Florida high school football season extended following hurricanes Milton and Helene: Reports

The 2024 Florida high school football season has been extended following the effects of recent weather disasters, hurricanes Milton and Helene. The high school football schedule was established before the season, but the storms have caused a change.

Florida high school football season extension announcement

Sports Illustrated reported that Craig Damon, the executive director of the Florida High School Athletic Association, announced in a news conference on Monday that the high school football season would be elongated by one week, that all region games would need to be completed by Nov. 7 and that playoff games would be determined soon after.

"This year's been a very unique year for us," Damon said. "Most of the state has been impacted, directly or indirectly, by inclement weather throughout the year. We had two major hurricanes, unprecedented tornadoes, some severe thunderstorms and extensive flooding as a result of rain to specific areas.

"All of these things, the inclement weather, has resulted in games and contests being delayed or canceled."

With many changes happening to fall sports such as football due to weather, Craig Damon also added:

"Our student-athletes, who may have been impacted by weather at some point in time during the year, will have the ability to participate in the state series."

The Florida state championship football games will take place Dec. 12-14 in the newly named Pitbull Stadium at Florida International University.

The effects of hurricanes Helene and Milton

Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 26. It negatively affected Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina. The storm surge along the west coast of Florida caused devastation. The impact was extensive and left extensive power outages and many experiencing flood damage to their houses and businesses.

Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday at Siesta Key, drastically affecting South Florida, including Sarasota, Tampa, Fort Myers and Bradenton. Many people evacuated from Florida to Georgia to reach safe haven while some stayed and endured the Hurricane. Many citizens were left in disarray and parts of Florida were severely deterred.