CLASS 1A
Things pretty much went according to plan last Saturday save for Donahue Catholic going on the road to defeat the two seed City of Life Christian in Region Three. That means three of the four regional finals are one vs. two matchups. In Region One, district rivals Impact Christian and North Florida Educational meet again. Impact won by nineteen in that district tournament contest. Down in Orlando in Region Two, another rematch between district foes takes place. Central Florida Christian Academy holds the top seed and the home court despite losing on that court in the district final to Orlando Christian Prep. We’ll see how much of a difference three weeks makes. In Region Three, Donahue takes a shorter trip this time to Lakeland, only to face a Victory Christian team whose lowest margin of victory in two regional games is FIFTY-EIGHT POINTS. Finally, in Region Four, three-time champ Sagemont Prep hosts Dade Christian. Sagemont has been drubbing opponents as of late.
Best Matchup: It will easily be Orlando Christian Prep taking on Central Florida Christian. The #4 and #5 teams in that classification, both teams have played strong schedules throughout the season. OCP won by eleven in the district final. This time there is a lot more riding on the outcome.
Best Chance for an Upset: Whoever wins between CFCA and OCP in Orlando Saturday night, it won’t be an upset. In the other three regions, there is frankly very little hope for the visiting teams.
Our Picks
Impact Christian over North Florida Educational
Orlando Christian Prep over Central Florida Christian
Victory Christian over Donahue Catholic
Sagemont over Dade Christian
CLASS 2A
Another set of region semis that went to script for each game except for The Benjamin School rolling up to Melbourne and defeating Holy Trinity Episcopal. The three-seed Benjamin won by three. As a result of the favorites winning, there look to be several good matchups taking place on Saturday night. In Region One, a surging Providence School takes on a young but hungry The First Academy squad out of Orlando. An intriguing storyline to this game will be the matchup of young bigs: Providence’s 6’9 junior Nolan Nelson and TFA’s 6’9 Kyle Blair. In Region Two, Santa Fe Catholic out of Lakeland has won its two home regional playoff games by 30+ points each. It could be a long night for Benjamin. Over in Region Three in the Bay area, Clearwater Northside Christian hosts First Baptist Academy out of Naples. Northside has played a difficult schedule to prepare for this type of contest. They will need to have something on hand to slow down FBA’s 6’8 junior Brock Bass-Bonner. In South Florida’s Region Four, #2 Riviera Prep faces #3 Miami Country Day. The teams have not played each other this season. Both teams have great guard play. Riviera Prep arguably has more size and an advantage on the inside.
Best Matchup: That Riviera Prep/MCD contest in the 305 has all the makings of a classic. Hopefully, it will live up to that billing.
Best Chance for an Upset: We’ll go with FBA driving up I-75 to take on Northside Christian. At times, Northside has been inconsistent despite being physically superior to many of its opponents. Not saying it will happen, just saying this one has a better chance of happening than the other three contests.
Our Picks
Providence School over The First Academy
Santa Fe Catholic over The Benjamin School
Northside Christian over Naples First Baptist Academy
Riviera Prep over Miami Country Day