Three Manatee County teams qualify for the football playoffs, if they started today

Entering the last week for regular season football games, the Florida High School Athletic Association unveiled the latest playoff points standings Tuesday afternoon.

Time is running out for Manatee County’s six public schools to secure a playoff berth under the new format.

District champions gain the only automatic berths into the playoffs for Class 8A-5A, and those were decided last Friday or Monday.

Those district champs also secured a home game for the first round and no lower than a No. 4 seed in the region playoffs.

The remaining four playoff berths per each region in the higher classifications are awarded to the teams with the best playoff points average.

Here’s where we stand, with a double asterisk indicating Southeast’s fall to the bottom of 5A-Region 3 after self-reporting using an academically ineligible player in six games that are now forfeited:

CLASS 8A-REGION 2

PROJECTED SEEDS

District champions

1. Kissimmee Osceola, 42.86,

2. Vero Beach, 42.13,

3. Sarasota Riverview, 41.00,

4. Orlando Dr. Phillips, 38.60

Wild cards

5. Haines City Ridge Community, 37.78

6. Manatee, 37.29

7. Orlando Olympia, 36.22

8. Lithia Newsome, 36.00

PROJECTED FIRST-ROUND PAIRINGS: Lithia Newsome at Kissimmee Osceola; Haines City Ridge Community at Orlando Dr. Phillips; Orlando Olympia at Vero Beach; Manatee at Sarasota Riverview.

CLASS 7A-REGION 3

PROJECTED SEEDS

District champions

1. Venice, 42.13

2. Tampa Bay Tech, 39.44

3. Pinellas Park, 37.78

4. South Fort Myers, 31.50

Wild cards

5. Braden River, 40.86

6. Palmetto, 38.75

7. St. Petersburg, 35.56

8. Valrico Bloomingdale, 34.89

Bubble

9. Plant City Durant, 34.11

10. Clearwater Countryside, 33.33

11. Tarpon Springs East Lake, 33.00

12. Lakewood Ranch, 32.71

PROJECTED FIRST-ROUND PAIRINGS: Valrico Bloomingdale at Venice; Braden River at South Fort Myers; St. Petersburg at Tampa Bay Tech; Palmetto at Pinellas Park.

CLASS 5A-REGION 3

PROJECTED SEEDS

District champions

1. Immokalee, 40.25

2. St. Petersburg Lakewood, 38.00

3. Tampa Jefferson, 36.30

4. Wauchula Hardee, 35.56

Wild cards

5. Fort Myers Dunbar, 37.75

6. Tampa Jesuit, 35.63

7. Tarpon Springs, 34.75

8. Sarasota Booker, 33.10

Bubble

9. Clewiston, 31.71

10. St. Petersburg Gibbs, 31.00

19. Bayshore, 25.57

20. Southeast, 23.43**

PROJECTED FIRST-ROUND PAIRINGS: Sarasota Booker at Immokalee; Fort Myers Dunbar at Wauchula Hardee; Tarpon Springs at St. Petersburg Lakewood; Tampa Jesuit at Tampa Jefferson.

This story was originally published October 31, 2017 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Three Manatee County teams qualify for the football playoffs, if they started today."