MIAMI – For the fifth time in FHSAA history, the high school football state title games will be in our area.
We had the state championship games at Hard Rock Stadium (then-Dolphin Stadium) in 2005 and 2006. Particularly in 2005, the state title games were split up in two locations; Hard Rock Stadium (Classes 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A) and Pitbull Stadium (then-FIU Community Stadium) (Classes 1B, 1A, 2B, and 2A).
We had the state championship games at DRV PNK Stadium in 2021 and 2022.
That made it two years in Miami and two years in Fort Lauderdale, respectively.
And now for this year, the FHSAA returns to Pitbull Stadium for the first time in 19 years. We will have Classes 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, and 7A featured at FIU for three years – 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Here are the matchups that are set for this year’s title game action:
CLASS 1A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 1 overall seed Chaminade-Madonna (12-2) vs. No. 3 overall seed Clearwater Central Catholic (12-2)
Game date and kickoff time: Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 2A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 1 overall seed Gadsden County (13-1) vs. No. 3 overall seed Cocoa (10-3)
Game date and kickoff time: Thursday, Dec. 12 at 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 5A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 2 overall seed Lakeland (13-0) vs. No. 4 overall seed St. Thomas Aquinas (11-3)
Game date and kickoff time: Thursday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 6A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 1 overall seed West Boca Raton (14-0) vs. No. 3 overall seed Kissimmee Osceola (12-2)
Game date and kickoff time: Friday, Dec. 13 at 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 4A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 1 overall seed Plantation American Heritage (11-2) vs. No. 2 overall seed Orlando Jones (14-0)
Game date and kickoff time: Friday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
CLASS 7A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 1 overall seed Gadsden Venice (13-1) vs. No. 2 overall seed Lake Mary (12-2)
Game date and kickoff time: Saturday, Dec. 14 at 12:30 p.m.
CLASS 3A STATE TITLE GAME
No. 1 overall seed Jacksonville Raines (13-0) vs. No. 3 overall seed Miami Northwestern (11-2)
Game date and kickoff time: Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
SOUTH FLORIDA HIGHLIGHTS
•St. Thomas Aquinas is the FHSAA state record holder with 15 state titles. The Broward County powerhouse is the only school in the state of Florida that has ever won five straight state titles (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
•St. Thomas Aquinas (3M state champion in 2022 and 2023) and Lakeland (4S state champion in 2022 and 2023) will be facing off in a state title game for the first time in six years. In the 2018 Class 7A state title game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Lakeland won that one by a score of 33-20.
•Chaminade-Madonna has won eight state titles – tied for fourth in the state with Tallahassee North Florida Christian. The Lions have won three state titles in a row for the second time in its illustrious history, coming away victorious most recently in 2021 (Class 3A), 2022 (Class 1M), and 2023 (Class 1M).
•Chaminade will be vying for its first four-peat in school history on Wednesday night at Pitbull Stadium.
•Miami Northwestern has won seven state titles – tied for fifth in the state with the winningest school on the Muck, Belle Glade Glades Day. The Bulls will be vying for their first state in five years, when they completed a three-peat run in 2019 (Class 5A). Their other state titles in the three-peat run were in 2017 (Class 6A) and 2018 (Class 6A).
•Plantation American Heritage has won five state titles, with the most recent one coming in 2020 (Class 5A).
•West Boca Raton is making its first state title game appearance in school history.
ARTICLE WRITTEN BY: Naji Tobias
PHOTO CREDITS: Chuck Bethel
VIDEO CREDITS: Shane Robinson / East Coast Exposure
Muck City Media Enterprises 
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