 |
| No. 20 Apopka | (3-0) | 21 |
| No. 21 Treasure Coast (Florida) | (3-0) | NR |
| No. 22 Seminole (Sanford) | (2-1) | 20 |
| No. 23 Tampa Bay Tech | (3-0) | 25 |
| No. 24 Booker T. Washington (Miami) | (1-1) | 22 |
| No. 25 Coconut Creek | (2-1) | NR |
Dropped-out: No. 14 Clearwater Academy International, No. 24 Western (Davie)
Editor’s Note: The High School Football America national, regional and state rankings are developed using our proprietary algorithm.
2023 Florida Top 25’s
