On Tuesday morning, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) released its first football rankings of the season.

The highest-ranked area team is Buchholz, which is ranked No. 8 overall in Florida and No. 3 in Class 6A.

This past Friday night, the Bobcats (4-1) defeated Richmond Hill (GA), 21-0, in a game that was called at the half due to lightning. It was their first win against an out-of-state team in program history.

Buchholz’s only loss was at home to Vero Beach, which is ranked second in Florida and No. 1 in Class 7A.

The Bobcats have the third-highest strength of schedule in 6A (11.35) behind West Broward (Pembroke Pines) (12.28) and Navarre (11.82).

They have another tough matchup this Friday night against Nease (Ponte Vedra), which is ranked 11th overall and No. 4 in 6A, in the Class 6A-District 3 opener for both teams.

Bradford (Starke) is the next-highest ranked area team at No. 21 overall and No. 3 in Class 2A. The Tornadoes (4-1), whose only loss was a 14-7 setback at 6A No. 5 Mandarin (Jacksonville), defeated Eastside, 28-7, last week.

They have allowed just 33 points this season for an average of 6.6 points per game. The Tornadoes will travel to Keystone Heights (0-4) this Friday night for their 2A-District 5 opener.

Columbia (Lake City) is ranked 25^th overall and No. 5 in 4A.

The Tigers (5-0), who defeated Trinity Christian (Jacksonville), 27-20, last week, travel to St. Augustine this Friday. The host Yellow Jackets (5-0) are ranked 6^th overall and No. 1 in Class 4A.

Chiefland is the next highest-ranked area team at No. 56, but the Indians (4-1), winners of three in a row, are ranked No. 3 in the Rural classification behind No. 1 Blountstown and second-ranked Taylor County (Perry).

Unbeaten Trenton, which was off last week and travels to Chiefland this week, is sixth, while Williston, which lost in double overtime at Chiefland in week one but has won three straight, is currently ranked seventh.

Defending Rural state champion Madison County is currently 12th in the rankings, while state runner-up Hawthorne is ninth.

The top 16 teams will make the Rural classification state playoffs, while the bottom 16 will make the Florida Invitational Tournament (FIT).

Santa Fe (Alachua) is ranked at No. 8 in Class 2A and 66^th overall.

The Raiders (4-0) will host University Christian (Jacksonville) this Friday at 7 p.m. for Homecoming. The visiting Christians (4-1) are ranked 11th in Class 1A.

Bradford is currently No. 1 in 2A-Region 2, followed by The Villages (5-0) and Santa Fe.

If the season ended today, Eastside would make the FHSAA state playoffs. The Rams (3-2) are currently fifth in 3A-Region 2, with the top eight teams in each region making the postseason.

Newberry (1-3) has plenty of work to do to get in the playoff picture as they are ranked 12^th in 2A-Region 2.

Following a 24-13 loss at Forest (Ocala) this past Friday, Gainesville High dropped to 2-3 overall. The Hurricanes are currently 13^th in 4A-Region 2.

Click here to access the first FHSAA rankings of the season.