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Florida high school football '24 district champ closing program down

by:Andy Villamarzo•06/16/25
Syndication: Tallahassee Democrat
Lincoln football dominate in 49-0 win over St. John Paul II at Gene Cox Stadium on Thursday, Sep. 5, 2024

It’s always surprising to see a high school deciding to close its doors when it comes to football, especially out of the football-craving Sunshine State. What makes it even that much more head scratching is after winning a district championship.

That’s the case at Tallahassee St. John Paul II Catholic as FloridaHSFootball.com reported Monday afternoon that the Panthers have closed down their football program for the 2025 season due to a lack of players.

‘Just confirmed that St. John Paul II in Tallahassee has closed the football program down for this year (at least as far as we know for now). Apparently the short roster last year (despite winning the district), left them with very few left players for 2025. Just sad to see this happen. Does look like those players have since found new homes.‘

The Panthers were coming off a 5-6 season and winning the Florida High School Athletic Association’s (FHSAA) Class 1A, District 1 championship in 2024. A combination of low player numbers and transfers look to be the main culprits of why the Panthers won’t be taking the field this fall.

This isn’t the first time, however, the Panthers have fallen on hard times when it comes to player participation numbers after a season that would be deemed by most as successful.

St. John Paul II in the 2017 season won its first North Florida Football Conference title and boasted an impressive 8-2 record that fall campaign. The following season would be a free fall from the Panthers’ winning ways.

The Panthers started the 2018 season 0-4 before having to forfeit the remaining five games due to a lack of players because of injuries piling up.

“We had eight or nine kids that were there all year, they cared about football, and they wanted to have a team,” then-St. John Paul II athletic director Patricia Young said in a 2019 Tallahassee Democrat report about the 2018 season. “It was rough to watch them go through losing players for injury or concussion after we started with so few. We expected to gain some kids in our freshman class and it just didn’t happen.

“It was unfortunate that we had to forfeit some games, but it was never embarrassing. All our programs have gone through low numbers at some point, but we dropped girls basketball and softball because there was no interest there. But the boys wanted to play football, and because of that it was worth it to fight for it and to rebuild the program.”