By Official Florida FC
Whoever wins the Class 6A state championship will have endured at least one early-round test en route to the trophy.
When the Florida High School Athletic Association elected to switch from seeding the top eight teams in each region, as was used in the 2020 championship, back to allowing district champions and district runners-up into the postseason, the knock-off effect was games that would have been regional finals in 2020 are now first-round contests.
That is most prevalent in Region 1 and Region 2.
Reigning state champion Niceville (9-6-1) starts this postseason as the District 1-6A runner-up and will begin on the road in Tallahassee. St. Johns Creekside (11-4-2) was the No. 1 ranked team in the country in early January will begin on the road against Lake Howell.
New Port Richey Mitchell finished the regular season No. 3 in the classification, but the Mustangs (16-6-1) will also start on the road in the Region 2-6A playoffs against a Palmetto squad that is 15-2-1 and ended the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in Class 6A.
