No Class, No Cushion: FHSAA’s New Open Division Raises the Stakes for Columbus
by Oscar Pinto
The FHSAA’s new Open Division will bring Florida’s highest-ranked teams together, potentially reshaping the postseason path for Columbus athletics.
For years, Christopher Columbus football has chased state championships through a class-based playoff bracket. This season, being one of Florida’s best could send the Explorers down an entirely different path.
And for Columbus, that possibility is more than hypothetical.
The Explorers are 3-1 and ranked No. 3 in Florida in MaxPreps’ Sept. 16 rankings, putting them in the conversation for a new championship format that could pit the state’s strongest programs against one another regardless of classification.
Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, the Florida High School Athletic Association will debut its Open Division, featuring the eight highest-ranked teams in 11 team sports. Those sports include football, girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, flag football and boys and girls lacrosse.
For football, the eight teams will be selected using MaxPreps rankings at the conclusion of the regular season. In the other Open Division sports, teams will qualify through the FHSAA Power Rankings by MaxPreps following district tournaments.
Once selected, the eight teams will be divided into two four-team pools. Seeds 1, 4, 5 and 8 will compete in one pool, while seeds 2, 3, 6 and 7 will compete in the other. The top two teams from each pool will advance to a four-team, single-elimination tournament for the Open Division state championship.
Few schools have more reason to pay attention than Columbus.
The Explorers have won 27 team state championships, with basketball, soccer and volleyball adding titles in 2026 alone. Columbus football’s current No. 3 state ranking makes the impact of the new system especially immediate.
For defensive tackle Tavares Vicks, the possibility of facing Florida’s strongest programs is part of the appeal.
“The Open Division is honestly a win for Florida high school sports because it puts all the super-stacked teams into their own playoff bracket,” Vicks said.
Under the old format, Columbus’ postseason path was largely shaped by classification. Under the Open Division, remaining among Florida’s top eight could instead put the Explorers in a pool with other highly ranked programs before they could even reach a state semifinal.
That creates excitement, but not every Columbus athlete sees the change the same way.
Baseball pitcher Eduardo Ortea believes the format could eliminate some of the progression that comes from facing different levels of competition throughout a traditional postseason.
“We lose the chance to build momentum against varied competition,” Ortea said.
His sport could face the same situation as football. Baseball is one of the 11 sports included in the Open Division, although its qualifiers will be determined after district tournament play rather than at the end of the regular season.
That difference in opinion highlights the biggest question surrounding the new format: Is earning a spot among Florida’s eight best teams a reward, or does it create an even more difficult path to a championship?
Columbus basketball may provide one of the clearest examples.
The Explorers have won five consecutive FHSAA state championships from 2022 through 2026, a streak that made Columbus the first Miami-Dade boys basketball program to win five straight state titles. The program also won the 2025 Chipotle Nationals championship.
Now, a program accustomed to competing for championships could potentially find itself playing Florida’s other highest-ranked teams before reaching the final.
That is exactly what makes the Open Division different.
Traditional FHSAA championships separate teams by classification. The Open Division crosses those boundaries, creating what the FHSAA describes as a “premier competitive pathway” for the state’s highest-performing programs while keeping the traditional state championship system in place for the remaining classifications.
For Columbus, the debate is no longer simply theoretical. Football and Basketball are already positioned near the top of the rankings, while programs such as, lacrosse, baseball and soccer have recent histories of competing at the state level.
The rankings will change, and no football team will officially earn an Open Division spot until the regular season ends. But if Columbus remains among Florida’s top eight, the Explorers could become part of the first group to find out exactly what winning in the Open Division requires.
For senior Jan Carlo Hernandez, competing against stronger opponents would only add meaning to the result.
“I feel that championships are earned and deserved by playing the best,” Hernandez said.
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