This past Saturday marked the final date for any district games in the FHSAA season.   The district tournaments will take place April 7th through the 10th.  With the district seeds now set we thought it might be a good time to take a look at how some of the teams stand around the state. We previewed the other three brackets here, here, and here.

District 25 should see Cardinal Mooney advance to play the winner of the District 26 tournament.  Coach Clayton Wight and his Cougars beat the number two seed 16-0 during the regular season.  It would certainly take an epic upset to keep Cardinal Mooney from advancing out of this one.  Semi-Finals are being held at ODA Sarasota and the games begin at 5:00. District 26 should be an exciting district tournament.  Cypress Lake is truly this season’s Cinderella story.  An incredible rebound from a 2-13 season in 2014 has resulted in a 12-1 record and the top seed in the district tournament.  That 12-1 record is in the rear view mirror now as Bishop Verot is certainly going to be ready to play.  The Vikings are 13-4 this season and handed Cyrpess Lake it’s only loss in a 12-4 early season game.  Cypress Lake takes on Ft. Myers (4-10) and Bishop Verot plays Estero who is no walk in the park at 13-3. BV and Estero have played twice this season with BV winning the first time 7-1 and Estero taking the second game 11-6.

Canterbury and Riverdale are the 5th and 6th team in this district and missed the playoff.  There is no telling who is going to come out with this championship. Games begin at 5:30 tonight at Bishop Verot High School. District 27 – Gulf Coast should be able to advance out of this district.  They went 3-0 in district play during the regular season beating the number two seed 15-7.  Golden Gate and Immokalee are seeds 3 and 4.  Semi’s are tonight starting at 5:00 at Golden Gate High School.

District 28 will send Barron Collier to the first round, most likely to face Gulf Coast.  Barron Collier easily defeated the other teams in their district during the regular season. Unfortunately for everyone else in District 29, this is the home of St. Thomas Aquinas.  St. Thomas has been the top team in our Al Packer Ford Coaches poll most of the season and is expected to keep on moving all the way to the final four.  No doubt there are others, like Barron Collier, who hope to stop them, but it won’t happen during the district tournament.  We are going out on a limb here and picking St. Thomas Aquinas to beat University for the District 29 Championship.  Western and American Heritage also qualified for the tournament while South Plantation and Plantation High School will have to wait until next year. District 30 – Cypress Bay beat everyone in this district twice this season going 10-0 against district opponents and 15-2 overall.  They won most district games by comfortable margins except for one.  The second time they played Archbishop McCarthy the game went to OT in a game our own Lee Roggenburg described as, “one of the most scintillating games I have ever witnessed.”  So we aren’t prepared to call this one for either team just yet.  West Broward and Flanagan qualified for the tournament but Cooper City and Pembroke Pines season’s have ended.

District 31 is a very interesting District.  Gulliver is set to play Ransom Everglades in the first round and Columbus plays Belen Jesuit.  The games are at Belen and begin at 3:00 today.  Columbus should pull this out but Gulliver has only lost four games this season and all four losses were to high end opponents, including Columbus, Ponte Vedra, Douglas, and Barron Collier.  Only two goals separated Gulliver and Columbus the first time they played.  But two goals only separated Gulliver and Ransom when they played.  So Gulliver is going to have their hands full tonight.  This one is tough to pick but Columbus certainly looks to have the advantage. District 32 – Westminster Christian hosts the District Championship with games beginning at 2:00 today.  Interestingly, the four seed, Palmer Trinity, gave Miami Palmetto the closest game at 6-4 of any district opponent this season.  They play at 2:00 and Coral Reef and Coral Shores play at 4:00.  Those two played to a one goal game earlier in the season.   Palmetto is a clear favorite to win this district but the teams are close enough to put this one in the “anything can happen in the playoffs” category.