The latest Florida High School Athletic association rankings have arrived.
On both the boys and girls side, the Pensacola area has a handful of teams near the top of Region 1 for their respective classes. On the boys side, Booker T. Washington is near the best in the state, currently sitting at No. 2 in the FHSAA, and first in Class 5A with a rating of 22.042. The Wildcats only trail Mandarin (Jacksonville) in Class 6A with a rating of 23.170.
For the girls side, Gulf Breeze is the area’s best, ranked 64th in the state of Florida, and ninth in all of Class 5A. Five teams, in total, from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, are within the top 100 teams across the state.
Playoffs are less than a month away now for soccer teams, as district tournaments begin in late January. While the last playing date for tournament seeding is Jan. 18, district tournaments begin after that weekend on Jan. 22 and go through Jan. 30.
State tournaments are slated for Feb. 17-22 for Classes 4A-7A in Auburndale at Lake Myrtle Sports Park, and Feb. 25-March 1 for Classes 1A-3A at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
Here’s the latest rankings from the FHSAA.
Similar to most sports across the state, to make it to the regional playoffs, you must win the district tournament, or be ranked within the top eight teams to secure an at-large bid.
This is what the playoff scenarios would look like if the regular season ended today as far as region tournaments (with the No. 1 seed in each district being the presumed district champion).
Rankings are bound to change after district tournaments as well, so we’ll pretend that they didn’t change at all through districts to make things a little easier. Remember: anything can happen in the playoffs.
Here’s what the region tournaments would look like (note: the number in the parenthesis is the team’s district. A team with an asterisk is the presumed district champion).
Playoff notes: Since all four presumed district champions – Mandarin (District 2), Bartram Trail (District 3), Horizon (District 4) and Niceville (District 1) – are within the top eight teams, there wouldn’t be any jumping within the rankings. Navarre, as of now, would be the only local team in the region playoffs as an at-large bid, and would be on the road in the quarterfinals.
Playoff notes: This one is pretty straight forward, as all four presumed district champions – Booker T. Washington (District 1), Arnold (District 2), Fleming Island (3) and Ponte Vedra (4) – are the top four teams in order. Gulf Breeze, currently seeded fifth, would sneak in as an at-large bid and be on the road at Ponte Vedra. Booker T. would host Clay, similar to the 2023-24 season.
Playoff notes: This one is a little wonky since some district champions fall below the top four teams. But, all four are still within the top eight – West Florida (District 1), Bishop Kenny (District 2), Vanguard (District 4) and Stanton (District 3) – so there is no jumping. However, Vanguard would host Rickards as a district champ. West Florida is the only local team in the playoffs, as of now.
Playoff notes: All four district champions – Wolfson (District 3), Santa Fe (District 4), Florida High (District 2) and South Walton (District 1) – are the top four teams, with no jumping necessary. Pensacola Catholic, currently ranked ninth, just misses out on the playoffs in this ranking. That means no local teams would be in the playoffs for Region 1-3A.
Playoff notes: This one gets a little crazy with the District 4 champion, Forest, ranked 11th in the Region. That means, as of now, Buchholz (ranked eighth) would be bumped out as an at-large bid. Both Navarre (seeded sixth) and Tate (seeded seventh) would get in as at-large bids, and would be on the road. Navarre would stay relatively local at Niceville. The other three district champs – Bartram Trail (District 3), Fletcher (District 2) and Niceville (District 1) – are within the top eight teams.
Playoff notes: The only real noticeable thing in Region 1 is that Fleming Island (District 3’s champion) would host Beachside, since the latter is an at-large bid in District 4. Other than that, the district champs – Ponte Vedra (District 4), Chiles (District 2), Gulf Breeze (District 1) and Fleming Island (District 3) – are all within the top eight teams. The Dolphins would host Mosley.
Playoff notes: Region 1-4A would be without any local representation, as West Florida is seeded 11th, as of now. Outside of that, all four district champions – Bishop Kenny (District 2), Stanton (District 3), Vanguard (District 4) and Wakulla (District 1) – are within the top eight, but Wakulla would host as the fifth seed since Riverside is an at-large bid.
Playoff notes: Similar to Region 1-6A, the District 4 champion, Keystone Heights, is out of the top eight teams, so it bumps out South Walton of an at-large bid, despite being seeded eighth. The other district champs – Florida High (District 2), Pensacola Catholic (District 1) and West Nassau (District 3) – are within the top four teams. The Crusaders would host Wolfson to kick off the region tournament.
