The Nease Panthers earned their first win of the 2026 football season Friday, outlasting visiting Mainland 35-33 at Panther Stadium in Ponte Vedra.

The two-point victory snapped a two-game skid to open the year. Nease fell 14-21 at Creekside on Aug. 21 and 22-28 at St. Augustine on Aug. 28 before breaking through in the home matchup against the Buccaneers from Daytona Beach.

The Panthers now stand at 1-2.

Coach pushes back on new playoff format

Head coach Collin Drafts entered the season with high expectations for his Class 5A squad in the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA). In an Aug. 20 First Coast News interview about the new FHSAA Open Division playoff format, Drafts said, "We're a 5A football team looking to compete for a 5A state championship."

The Open Division, new for 2026, pulls the top eight teams statewide based on final MaxPreps rankings out of their classification and into a separate playoff bracket. Drafts argued in that same interview that a committee, not rankings, should determine which programs enter the bracket, pointing to perennial powerhouses such as St. Thomas Aquinas and Chaminade-Madonna.

The program's official account on X called the result a thriller after the final whistle. No individual player statistics were available at the time of publication.

Nease brings recent playoff pedigree into season

Nease won back-to-back District 2-5A titles in 2023 and 2024, according to the program's social media accounts. The Panthers also made the FHSAA State Playoffs every season from 2021 through 2024, reaching the Sweet 16 three times during that stretch.

District rival looms in nationally watched matchup

Friday's win over Mainland was a nonconference game. District play looms next.

The Panthers return to Panther Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. for a District 2-5A matchup against Mandarin. The Florida Times-Union listed the game among its top Northeast Florida matchups to watch for 2026, noting both teams return a Super 11 defensive player: Kindrid Outland for Mandarin and Kash Kolbow for Nease.