- High school football spring practice officially begins on Monday, with flag football district tournaments ongoing this week.
- Saint Francis Catholic Academy will host Lake Mary Prep in the first round of the 2026 FHSAA Class 1A baseball state playoffs on Saturday.
Spring is in the air.
We’re about a month into the new season, which also means the start of something special – high school football and postseason baseball.
We’ve got both this week at Mainstreet.
Thursday, on a special edition of “The Prep Zone Sports Show” from 5-6 p.m. at locally owned Sonic Drive-In of Gainesville (39th Avenue), our guests will include Joshua Wilson of FloridaHSFootball.com and new Union County (Lake Butler) football coach Robby Pruitt.
Wilson will talk about this week’s flag football district tournaments, including tonight’s Buchholz at Belleview Class 3A-District 5 championship game, as well as high school football, which officially begins on Monday with the start of spring practice.
Pruitt, who stepped down as Willison’s head coach to become Union County’s head coach in December, almost didn’t end up in Lake Butler. He will join the show via phone at 5:45 p.m.
Hosted by MainStreet Daily News Sports Director Mike Ridaught and Marty Pallman, the show will air on MainStreet (audio only) and The Prep Zone.
On Friday at 7 p.m., the Buchholz baseball team will host Mandarin (Jacksonville) in the first round of the FHSAA Class 6A state playoffs.
The visiting Mustangs (15-12) are the No. 7 seed in Class 6A-Region 1, and the host Bobcats (19-7) are the No. 2 seed in this single-elimination quarterfinal game. The winner advances to the regional semifinals (Best-of-3) next Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2.
Last Wednesday, Buchholz defeated Forest (Ocala), 5-0, in the 6A-District 2 semifinals. The Bobcats won their fourth straight district title with a 4-2 win against Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) in Friday’s district championship game.
The game will be broadcast ‘live’ on Mainstreet Daily News (audio only) with Ridaught (Play-by-play) and former Buchholz baseball coach Ron Brooks (Color) calling the action, beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m.
On Saturday afternoon, the Class 1A-District 5 champion Saint Francis Catholic Academy baseball team will host Lake Mary Prep in the first round of the FHSAA Class 1A state playoffs.
The visiting Griffins (14-8) are the No. 6 seed in Class 1A-Region 2, and the host Wolves (21-4) are the No. 3 seed in this single-elimination game. The winner advances to the regional semifinals (Best-of-3) next Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2.
Pallman (Play-by-play) and Jack Jankowski (Color) will broadcast Saturday’s game (audio only) beginning at 3:45 p.m. The first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Buchholz and Saint Francis Catholic Academy are two of nine area baseball teams that will be participating in this year’s 2026 FHSAA baseball state tournament.