Prep Rally | Independent football schools unite under Sunshine State Athletic Conference banner
BRADENTON
Stuart Weiss doesn't run a business.
Rather, he is the president of the Sunshine State Athletic Conference, an independent safe haven for prep football teams looking for more than what they were getting from the FHSAA.
But Weiss' strategy reads like something you see hanging in diner: Keep 'em happy, keep 'em here.
Currently in the second season of his presidency, Weiss doesn't care how many teams compete in the SSAC. (This year's count is 27, nearly triple than when it began seven years ago.)
He just wants them happy. If they stay happy, they'll stay in the league.
"We found a little niche," said Weiss, also defensive coordinator for a Seffner Christian team that plays Saint Stephen's on Friday at Brandon High. "We want to make sure everything we do is for the benefit of the kids. Nothing we do is for the conference; it's for the members and the kids."
Teams such as Saint Stephen's and Seffner Christian -- who compete in the Bay Division, one of four in the league -- hail from schools who are members of the FHSAA. They just chose to go their own way during the football season, unhappy with where the FHSAA slotted them during their district realignments.
"Don't get me wrong,
we are not anti-FHSAA," Weiss said. "We're happy in the FHSAA. ... I just think people were looking for more of an even playing field."
The SSAC does things a little differently. Because the FHSAA didn't permit the league to extend past 10 games, the regular season lasts eight weeks with the playoffs scheduled for the first two weeks of November. The top two finishers in each division get in and are guaranteed two games, as teams playoff for seventh, fifth, third and the championship during a four-game, daylong extravaganza known as the Florida Bowl played Nov. 15 at Master's Academy in Oviedo.
"Whether you're playing for seventh place or the championship," Weiss said, "you're going to feel like you've reached the pinnacle of opportunity."
Dues are $350 but acceptance isn't a given. Weiss said around 10 schools that applied recently were denied by the board members, made up of coaches of teams within the conference.
"They didn't play by the same rules we did," Weiss said.
Independent ball has its perks. The Falcons won five games and a playoff game while competing in the Gulf Atlantic Conference (which merged with the SSAC) last year. Perhaps its no coincidence Saint Stephen's entered this summer with more than 30 players on its roster for the first time since the school brought back football prior to the 2006 season.
"Small-school football has just not really been favorably treated by the state," Falcons coach Tod Creneti said over the summer. "For instance, where we are at the classification cusp of things, it makes it very hard for us to be playing in the 3A district with schools twice our size. So this provides schools with sort of like mission statements to compete with each other."
But how long will it last? This marks the last season for the FHSAA's current alignment, so teams may be a bit happier with where the association slots them the next time around. The chance to compete for a state championship, which independent schools cannot do, coupled with a more favorable district may be enough for the FHSAA to lure some teams back.
"We love the conference, and I have a lot of respect for the conference," Creneti said, "but depending on how things shake out, you always want to be able to compete for a state championship. And we haven't lost that dream or that goal,"
Weiss, however, is confident the SSAC has legs. Keep 'em happy, keep 'em here.
"I think most of the teams are very happy and want to stay here," he said. "We'll gain far more than we'll lose."
John Lembo, Herald staff writer, can be reached at 941-745-7057. Follow him on Twitter @JohnLembo1878.
This story was originally published September 5, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prep Rally | Independent football schools unite under Sunshine State Athletic Conference banner."