Okay, since I get a lot of reader interest in the preseason Top 20 it’s only fair I take a shot at the District playoffs too . . . One thing I have learned over the years is that there will likely be ONE big surprise along the way. But it’s also true that the likelihood I’ll predict it is relatively slim. So what. That’s what makes it fun!   District 1 – Gulf Breeze hosts Gulf Breeze vs Washington Pensacola Catholic vs West Florida Tech An Interesting district since West Florida Tech finished the season strong and the 2 Pensacola Catholic losses were early and WFT took Gulf Breeze down to the wire later in the season and finished with four straight wins over Florida teams. The easy way is to predict another GB-PC final and that will likely play out, with GB holding the home field advantage but don’t be surprised to see WFT make a run at an upset here.  But given the hot streak all year and the home field I suspect GB will hold serve here.   District 2 – Lincoln hosts Maclay vs Lawton Chiles Leon vs Lincoln Maclay struggled this year but the closest district game they played all year was a 4-goal win over Leon at home and they then beat them worse a few games later on the road The gap is closing but it’s not enough this year as Maclay again wins their district.   District 3 – Buchholz hosts Oak Hall vs Gainesville Buchholz vs PK Yonge I see no reason for Oak Hall to not win this district easily.  Buchholz manhandled PK Yonge in the regular season and OH beat them easily at Buchholz.  OH had the much harder schedule and has the quality wins over Top 20 Nease and Top 20 Berkeley Prep and actually led Ponte Vedra 5-3 at the half on the road.   District 4 – Bolles hosts Bolles vs Paxson Episcopal Jacksonville vs Stanton Prep This is simply a rematch from the OT win by EJ at Bolles earlier in the season.  After their mid-season match Bolles clearly played the tougher schedule and I suspect that might well make the difference here.  I’ll go with Bolles to come out here.   District 5 – Providence hosts Fletcher vs Providence Sandalwood vs Mandarin Looks like a Fletcher and Mandarin final, as Fletcher has already beaten Providence on the road this season.  Mandarin will be waiting there and this was a one-goal win for Fletcher early in the season.  Let’s go with Fletcher going on to the first round.   District 6 – Nease hosts Ponte Vedra vs Bartram Trail Nease vs Creekside Probably the best district in the state, both on the Boys and probably on the Girls side too. In any other year you could say we’d see a competitive District but PV is on a mission to get back to Jupiter and they crushed all three teams.  A Top 20 matchup with Nease is most likely for the final.   District 7 – Father Lopez hosts St. Augustine vs Flagler Palm Coast Matanzas vs Menendez This will come down to St. Augustine vs Matanzas and that game was surprisingly close in the regular season.  SA held on for the one-goal OT win at home.  This one is too tough to call, even given the disparity of the team records but SA has more quality wins and should prevail in the end   District 8 – Lake Mary hosts Lake Mary vs Winter Springs Lake Brantley vs Seminole Lake Mary handled all 3 teams comfortably this season, have peaked late in the year and should have no trouble going through   That would make it:   Gulf Breeze vs Maclay Oak Hall vs Bolles Fletcher vs Ponte Vedra St. Augustine vs Lake Mary