- December 13, 2025
The Matanzas Pirates were not included in the state football playoff brackets that were announced Thursday, Nov. 6, but they will be playing in a postseason game at home.
Matanzas will host Bartram Trail at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, in the new Florida Invitational Tournament.
The Pirates (7-3) are seeded third in the North Division of the Class 4A-7A FIT bracket. Bartram Trail (3-7) is seeded sixth. There are 16 teams in the 4A-7A bracket with eight teams each in a North and a South Division. The winning team in each division will play for the championship at the Villages Charter School stadium the weekend of Dec. 4-6.
The winner of the Matanzas-Bartram game will meet the winner of No. 2 seed Tate and No. 7 First Coast on Nov. 21 at the higher seed's stadium. The semifinals are Nov. 28 with the top remaining team in each division playing for the championship. Neptune Beach Fletcher is the No. 1 seed in the North Division. Lake Worth Garcia is the top seed in the South Division.
Matanzas coach Matt Forrest said his team deserved to be included in the Class 5A playoffs, but after not being included among the eight Region 1 teams, the Pirates were excited to still be able to continue their season.
“When you play games in November, it's meaningful,” Forrest said. “When you're playing meaningful games in October, you're doing that to try to get to play in November. And we're one of the few teams remaining that's getting to play in November, so our guys and coaches and community are really excited about that.”
After closing the regular season with a win against Palm Bay on Oct. 30, Matanzas resumed practice on Monday, Nov. 4, hoping to get into the playoffs for the fourth time in Forrest’s six years as the team’s coach.
But after the FIT pairings were announced, Forrest expected the players to have a little “extra juice” in that afternoon's practice, now that they finally knew who they would be playing.
To host a game in the postseason is certainly really special, and we get to represent our school, our families, our community and our county in the postseason, and that's something to be really proud of.
— MATT FORREST, Matanzas football coach
Bartram Trail has a rich football tradition with Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach Darrell Sutherland leading the Bears to the playoffs 19 times from when the school opened in 2000 to when he retired in 2022. Coach Cory Johns took the team back to the playoffs in 2023.
Although the Bears won only three games this season, all seven of their losses were to playoff teams. Six of those opponents had records of 8-2 or 9-1.
“Their whole schedule is littered with really good opponents, But we feel like ours was too,” Forrest said.
The Pirates won their final four games of the season after losing to district opponent Mainland, which received the No. 2 seed in the Region 1-5A playoff bracket. The Pirates led the Bucs at halftime but were shut out in the second half with the Bucs winning 34-17.
“We played four playoff teams from a year ago, and we went 3-1 in those games. We played two 7A teams who were playoff teams a year ago, along with playing a very tough Mainland team and a Seabreeze team that’s 5-5,” Forrest said.
The Pirates ended the regular season ranked 29th in Class 5A in MaxPreps but were not one of the 32 teams to reach the 5A playoffs. Half of those teams had automatic bids for winning their district.
“I think the system has its positives and its negatives,” Forrest said. “[The new invitational tournament] kind of balances that out.”
The FIT will give the Pirates another opportunity to show they are a talented team, Forrest said.
“To host a game in the postseason is certainly really special, and we get to represent our school, our families, our community and our county in the postseason, and that's something to be really proud of,” Forrest said. “It's going to be a great, great matchup and a great test. And we hope it's going to be a very electric atmosphere on Thursday night next week.”
