Going into the 2017 high school football season, the journey to the playoffs has been significantly altered, shifting from district standings to a new point system. The Florida High School Athletics Association has revamped their method of determining playoff teams.

The old way they went about it was that each District Champion and District Runner Up earned playoff berths regardless of how difficult the teams they played were or how many teams there were in their district. It was like this across the board, throughout Classes A-8A.

However, things have shaken up a bit now, for classes A-4A, districts have been effectively eliminated. Playoff teams will now be decided entirely through a points system. The better the team you face, the more points a win or loss is worth. This also eliminates the built in opponents that come along with districts, so strength of schedule has never been more important at this level.

For classes 5A-8A, it remains a bit more like it used to. Districts are still in place and the winner of each district is sent to the playoffs with an automatic bid, just how it used to be. However, the rest of the playoff field will be determined by a points system like the classes beneath it.

This will impact Newsome in not too severe of a manner, but it does play a factor in their playoff chances. Being a large 8A school, Newsome deals with the second playoff system, which means in order to make the playoffs, the team either has to win their district, or prove that they are worthy of a playoff spot with their strength of schedule.