Nease plays at Pace and 3-7 Ponte Vedra at Buchholz on Friday, Nov. 13. If both win, the two schools meet again in the regional semifinal Nov. 20.

Both high schools that serve the Ponte Vedra area are in the state football playoffs. Nease and Ponte Vedra open the Class 5A tournament on the road Friday, Nov. 13.

The Florida High School Athletic Association released its playoff brackets Nov. 6. Both schools are in Region 1 of the Class 5A bracket, which the FHSAA links from its playoff page.

The first-round games

Game Seeds Where Kickoff
Nease at Pace No. 3 vs. No. 6 Pace High School, 4065 Norris Road, Pace 7:30 p.m. CT
Ponte Vedra at Buchholz No. 7 vs. No. 2 Buchholz High School, Gainesville 7:30 p.m. ET

Nease finished the regular season 7-3 on a six-game winning streak. It travels to Pace, in Santa Rosa County in the Florida Panhandle. The game page linked from the bracket lists a 7:30 p.m. Central kickoff, which is 8:30 p.m. in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Ponte Vedra went 3-7 and is the No. 7 seed. It plays at No. 2 Buchholz in Gainesville.

A possible rematch Nov. 20

The bracket pairs the winners of those two games in the regional semifinal on Friday, Nov. 20. That would be a second meeting this fall. Nease beat Ponte Vedra 49-35 at Nease on Oct. 23.

Two more teams from the same district are in Region 1. Top seed Mandarin hosts Oakleaf, and Bartram Trail plays at Evans in Orlando.

From the FHSAA’s calendar, the later rounds are:

  • regional semifinals, Friday, Nov. 20
  • regional finals, Friday, Nov. 27
  • state semifinals, Friday, Dec. 4
  • Class 5A championship, Dec. 9-12 at Florida International University in Miami

What it means for you

  • Buy tickets before you travel. The FHSAA says playoff tickets are sold digitally through GoFan, and most games stream on the NFHS Network.
  • Check the time with the host school. The FHSAA says all dates, times and places on the brackets “are subject to change.”
  • Both regular seasons, game by game, are on our Nease and Ponte Vedra football page. Results go up on our scoreboard after each game night.

For school questions, call Nease at 904-547-8300 or Ponte Vedra High at 904-547-7350.