Florida's eight best teams, by the state's own seeding, start a pool-play playoff on Friday, and three of them sit in MaxPreps' national Top 25: No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas, No. 6 Columbus and No. 17 Chaminade-Madonna, per the latest MaxPreps national rankings.

The FHSAA Open Division field, as reported by High School On SI: 1. St. Thomas Aquinas (10-0), 2. Columbus (9-1), 3. West Boca Raton (9-1), 4. Chaminade-Madonna (8-2), 5. Lakeland (9-1), 6. Miami Central (7-3), 7. Raines (10-0), 8. Venice (9-1).

Pool A: St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Lakeland, Chaminade-Madonna vs. Venice

St. Thomas Aquinas of Fort Lauderdale is 10-0 and No. 1 in the country. Its closest game came against a team in its own pool: a 21-20 win over Chaminade-Madonna on Oct. 2. Pool A has another rematch built in, because Venice beat Lakeland 32-25 in double overtime on Sept. 4. Friday's pairings are Aquinas vs. Lakeland and Chaminade-Madonna vs. Venice, so both rematches come later in pool play.

Pool B: Columbus vs. Miami Central, West Boca Raton vs. Raines

Columbus opens against a team it has already beaten. The Explorers won the GMAC title over Miami Central 28-3 in a game lightning ended in the third quarter. West Boca Raton, which beat Venice 20-17 on Oct. 2, gets unbeaten Raines of Jacksonville, the only other 10-0 team in the field.

Open Division Dates: Nov. 13, 20 and 27, Then Sumterville and Miami

Each team plays the other three in its pool on Nov. 13, Nov. 20 and Nov. 27. The top two in each pool reach the semifinals Dec. 3 to 5 at H.G. Morse Stadium in Sumterville, and the final is Dec. 12 at Pitbull Stadium on the FIU campus, according to Yahoo Sports. Unbeaten Carrollwood Day did not make the field and stays in the Class 1A bracket. St. Thomas Aquinas's season is on MaxPreps, and the state's other playoff pages are on the BallerTube FHSAA page.