Election Day Football: District Titles Are Decided Tuesday and Wednesday in the Makeup Games Isaias Left Behind
Florida's regular season is over almost everywhere else. In Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, it ends this week - Pine Forest at Pensacola and West Florida's date with South Walton on Tuesday, then Pace at Niceville for the District 1-5A championship on Wednesday.
Only in a hurricane year does the regular season end on Election Day. Week 11 closed the schedule for Pensacola Catholic, Jay and Central - and for nearly every team in Florida - but every other program across Escambia and Santa Rosa County still has a makeup district game to play on Tuesday, November 3 or Wednesday, November 4, rescheduled after Hurricane Isaias, the Pensacola News Journal reported. Two of those games decide district championships, and with them, who hosts when the playoffs open.
Tuesday's card is full. Pine Forest (4-4, 2-1 in District 1-3A) plays at Pensacola at 6 p.m. with the district race in its hands: the Eagles, powered by Tulane commit Korden Randle - who set school single-game records with 255 receiving yards and four touchdowns against Bay and became the first 1,000-yard receiver in program history - clinch the title outright if they win and South Walton loses, and hold the MaxPreps tiebreaker edge if both win and force a three-way tie at 3-1. South Walton's half of that equation is also Tuesday: West Florida (3-5) hosts the Seahawks at 7 p.m. The rest of Tuesday: Navarre at Tate at 7 p.m., Booker T. Washington (6-2) at Milton at 7:30 p.m., and Gulf Breeze at Escambia at 7 p.m. - each a regular-season finale.
Wednesday carries the biggest single game: Pace (6-2, 3-0) at Niceville at 6 p.m. for the District 1-5A championship, where a Patriots win brings a title and potentially a home regional quarterfinal, and Niceville is playing to avoid missing the state playoffs for the first time since 2000. Northview (5-4) also finishes Wednesday, at Blountstown at 7 p.m. Already waiting: Pensacola Catholic, 8-1 and on a seven-game win streak after a 31-14 win at South Walton, hosts a Region 1-2A quarterfinal on November 13, and Jay, 7-1 after shutting out Baker 28-0, learns its draw in the inaugural FHSAA Independent League playoffs on November 6. By Wednesday night, a season the storm bent out of shape finally has its bracket shape.
