CLASS 6A
District Upsets: In Region 1, Gainesville came from the third seed in District 2 to win the title. The Hurricanes win essentially bumped Ponte Vedra Nease, who was looking at an 8 seed prior to the district tournaments, out of the regional round. In similar fashion, Bartow, a 3 seed in District 7, won the title. This time though, no projected teams were bounced out of the playoffs by Bartow’s win, just a rearranging of the seedings. In Region 3, Bloomingdale defeated top seed Palmetto by two points in the final. Somehow, the loss by Palmetto dropped them from a projected 6 seed prior to the district tournaments out of the playoffs and Gaither vaulted over THREE teams to grab the 8 seed. We went so far as to double check with the FHSAA to see if this was correct. They swear it is. If I am the Principal/AD/and/or Coach of any of those three teams, I am dropping my red flag for a review. In Region 4, all the projected teams made the regional round. The biggest surprise is that Pembroke Pines Charter leaped over St. Thomas Aquinas for the top seed in the region, most likely because Pines Charter’s final opponent was ranked fifth in the classification while STA’s opponent ranked 25th.
Toughest Region: Region 2 in Central Florida has a group of eight ranging from Edgewater at #1 to St. Cloud at #21 in the eight seed. All the other regions have multiple teams with lower rankings than St. Cloud’s. There are also a lot of “new faces” as Stuart South Fork, St. Cloud, Orlando East River, and Winter Park Lake Howell have not tasted much playoff success in the last few years.
Best Opening Matchup: The Pompano Beach Ely/South Plantation game is a matchup of two teams ranked in the top ten of the classification prior to the district tournaments. Ely’s strength of schedule comes out higher but South Plantation has the better record by far. Both teams have great athletes and lack significant size. It should be a fast-paced affair on Thursday night.
Best Chance for an Upset: A couple of matchups catch our attention. Milton will be overlooked as an 8 seed coming from the Panhandle to Wiregrass Ranch. We were impressed by Milton at an event prior to the start of the season and while it would surprise, it wouldn’t shock us if Milton squeaked one out on the road. In South Florida, Miami Southridge certainly has the talent to go into Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer and defeat the Panthers. Whether they can keep their heads in a hostile environment and do so is another matter.
Our Picks:
Wiregrass Ranch over Milton
Gainesville Buchholz over Ocala Forest
Ponte Vedra over Tallahassee Lincoln
Gainesville over Orange Park Oakleaf
Orlando Edgewater over St. Cloud
Bartow over Lakeland
Oviedo over Orlando East River
Stuart South Fork over Winter Park Lake Howell
Tampa Leto over Tampa Gaither
Tampa Wharton over Clearwater Countryside
Naples Palmetto Ridge over Fort Myers
Punta Gorda Charlotte over Valrico Bloomingdale
Pembroke Pines Charter over Fort Lauderdale Boyd Anderson
South Plantation over Pompano Beach Ely
Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas over Plantation
Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer over Miami Southridge
CLASS 7A
District Upsets: A big surprise in Region 1 as Lake Mary hit a hail Mary to defeat Sanford Seminole by a single point to claim the crown. Lake Mary’s win and Ocoee’s run to the title game essentially knocked Winter Park and Orlando Boone out of the playoffs and allowed Lake Mary and Apopka to advance to regional play. Region 2 in this classification had more chaos than anywhere else. Kissimmee Osceola, the 3 seed in District 6, and Fort Pierce Central, the 5 seed in District 7, won their respective districts. If they hadn’t, neither team would likely have made it into regional play. Their wins essentially knocked Harmony and Jupiter out of the regional round, despite both teams reaching their respective title games. Under the “old” system of district winners and runners-up making the region round, both teams would have been in. In Region 3, East Lake’s loss in the district final and North Port’s second place finish in District 12 knocked East Lake out of the regional round. They were projected as a 5 seed beforehand. In Region 4, a couple of one seeds, Boca Raton Olympic Heights and Coral Springs, were knocked out in their respective semis. Boca Raton, the 5 seed in District 13 won, while Cypress Bay, the 5 seed in District 14 reached the finals. These two results combined to leave projected regional participants Boca Raton Olympic Heights and Miami Palmetto out of the playoffs.
Toughest Region: Unquestionably, it is Region 2. Nationally-ranked Oak Ridge took a bit of a ding to its status with a one-point, come from behind victory in the district title game over Windermere. Oak Ridge, Windermere, Olympia and Lake Worth are all ranked in the classifications top ten while Wellington isn’t far behind at #13. Even with surprise entrants like Kissimmee Osceola and Fort Pierce Central, it will be a tough road to Lakeland for the eventual winner.
Best Opening Matchup: Over the last couple of seasons, the Lake Worth/Wellington rivalry has grown to a fever pitch. They routinely meet in the district finals and Lake Worth has held an edge. This time around, they meet for the right to advance. When two teams know each this well and the stakes are this high, a good game usually results.
Best Chance for an Upset: While Orlando Olympia is the higher seed, they have to go on the road to play Fort Pierce Central. We have seen that winning on the road in the FHSAA playoffs is no easy feat. Olympia certainly has the talent and pedigree to do just that. In Miami, it seems like Cypress Bay is the type of team that can go into “The Asylum” and knock out a mercurial Stingarees team.
Our Picks:
Orlando Evans over Lake Mary
Altamonte Springs Lake Brantley over Ocoee
Sanford Seminole over St. John’s Creekside
Orlando University over Apopka
Orlando Oak Ridge over Kissimmee Osceola
Lake Worth over Wellington
Orlando Olympia over Fort Pierce Central
Windermere over West Palm Beach Palm Beach Lakes
Winter Haven over Riverview Sumner
Tampa Durant over North Port
Sarasota over Sarasota Riverview
Tampa Plant over Plant City
Columbus over Boca Raton
Davie Western over Hialeah Gardens
Coral Springs over Coral Springs Coral Glades
Miami Senior over Weston Cypress Bay