JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The high school football state championship games are heading to Tallahassee.
The Florida High School Athletic Association announced Thursday that all nine classifications will play title games at Florida A&M’s Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium. Games will be played Dec. 7-9.
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It marks a return to a one-site format for the first time since 2020 when Florida State University hosted the eight state championship games at Doak Campbell. Games had been split the last two years between DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale and Gene Cox Stadium in Tallahassee.
“The FHSAA is excited about the upcoming Florida High School Football State Championships to be hosted on Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee,” said FHSAA executive director Craig Damon.
“Creating opportunities for our student-athletes is a top priority of ours and finding a facility large enough to host the whole series in one location and welcome thousands that wish to attend, is a dream come true. We have worked with the folks at Visit Tallahassee and in Leon County for many years now with great success and we could not be more grateful for their efforts in making these championships a quality experience for the student-athletes of the State of Florida.”
Will any local team be apart of those championships this season? Last year, the first of the new Suburban-Metro playoff split, no area teams qualified for the title games. Five teams — Bolles, Bradford, Columbia, Union County and University Christian — reached the state semifinals but lost in those games.
The last time a local shutout in title games happened was in 2000. In the last 50 years, area teams have missed title games just 10 times — 1975-80, ‘82, ‘84, 2000 and 2022. Six of those years, the FHSAA had just four classifications for football.