BOCA RATON — For all of the success West Boca Raton football has accomplished in the last two years, the program is eyeing the biggest triumph yet in 2026.
Back-to-back Class 5A championship titles have propelled the Bulls to the forefront of the state stage. The move to 6A this season provides a different gridiron experience — but if all goes according to plan, a 6A title won't be in the cards.
With the introduction of the Open Division, which pits the state's top eight teams against one another in a separate, elite grouping, West Boca wants to be the tournament's first winner.
"I love it because it's like college football," head coach Dylan Potts said. "You don't have time to sleep. You don't have time to have a bad weekend. This year, you've
got to bring it every week."
Potts says that the goal of playing without any mistakes has led to players understanding that every week is significant. That said, it doesn't seem like the players are short on motivation to win the Open Division.
"First year doing it, we could be the first ones to do it ever if we win," Larry Morgan III said. "So, I'm very excited about that. I'm going to college early, but I ain't trying to go home early."
West Boca has outscored its first three opponents 85-14, allowing a singular score to American Heritage-Plantation and another to Cardinal Newman, both top-ten opponents at the time of play.
That kind of success has the Bulls riding tremendous momentum as they welcome yet another top national competitor when Washing D.C.'s top program, St. Johns, comes to town next week.
Behind that success has been a defense that Potts believes is among the "best in the nation" as well as an offense that has gone from two quarterbacks to one and a star running back to a by-committe approach.
Senior Trey Moran told The Post after Thursday's win against Cardinal Newman that he has waited for this opportunity to run the show his "whole high school career," and the signal-caller has responded by posting efficient numbers with gutsy dual-threat ability.
Moran is looking forward to the challenges that would come with playing in the Open Division down the road.
"Because we're playing big games earlier in the season, it's definitely preparing us for the harder games in the open division," Moran said. "I'm definitely very excited to play in the Open Division, to play versus nationally ranked, highly ranked teams in Florida."
From the time the Open Division was announced in the spring, Potts and Co. knew what the objective would be for the 2026 season.
"That's been our goal from day one," Potts said. "We believe we've got the team and the roster to win the open division this year."
Alex Peterman is a high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Boca Raton football wants to be the Open Division's first winner
