FLEMING ISLAND - Well, Well, Well, football just got a little more interesting for the upcoming 2024 season as the FHSAA, in their presiding wisdom, has returned to the Class 1A, Class 2A, etc. system of classifications with new alignments set up that will make Clay County football very interesting.

No Cupcakes

“The whole state of Florida is good football,” said Middleburg coach Ryan Wolfe. “That’s just how Florida is, every district is going to have a few juggernauts. Last year, we had Columbia. There are no cupcakes.”

With the new alignments, Clay County teams will stay closer to home with trips last year to Titusville (FIHS), Melbourne (OPHS), and Daytona Beach’s Taylor-Pierson (KHHS) not on the schedules in 2024. Middleburg takes a ride to North Marion at the end of their season and Oakleaf will visit Hawthorne and Ridgeview takes a long drive to West Nassau as the furthest trips on the schedules.

Rivalry Games

“It’s good for our football because our rivalry games will all be good games,” said Orange Park coach Marcus Wimberly, who lived through the District of Doom (FIHS, OHS, Bartram Trail, Buchholz and Creekside). “It’s still not a cakewalk because not only playoff points at stake, but county bragging rights.”

In one of the more strategic “rivalry” moves for the fall, district 3-5A will have Fleming Island, Orange Park and Middleburg all in one package with Beachside and Ponte Vedra district foes.

Ponte Vedra, being the more recent consistent playoff team of the five with deep runs in Classes 5A, 6A and 7A back during the Matt Toblin days of head coaching in 2015 up to 2020; seasons of 8-3, 13-1, 7-5 and 8-3, when Toblin left for Bolles.

Last year, Ponte Vedra lost their season opener, but ran the table to the playoffs with a seven game streak that ended with two losses to Nease and Creekside and a region playoff loss to Buchholz; the Bobcats the Class 4S state runnerup last year to Lakeland by a 21-20 score. Buchholz now Class 6A; District 3-6A with Bartram Trail, Nease and Tocoi Creek thus eliminating the once-District of Doom (3-4S) that featured Buchholz, Bartram Trail, Creekside, Fleming Island and Oakleaf.

District of Doom

Locally, Middleburg enters as the lone playoff team of the District 3-5A group with both Oakleaf and Fleming Island unable to thwart the District of Doom damages last year. Orange Park missed a few key plays in their season to not make the playoffs and Fleming Island could not catch the frontrunners, but dealt with new coaches, new scheme and being in the dreaded District of Doom.

Pot Stirring

For 2024, a little pot stirring in district 3-5A is likely to happen. One, Middleburg's notoriously treacherous schedule under Coach Ryan Wolfe’s last two years offered just a 5-5 won lost record with three losses out of the box to three state contenders; Hawthorne, unbeaten Class 1A champion; Bradford, Class 4A runnerup, and Ponte Vedra.

Wolfe survived the opening salvo of games, but Orange Park coach Marcus Wimberly gave a glimpse of Uh!Oh! with an upset win in game nine that was just shy of a playoff upset.

For the district, though, Fleming Island, Orange Park and Middleburg should be improved enough with a second year for Golden Eagle coach Chad Parker, a much-softened schedule for Wolfe, and a third year of “his” guys for Wimberly.

Wolfe’s schedule is lightened with the Broncos not seeing a team with a 2023 winning record until Ponte Vedra (8-4) on October 11.

Orange Park has a few more winning records on their schedule; Mandarin preseason (11-4), Riverside (9-3), Bartram Trail (8-5) and Beachside (9-1) so Wimberly has upped the ante for his Raiders to earn a few more playoff points.

Fleming Island is, on paper, fully loaded with a four year quarterback, a big running back, a defensive front that features fast and furious chasers, but with a much-inexperienced offensive line, must reverse last year’s disappointing finish amidst five teams on their schedule with eight or nine wins; one being Beachside (9-1).

For Oakleaf second year coach Chris Foy, the prospect of getting out of the District of Doom is not lessened by inclusion in District 2-6A that features Mandarin (11-4), Fletcher (7-4) and First Coast (6-5), all past powerhouses for the north Florida area and all playoff finishers last year.

Fletcher is always a high-scoring offense; last year with wins of 31-0, 35-6, 58-16 and 65-20 so that’s job one for Foy’s defense.

Mandarin, knocked a win over Bartram Trail in regular season play, ran four wins in playoffs then finished with a state runnerup finish to Miami Columbus in a shootout, 38-19. The Mustangs lose a stable of two thoroughbreds in the backfield, but a hot quarterback and a hot wide receiver.

Foy comes back with a new quarterback, a solid running back and one of the best receiver corps around plus a whole bunch of very big and agile linemen on both sides of the ball.

Oakleaf and Fleming Island will be another barn burner of a game, but for no district points with Foy’s schedule almost as torrid as Parker’s with Hawthorne (12-0, 2X 1A champs), Riverside (9-3), Bolles (8-6, 2M Final Four) and Mandarin on the slate.

Ridgeview and Clay don’t have much traveling to do in their new district 3-4A lineup with Columbia Lake City and St. Augustine the third and fourth teams in the district.

Ridgeview’s new coach Merlin Smith is promising some good news for Panther fans and that could come with some wins against less sizable opponents; West Nassau (Freelance), KIPP Bold City (1A), Impact Christian Academy (Freelance) and Episcopal (1A) though the A number on a team not indicative of the talent level as 1A powerhouses Hawthorne and Madison County can attest.

St. Augustine, a late-season road game for Clay, will always be the ultimate district target and Columbia has been a big dog in the 5A/6A realms over time so Clay and Ridgeview will still need to muscle up to be successful.

“We know what everyone knows about St. Augustine, we know what it takes to beat them and hope that the kids grow up, mature to the point of knowing exactly what time of team we have at game six,” said Smith. “Then, we want the kids to know what it will take and take the steps to get close to that. That is all we can ask.”

Keystone Heights, in district 5-2A; Bradford, Palatka, Newberry, Santa Fe, still has Bradford (14-1) for a massive rivalry game, adds Palatka (7-4) for a little bigger team with a new fireball coach (ex-KHHS defensive guru Lantz Lowery) and a tough road game against Newberry (9-3). At the 2A level, smaller roster numbers are usually the difference at the end of the season with 23-25 guys just getting beat up each week for 10 weeks making for a tough finish.