With dramatics done, football playoffs are set in Tampa Bay area

The Tampa Bay area football playoffs are set.

Click here to view MaxPreps' Florida football playoff brackets.

Despite the fact that Week 11 (the final week of the regular season) is still left to be played, the wild Week no. 10 settled all of the playoff matchups – some of them with dramatic flair.

Hillsborough (Tampa) blocked a last-second field goal attempt by King (Tampa) and hung on for a 27-26 victory to take second place in Class 4A, District 9 and take the playoff spot from King.



Meanwhile, in Class 5A, Newsome (Lithia) fullback Conner Powers ran for 153 yards and scored five touchdowns as his team captured the 5A-6 district crown. And in 5A-5, Alonso (Tampa) defensive end Anthony Chickillo was a one-man wrecking crew, posting three sacks on defense and also scoring three touchdowns as the Ravens earned a playoff bid with a 33-7 win against Gaither (Tampa).

Chickillo, a University of Miami commit, scored touchdowns on a 1-yard run, an 11-yard reception and a 35-yard interception return.

In 5A-7, Tampa Bay Tech used a fake punt on fourth down on its own 12-yard line to secure a key first down and run out the clock to gain a 36-34 win against Wharton (Tampa) and the accompanying playoff berth.

Also, the usual Bay area playoff participants, Countryside (Clearwater), Plant (Tampa), Armwood (Seffner), Jefferson (Tampa), Pasco (Dade City) and Land O'Lakes all secured their playoff berths with impressive victories.

And one district that was headed towards a three-way tiebreaker event avoided any such dramatics.

In Class 3A, District 8, Lakewood (St. Petersburg), Spoto (Riverview) and Blake (Tampa) were all tied in district play after Friday's 28-22 Lakewood win against Spoto. But it was learned Saturday morning that a Blake player was found to be ineligible in a district win against Seminole (Osceola). That took Blake out of the tiebreaker and turned Lakewood's win against Spoto into a playoff clincher.



Among the private schools, Tampa Catholic overcame an 0-4 start to the season and stormed back to win five in a row to earn a Class 2B playoff berth. Also, Jesuit (Tampa) captured the Class 2A, District 5 championship while Berkeley Prep (Tampa) (Class A-6) and Admiral Farragut (St. Petersburg) (B-5) also are playoff bound.

Here are the Nov. 19 first-round playoff pairings in the Bay area:

CLASS 5A
Plant City at Plant
Alonso (Tampa) at Newsome (Lithia)
East Lake (Tarpon Springs) at Tampa Bay Tech (Tampa)
Brandon at Countryside (Clearwater)
Venice at St. Petersburg

CLASS 4A
Tarpon Springs at Gainesville
Springstead (Spring Hill) at Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel)
Sickles (Tampa) at Armwood (Seffner)
Hillsborough at Largo

CLASS 3A
Land O' Lakes at Jefferson
Lakewood at Pasco

CLASS 2A
Hardee (Wauchula) at Jesuit
Robinson (Tampa) at Immokalee

CLASS 2B
Tampa Catholic at Island Coast (Cape Coral)



CLASS A
Berkeley Prep (Tampa) at Hamilton County (Jasper)

CLASS B
Admiral Farragut (St. Petersburg) at Evangelical Christian (Fort Myers)