Here’s how your favorite high school football team can win a district title

With three weeks remaining in the high school football regular season, automatic berths into the new Florida High School Athletic Association playoff system are getting settled on the field as teams win district championships.

The at-large wild-card berths won’t get determined until after Week 11 wraps up in the first week in November. The FHSAA plans to announce its final points standings at noon on Sunday, Nov. 5.

Should there be a tie atop the district, head-to-head results will determine the champion. If still tied, the team with the best points average during the regular season will be the champ.

Until then, here are some scenarios for Manatee County programs to gain entry to the playoffs via the district championship route, with district records in parenthesis:

Class 8A-District 6

Manatee (3-1)

The Hurricanes are eliminated from district title contention. The Week 8 loss at Sarasota Riverview clinched the championship for the Rams, who are unbeaten in the district, have one district game remaining and have beaten both of the district’s one-loss teams (Manatee, Lithia Newsome) to hold the head-to-head tiebreaker advantage.

Class 7A-District 11

Braden River (2-1)

Remaining district games: vs. Lakewood Ranch (Friday), vs. North Port (Oct. 27)

Scenarios: Needs Venice to lose both remaining district games while also winning out to secure the program’s first district title since 2015. If Venice wins Friday, then Braden River has to win out and have Palmetto beat the Indians on Oct. 27 for a three-way tiebreaker.

Palmetto (2-1)

Remaining district games: at North Port (Friday), at Venice (Oct. 27)

Scenarios: Defeat North Port and Venice, while Braden River drops at least one game in the next two weeks, and Palmetto clinches the district title on the head-to-head tiebreaker over Venice. A three-way tiebreaker with Venice and Braden River happens if the Pirates and Tigers both win out and Venice splits — losing to Palmetto in the district finale — the next two games.

Lakewood Ranch (1-2)

Remaining district games: at Braden River (Friday), vs. Sarasota (Oct. 27)

Scenarios: Back-to-back losses to Venice and Palmetto means the Mustangs must win their remaining district games for a shot at the title. They’ll also need North Port to defeat Palmetto, while the Tigers beat Venice on Oct. 27 and the Indians lose to Sarasota this week. To complete that scenario, the winner of the Braden River-North Port game on Oct. 27 joins the party with a 3-2 district mark, setting the stage for a four-way tiebreaker.

Class 5A-District 11

Southeast (3-0)

Remaining district games: at Wauchula Hardee (Friday), at Sarasota Booker (Oct. 27)

Scenarios: Win both remaining district games and the Seminoles are district champions. The Noles can also clinch the district title this week with a victory at Wauchula Hardee and a Sarasota Booker loss to Englewood Lemon Bay. A three-way tie happens if Southeast beats Hardee this week and loses to Booker next week, and if the Tornadoes beat Lemon Bay this week.

Bayshore (1-2)

Remaining district games: vs. Arcadia DeSoto (Friday), at Englewood Lemon Bay (Oct. 27)

Simplest scenario: After upsetting Wauchula Hardee last week, the Bruins must win their last two district games and get lots of help to get into a tiebreaker situation. Here’s how things have to go for Bayshore: Southeast has to lose to Hardee this week and to Booker on Oct. 27; Hardee has to beat Southeast then lose to rival Arcadia DeSoto on Oct. 27; Booker has to lose to Englewood Lemon Bay on Friday before beating Southeast on Oct. 27. That puts four teams at 3-2 in the district.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Here’s how your favorite high school football team can win a district title."