Tampa Catholic football to play in 3A

Posted Jan 25, 2013 by Scott Purks

Updated Jan 25, 2013 at 04:17 PM

Tampa Catholic’s appeal to move down a classification for the 2013 and 2014 football seasons – from Class 4A to 3A – has been approved by the Florida High School Athletic Association.

The Crusaders will play in Class 3A-District 4 against Berkeley Prep, Bishop McLaughlin, Fort Meade, Frostproof and Lakeland Christian, which are much closer to TC than the schools in its previously assigned Class 4A district.

The Crusaders initially were assigned to Class 4A-District 6 with Lake Placid, LaBelle, Clewiston and Avon Park, which translated to hundreds upon hundreds of travel miles for away games.

Tampa Catholic’s appeal to move down was granted because under FHSAA bylaws say the Crusaders were considered geographically isolated for a school their size, and TC’s enrollment fell in the bottom 10 percent of Class 4A.

“Thankfully we fit the criteria for the ‘(FHSAA’s) 10 percent’ rule,” TC coach Mike Gregory said. “Now we won’t have drive nearly as far for games and we keep our rivalry going with Berkeley Prep, and we also get some good competition with Frostproof and Fort Meade and Lakeland Christian.

No other schools in Hillsborough County moved in classification after the release of the tentative district assignments last December.

Here are the final district alignments for Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas schools.