High school football ‘26: Playoff glance for Class 1A-3A postseason games

The high school football playoffs begin in full this week. Here’s a glance at State Series playoff games in Classes 1A-3A as those games approach. Breakdowns for games in the Open division, Classes 4A-6A and independent football will be published Thursday. Class 1A-3A State Series playoff matchupsRegion 1-3A(1) Godby (7-3) at (8) Palatka (5-5)Winner gets: Bishop Kenny or Pine Forest. Palatka would travel to face either team.Glance: The Panthers go into the playoffs as a district champ for the first time since 2003. They’ve been all over the board this season, losing big to teams like Clay and St. Augustine but topping solid teams like Union County, Fort White and Menendez. Palatka can play defense well enough to hang with most teams, even a Godby team that is a No. 1 seed due to Raines making the Open division. Eight Palatka head coaches have taken their turn after iconic coach Jim McCool led the team to its last district title in his final season in 2003. Lantz Lowrey is the man who f