FHSAA football playoffs: Cocoa faces unbeaten South Sumter for 16th regional title
For a decade and a half, Cocoa High has won its regional championship in every football season.
The Tigers have beaten teams from 11 schools in that stretch. Astronaut, Avon Park, Clewiston and Jones got to play Cocoa more than once.
The Tigers (8-3) have faced South Sumter twice in their 15 years of regional titles, but just once in the final. The two programs meet Friday at 7:30 p.m. at South Sumter (12-0) for a spot in this year's Class 2S state semifinal round.
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After his team's regional semifinal win over Palm Bay last week, head coach Ryan Schneider recalled playing the Raiders twice in the playoffs. He described this year's version as "excellent."
"They're multiple," he said. "They have an athletic quarterback. They'll go from a three-back set to an empty set on back-to-back plays."
Cocoa beat the Raiders in last year's regional semifinal, 41-0. The previous meeting came in the 2019 regional final, 31-23.
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A year ago, the Cocoa defense held South Sumter to 116 yards of offense. Graduated Tigers running back O.J. Ross more than doubled that, rushing for 248 yards and five touchdowns.
Now-senior Raiders quarterback Eian Finkley completed 3 of 10 passes for 16 yards in that game, and he was intercepted by Caleb Dobbs. Jamare Dorsey, now a junior at running back, carried 14 times for 42 yards in the loss.
This year, Finkley has 1,410 passing yards and 18 touchdowns. Dorsey has run for 1,270 yards and 20 scores.
South Sumter has only played one game this season decided by less than 24 points, and that was a 23-20 win at Zephyrhills in early October. Since, the Raiders have scored 40 points or more in all five games. They've surpassed 60 points in three of them.
Cocoa comes into the game riding a six-game winning streak, with their last loss coming at Sanford Seminole 35-29 in overtime. Seminole is the No. 2-ranked team in the state's largest classification, 4M, and they're No. 17 overall in the state, according to maxpreps.com.
Cocoa High has won four state titles, in 2008, ‘09, ‘10 and ‘16. They also played but lost in the state title game in 2017, ‘18 and ‘21.
Contact McCallum at bmccallum@floridatoday.com. Follow @321preps on Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to subscribe to FLORIDA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: FHSAA football playoff preview: Cocoa High vs. South Sumter in Class 2S
