High school baseball and tennis officially begin today with the start of practice.
The beginning of spring sports is a good indicator that winter sports will be ending soon.
In fact, this is the last month of the regular season for basketball and soccer, which begins its district tournament play next week. The basketball district tournaments will be the first week of February.
Last Tuesday, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) released its first rankings of the new year and there are a few area teams that are highly ranked.
The best of the bunch is the Buchholz boys soccer team, which is undefeated and nationally ranked.
The Bobcats (12-0-1), who play Eastside tonight in the Gainesville City Cup, formerly the Alachua County Cup, have a shot at their second undefeated regular season in two years under first-year coach Todd Rousseau.
They are ranked ninth overall in the state, regardless of classification, No. 3 in Class 6A, and they are ranked 27th in the MaxPreps national rankings. Buchholz is currently third in Class 6A-Region 1 behind No. 1 Mandarin (Jacksonville) and No. 2 Niceville.
Only three teams are participating in the Gainesville City Cup. On Wednesday, GHS (4-6-2) will play Buchholz, and on Friday, Eastside (4-6-3) will play GHS.
Junior varsity teams are also participating. The JV games are at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity teams at 7 p.m. All games are at Citizens Field.
A 2-0 team wins the cup. If there is a 3-way tie (1-1), they decide the winner based on goal differential.
The next highest ranked area team is Santa Fe (Alachua), which is ranked 88th overall and No. 9 in Class 3A. They are also currently the No. 1 seed in Class 3A-Region 1.
The Raiders (8-4-3), who went 0-3 at the South Walton Showdown this past weekend, decided not to play in the Cup this year.
“We gave our seniors the option back in June to do an away tournament for preseason or late season and they opted for the latter,” said Santa Fe boys coach Morgan Dall’Acqua, last year’s Bosshardt Realty Big School All Area Coach of the Year. “Knowing that we would have as many as six games in the last seven days of the season, they opted not to be a part of the local event.”
This past Friday, Santa Fe lost 7-0 to Jesuit (New Orleans), the No. 1 team in the country, lost 2-1 to 2A No. 8 Episcopal (Jacksonville), which is 66th overall, and lost 3-2 to host South Walton (Santa Rosa Beach).
The highest-ranked girls soccer team in the area is P.K. Yonge.
The Lady Blue Wave (7-3-2), who are ranked 118th overall in Florida and No. 15 in Class 2A, tied Newberry, 1-1, this past Friday night. The new rankings will come out soon, but currently, they are ranked No. 2 in Class 2A-Region 1.
Newberry (15-1-2), the next-highest area team in the rankings, is fourth in the region and No. 153 overall and No. 21 in Class 2A, while No. 260 overall/2A No. 36 Williston (7-3-1) and No. 364 overall/2A No. 51 Trenton (7-5-3) are also knocking on the door for a postseason berth.
Newberry is also the highest-ranked area team in boys basketball.
The Panthers (11-1), who host Palatka at 7:30 p.m. in a 3A-District 3 contest, are ranked sixth overall in Florida and have a 15.05 strength of schedule. They have a slight lead in rating points over No. 10 overall in Florida, Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville), for the No. 1 seed in 3A-Region 1 (27.522 – 26.294).
Their only loss was 55-49 to defending 4A state champion Stranahan (Fort Lauderdale) in the semifinals of the prestigious Kingdom of the Sun tournament at Vanguard (Ocala) on Dec. 28.
Buchholz is just outside the top 50 at No. 51. The Bobcats (11-4) sit seventh in Class 6A-Region 1.
Trenton, which is ranked No. 2 in the Rural classification behind Wildwood, is 74th overall, followed by No. 94 Williston in the top 100.
Eastside, which lost on a buzzer beater at GHS this past Friday, is one of the most improved teams in the area at No. 124 overall in Florida.
After finishing with just four wins all season last year (4-19), the Rams (7-5) should easily double that total with eight games remaining. They are currently the No. 11 team in Class 4A and the No. 5 seed in 4A-Region 2.
The No. 1 FHSAA Rural girls ranking in the state belongs to Williston.
The Lady Red Devils (12-2), who won the True Force Shootout championship last month in Alachua, are the highest-ranked area team at No. 31 overall.
The Newberry girls (12-1) are next at No. 39 overall and No. 9 in Class 3A. Both teams are also ranked in the top 10 of The Prep Zone Power Poll, which ranks the top 20 teams across 26 counties in Florida.
This Saturday, Jan. 17, is the last regular-season playing date for district tournament seeding for soccer, while Saturday, Jan. 24, is the last playing date for district tournament seeding for girls and boys basketball.
The last regular-season playing date for girls and boys basketball is Saturday, Jan. 31.