LIVE OAK, Fla. — The state playoffs have been a pretty familiar spot for the Lafayette High School football team. For rival Branford, it’s been an unattainable goal in recent years.

The road to the postseason, though, just got easier for both. 

The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors unanimously approved Monday to add more teams to the Class 1A-4A state playoffs. Instead of having four teams from each region advancing, six teams from each region will now make the postseason. The expanded playoffs will begin this fall.  

For the 1A Buccaneers — who haven’t been to the state playoffs since 2000 — getting to the postseason is a very real possibility. 

“I’m very excited,” said BHS coach Tim Clark. “Last year we took a huge step to get to .500. We were in the conversation for the playoffs. Now it makes it even more realistic.”

Branford came in sixth place in Region 3-1A last season with a 5-5 record, narrowly missing out on a playoff spot. 

Lafayette, meanwhile, made the playoffs for the 14th time in Joey Pearson’s 19-year tenure as head coach. The third-seeded Hornets were eliminated by Dixie County in the first round.

“I don’t see any negatives,” said Pearson. “It gives more teams a chance and we’re obviously in a tough region.”

If the new playoff rules had been in place in 2017, the Buccaneers would have been in as the sixth seed and faced rival Lafayette (No. 3 seed) in a first-round game with Dixie County awaiting the winner.  

This marks the second straight season that the Buccaneers have benefited from a change in the rules. The Bucs were able to get out of a very tough district, and a brutal schedule, when districts were eliminated for Class 1A-4A. That rule change first took place last season.