Road to state finals will go through Daytona, Tallahassee now

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GAINESVILLE – The road to the state finals just got a little closer for First Coast area football teams.

As the FHSAA announced today, it is moving its high school state football finals to Tallahassee (Class 1A-3A) and Daytona (Class 4A-8A) for the next two years at Gene Cox Stadium in Tallahassee and Daytona (formerly Municipal) Stadium.

After 13 years in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl declining ticket sales and empty seats in a 65,194 seat stadium was enough for the FHSAA to make the necessary decision to move the finals elsewhere.

“After listening to feedback from our membership, we felt having two locations stretched out over two weeks made the most sense,” FHSAA Executive Director George Tomyn said. “This new schedule gives families and fans the most flexibility when it comes to supporting their student-athletes and we are thrilled both Visit Tallahassee and DME Marketing made this possible.”

Per the release, both Gene Cox and Daytona Stadium have gone through extensive renovations over the last couple of years. As Municipal Stadium, has gone through $20 million renovations included new field turf, remodeled locker rooms, an open-air VIP club, VIP space with theater seating and a completely redesigned expansive concourse area.

While Gene Cox underwent an $800,000 renovation featuring installations of completely new field turf and a pair of high definition video boards.

By moving to a much smaller stadium, it also allows the freedom to schedule more night games as 7 of the 8 state final games will be played at night allowing possibly more fans to attend.

Daytona Stadium holds a capacity of 15,000 and had hosted the state championships six previous times including 1989-1990, 1993-1996; while Gene Cox with a capacity of 6,500, hosted the 1986 Class 3A state championship game between Godby and Clewiston.

The last time multiple venues hosted the event was in 2005, when Dolphin Stadium in Miami featured Classes 3A-6A and FIU Community Stadium in Miami held Classes 1A-2A.

Daytona Stadium has seen their share of memorable state finals over the years including the final two state titles during Suwannee’s run of four consecutive state titles (1986-1990) and also No. 1 national ranked Bolles seeing their state and national title hopes dashed in a 14-13 stunning loss to Bartow in the 1996 Class 4A state title game.

Perhaps the most memorable moment in Daytona Stadium history was during Union County dynasty run, while the Tiger rolled over Frostproof 67-30 to clinch its third consecutive title in 1996, the game is more known for what Frostproof tailback Travis Henry accomplished running for a state record 328 yards in a losing effort.

Over its six years of hosting the state finals over the years, Daytona Stadium was quite kind to local teams as four local teams won multiple state titles including Suwannee (1989, 1990), Bolles (1990, 1993, 1995), University Christian (1989, 1994) and Union County (1994, 1995, 1996).

Daytona Stadium area state final games

1989: Suwannee 27, Key West 10 (Class 3A)

1989: University Christian 46, St. Edwards 13 (Class 1A)

1990: Suwannee 44, Cardinal Gibbons 10 (Class 3A)

1990: Bolles 17, Bishop Verot 14 (Class 2A)

1993: Bolles 42, Lake Wales 21 (Class 3A)

1994: Union County 21, Bishop Verot 0 (Class 3A)

1994: University Christian 26, Benjamin 14 (Class 2A)

1995: Bolles 28, Hardee County 21 (Class 4A)

1995: Union County 28, Labelle 3 (Class 3A)

1996: Bartow 14, Bolles 13 (Class 4A)

1996: Union County 67, Frostproof 30 (Class 3A)