There’s a lot of variance in how strong these districts are. District 7 dominates the current FHSAA ranking and District 6 is one of the weakest districts when you look at the current rankings.

It’s still basically ‘who can beat LHP?’ and right now there’s not a real threat lurking.

Still, plenty of intrigue with District 5 and 8, so get out to the games!

District 5

This is about the battle between Berkeley Prep, Tampa Catholic and the First Team Out in Cypress Creek. River Ridge has a path but they must win the District in all likelihood. They did beat Cypress Creek and lost to BP competitively in the regular season. Tampa Catholic fell badly to Berkeley but did not play the other two.

This is arguably one district where surprises might occur, and that could make the Regional slotting very interesting in the bottom half of the region.

District 6

Simply, win the District and you’re in. Lake Wales would likely not jump above Tampa Catholic for an at-large bid if they don’t win. Lake Wales and All Saint’s played a 1-goal game, but All Saint’s did not play Horizon. Horizon and Lake Wales didn’t play either. This is kind of ridiculous given they are the 3 top seeds in an area that really needs to schedule each other.

District 7

One of those few times when a District comes into their play with the 3 top seeds in a Region, but right now it’s LHP/First Academy/Bishop Moore in that spot, although BM is only one slot above D8 Edgewood. Then throw in that LN has BM well ahead of First Academy, so there will likely be seed changes due to what happens in the district. Bishop Moore did give LHP a tight game earlier, but LHP took the rematch comfortably. Bishop Moore did handle First Academy easily, so the current seeding of BM in this district is curious at best.

District 8

Currently, Edgewood has the #4 seed and Satellite the at-large #6 slot, and there’s some pretty good space between them in the rankings. Edgewood has the 5-goal win in the regular season, so the differential isn’t too bad. West Shore would have to win the District since they are currently Third Team Out, and well behind the last at-large slot.

A Satellite win could earn them a home game though, so there’s more to play for than just the higher seed.