FHSAA extends football regular season by one week

In response to the various weather-related cancelations, especially those from Hurricane Milton, the FHSAA has announced that it will move its common bye week from Dec. 2-6 — the week between the Class 1A-7A semifinals and state championship games — to the week of Nov. 4, which was originally scheduled to be the first week of the postseason. 

“(This decision is) adding an extra week to the regular season for the sport of football,” said FHSAA Executive Director Craig Damon in a press conference. “This week can be used in several different ways. It can be used to make up a game, or it can be used as a bye week before starting the playoffs. … However, the key thing to remember is all contests — whether it's a district contest or non-district contest — must be completed by Thursday, Nov. 7. We picked Thursday, Nov. 7, to give our staff time to make sure all of the results that are posted on MaxPreps are correct, (so) that we can release our brackets for the playoffs on that Saturday, which will give our coaches the opportunity to prepare for the state series the following week. So, for football, our playoffs will start on Nov. 15 … as opposed to the regularly scheduled Nov. 8.”