Crunching Usain Bolt, Wayde Van Niekerk and Manatee County high school football digits

Just a few days remain before high school football begins the 2016 season with Kickoff Classic games, so this week’s Numbers Game begins examining mostly delightful gridiron digits. But we’re also taking a quick look at some important Olympic figures.

So let’s dig in:

82.7

Percentage of Florida High School Athletic Association member schools that can win an FHSAA state championship this season in football. Of the 577 programs, there are 477 teams that are competing in the eight classifications that will award a state championship in December. Locally, that represents seven of the 11 area programs. All six public schools and one private school (Cardinal Mooney) are set to battle it out for a state title when the regular season begins a week from Friday.

There are 89 member schools in Class 8A, which is where Manatee competes. There are 86 programs in 7A, where Braden River, Palmetto and Lakewood Ranch compete. There are 82 programs in 5A, where Bayshore and Southeast compete, and 30 programs in 3A where Mooney competes.

.925

Combined regular season winning percentage for the four football teams that defeated Palmetto in 2015. The Tigers went 6-4, dropping games to Braden River (10-0) and Venice (9-1) in district competition and losing to Manatee (8-2) and Punta Gorda Charlotte (10-0) in non-district action that highlights their difficult slate. Palmetto missed the playoffs for the first time in head coach Dave Marino’s six-year tenure. The Pirates went 13-1 overall, winning three playoff games en route to the program’s first state semifinal appearance before eventual state champs Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas knocked them off. The Tigers did hand Fort Myers its first home defeat since 2006 as a signature victory in a difficult schedule that saw them lose to four playoff teams.

3

Home games for Manatee County football teams in action Friday when Kickoff Classics begin the 2016 season. The preseason slate features Braden River hosting New Port Richey River Ridge, Manatee hosting Seffner Armwood and Lakewood Ranch hosting Sarasota Riverview. Three other public schools are on the road, with Palmetto at Sarasota Booker, Southeast at Tampa Leto and Bayshore at Clearwater Central Catholic. The counties two private school programs that play Friday, Saint Stephen’s and Bradenton Christian, are also on the road. The Falcons travel to Naples St. John Neumann and the Panthers are at Clearwater Academy.

15

Amount of times Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has clocked an all-time top 48 time in the 100-meter dash. The latest, at 9.81 seconds on Sunday, earned Bolt his third straight 100-meter dash Olympic gold medal. He’s the first person to win three golds in the event and is the holder of the three fastest times in the event’s history. Two of those times took place in the last two Olympics, while the world record time of 9.58 came at the 2009 World Championships. On Sunday, Bolt bested American Justin Gatlin by 0.08 seconds. Gatlin also earned his third Olympic medal in the event, which was the first time an American has accomplished that feat.

88

Years it took South Africa to win an Olympic gold medal on the track when Wayde Van Niekerk took home the top prize Sunday in the men’s 400-meter dash. Van Niekerk shattered Michael Johnson’s 17-year world record in a blistering 43.03 seconds. That was 0.15 seconds better than the mark Johnson set in 1999, and Van Niekerk became the first South African to claim Olympic gold in a track event since Sydney Atkinson did it in the 110-meter hurdles in 1928.

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Crunching Usain Bolt, Wayde Van Niekerk and Manatee County high school football digits."