FLEMING ISLAND - With area teams finishing off a week of preseason tournaments around North Florida, regular season games ramp up this week with new districts making county rivalries a bit more intense.

Tops on the new district list is District 3-5A that pits most of Clay County together, including Clay, Middleburg, Orange Park, Ridgeview and Gainesville, with newcomer Oakleaf also joining after dropping from Class 6A.

"It makes things a little more interesting," said Middleburg coach Meredith Forkum. "We had a good rivalry with Fleming Island the past few years, and Ridgeview has always been a tough program. Gainesville has been [in] 5A the past two years [with an appearance in the] Final Four last year after being one of the strongest 6A programs."

During the preseason weekend at Bishop Kenny, Middleburg, Ridgeview and Fleming Island battled with The Bolles School, Trinity Christian, Bishop Kenny and a very strong Wolfson team that won games Ponte Vedra and Fleming Island.

Also on Saturday at the JJVA in Jacksonville, Oakleaf, Orange Park and Keystone Heights flexed a little against Tocoi Creek, Yulee, Nease, Faith Christian Academy, Creekside and Stanton, with the Orange Park Lady Raiders getting a 2-0 win over Stanton Prep.

On Thursday, Aug. 13, Clay was at Baldwin High, where it played Fernandina Beach and fell short in a very dramatic near come-from-behind loss, 26-24, after being down 20-10.

For Fleming Island, the new District 4-4A is a larger. The Jacksonville-based batch of teams with Bishop Kenny was the big target for Fleming Island coach Amy Yoder. However, the Golden Eagles didn't play Bishop Kenny at the Kenny Preseason Tournament on Saturday. Also in district 4-4A are Englewood, Menendez, Parker, St. Augustine and Westside.

"Bishop Kenny is definitely the target," said Yoder, who faced off with Middleburg the past two years in district championship games. "We went 3-1 with Bishop Kenny last year with two games going to overtime."

Week of Aug. 17-21

For the opening week of regular season play, Keystone Heights opened with Branford on Monday, Aug. 17, with three of the more interesting county games being Oakleaf hosting Orange Park, Middleburg traveling to Santa Fe and Wolfson, which was impressive at Bishop Kenny, visiting Ridgeview.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, Fleming Island got their first crack at Bishop Kenny at home, while Fletcher visited Oakleaf.

The county shakeout is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 25 with Ridgeview at Fleming Island, Oakleaf at Middleburg, Clay at Keystone Heights and St. Johns Classical Academy at St. Johns Country Day School. Keystone Heights will travel to Orange Park on Monday, Aug. 24.