A total of 13 area teams advanced to the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) football playoffs.

Buchholz defeated Oviedo, 49-41, in a shootout on Thursday night to advance to the Class 6A-Region 1 Semifinals next Friday.

Three of the teams to earn a playoff bid have first-year coaches – Trenton (Bryant Frye), Chiefland (Cliff Harrell), and Santa Fe (Earnest Graham).

Trenton is back in the FHSAA playoffs as the No. 13 seed in the Rural class. The Tigers (7-3) will travel to No. 4 seed Taylor County (Perry) tonight at 7:30 p.m.

“I think we’re really pleased where we’re at,” said Frye, who led the Trenton girls basketball team to the Class 1A state title in 2019. “The gentlemen worked very hard throughout the summer and in the off-season to get where they are. We hit a little bit of a short bump in the road there, losing two games, but they picked back up, and they got where they needed to be, so overall I’m very pleased at where we were at and what we’re doing, and very excited about making the FHSAA playoffs.”

Harrell and the Indians (9-1) are the No. 3 seed. They will host No. 14 seed Sneads (7-3) at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Rural-Region 3 Semifinals.

Despite returning just three starters on defense and four starters on offense, and a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball, the Indians are a legitimate contender.

“I feel like we’ve gotten better each week, played a little better,” Harrell said. “Offensively, we’ve been able to hang on to the ball a lot better than we did the first part of the season. Defensively, we’ve been pretty solid with what we do and our guys understanding assignments and alignments and playing real physical on that side of the ball, so pretty proud of our guys. We’re heading in the right direction.”

Chiefland is averaging 35.8 points per game thanks in part to the play of senior quarterback Matt Goodale, who has 21 touchdown passes and only three interceptions. He has thrown for 1,312 yards and also rushed for 527 (5.7 yards per carry) and 7 TDs.

“Matt has made good decisions for the most part with the ball,” Harrell said. “He’s trusted himself a little bit more to be able to tuck it and run…trust your legs, and he’s been doing a little bit more of that this year. I’ve been really proud of him being able to read defenses better, and he’s doing a much better job with his checkdowns in our passing game…guys listen to him when he talks, and he’s been doing an exceptional job.”

Senior Demorri Sweet (1,100 yards and 10 TDs rushing), who had 10 carries for 174 yards in the season finale at Union County (Lake Butler), a 42-0 win, leads a ground attack that averages 192.8 yards per game.

Louisville commit Jon Adams (team-leading 11.5 tackles for a loss) leads a defense that allows just 12.1 points per game.

“John could probably run the defensive practice,” Harrell said. “He started for us as an eighth grader at the defensive end position, and then he transitioned to more of an outside backer, rush edge guy. He understands the entire defense, what guys do, what they need to do, where they need to be, so he’s really an intelligent football player. He watches film…he’s one of the most physical football players we have on our team, and he thrives in that environment. He loves it. He is a special football player, to say the least.”

Chiefland will face a Sneads team that can run. The Pirates are averaging 352.8 yards per game rushing, led by junior Tyran Thomas (129 carries for 1,017 yards, 14 TDs).

“They’ve got some really good football players that run the ball hard,” Harrell said. “They run downhill. They’ve got a big running back who is hard to bring down. You’ve got to have more than one guy. He’s one of those guys when he runs the ball, he takes it personal if you try to tackle him with one guy, and our guys like those kinds of challenges.”

Harrell said in order for the Indians to make a run in the playoffs, it comes down to “execution.”

“The team that executes the best, you know, don’t shoot yourself in the foot,” Harrell said. “Don’t make mistakes, be the more physical team, take pride in what you do and how you do it. We tell our guys, stay humble, stay hungry.”

The Santa Fe football program struggled prior to this season, finishing 2-37 since 2021.

However, Earnest Graham, one of four former Gators on prep sidelines this fall, has given the Raiders hope in his first season.

They went from 1-9 last year to 7-3 this season and an at-large postseason bid.

Santa Fe got off to a fast start (4-0) and doubled the number of wins they had during that difficult stretch the past four seasons.

Graham said attitude and effort have been the difference.

“We try to have our kids take a personal inventory every day, to be able to bring that best attitude into the building,” he said. “We believe that if we have their best attitude every day, that they’re thankful and have gratitude as far as being able to play this game, then we know we’ll get great effort and we’ll have a good product on the field.”

Buchholz transfer running back Josiah Powell has been a workhorse. The junior has carried the ball 180 times for 1,224 yards (6.8 ypc) with 18 touchdowns.

“First of all, he’s a phenomenal kid,” Graham said. “He works his butt off. He’s a north/south runner that runs with bad intention. He’s got really good vision. He’s getting big…he’s really starting to really understand the position. He’s the guy that sets the tempo for us. He’s going to set the tempo for practice, he’s going to set the tempo for games by running hard to start the game, and running hard to finish the game, and because he has serious intent, a lot of our guys do.”

Santa Fe is the No. 7 seed and will travel to No. 2 seed Calvary Christian (Clearwater) (7-3) tonight at 7 p.m.

But there was some doubt about making the postseason’s top eight in the region heading into the regular season finale at Class 3A Weeki Wachee, a 17-0 win on the road.

“It would have been really easy to play tight that game,” Graham said. “We had a number of turnovers (four fumbles), but for the most part, we did what we did all year. We played great defense, we played good special teams, we ran the ball well…for us it’s just finding a way.”

The Raiders, who are averaging 28.6 points per game and allowing 16.4 ppg, face a Warriors team averaging 33.2 ppg with five straight wins, including a 36-26 win at 3A playoff team South Sumter (Bushnell) in the regular season finale.

Calvary Christian quarterback Oni Abasial has thrown for 1,441 yards with 13 touchdowns and only three interceptions, and he has 455 yards on the ground for a team that averages 219.4 yards per game.

“They’re a complete team, high-IQ football team,” Graham said. “They do a lot of things defensively to give you issues, and obviously, they have a really good offense. To have a quarterback in high school football is really a great asset, and their quarterback can really, really play. He threads the needle, he runs well, he’s a complete football player.”

Graham said it’s a “really aggressive and opportunistic team.”

“They do a lot on special teams, and they just find a way to get points,” he said. “It’s really fun to watch them on film. I feel confident we’ll find an answer on defense, and we’ll step up this week on offense to help our defense out.”