For the second consecutive year, the city of Gainesville had an undefeated boys soccer team at the end of the regular season.
In fact, there were two last year.
Buchholz finished the regular season unbeaten for the first time in program history and was ranked among the top 30 teams overall in Florida.
However, the Bobcats finished 11-2-3 following consecutive losses. As the No. 1 seed in the Class 6A-District 4 championship game, Buchholz lost on penalty kicks to Forest (Ocala), and they lost at Tate (Cantonment) in a shootout, 7-6, after the game was tied at 3-3 in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs.
It was the second consecutive year that an area team went undefeated during the regular season as nationally ranked GHS won a district title but eventually lost at home to Niceville, 2-1, in the 6A-Region 1 Final.
This season Buchholz will compete in 6A-District 3 with Bartram Trail (St. Johns), Matanzas (Palm Coast), Nease (Ponte Vedra), and Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine), while GHS drops in classification to 5A-District 5 and joins Belleview, Lecanto, Leesburg, and Spring Hill (Springstead).
Meanwhile, Oak Hall, Santa Fe (Alachua), and P.K. Yonge are coming off district titles last season.
Oak Hall, which won the 2A-District 2 title, moves down in classification and will compete in 1A-District 2 with Redeemer Christian (Ocala), St. Francis Catholic Academy, and St. Joseph (St. Augustine).
The top-seed Eagles (13-1-1) also went undefeated last year during the regular season and suffered their only defeat in an upset home loss to No. 8 seed Community Christian (Tallahassee) in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.
In his first season as coach, Morgan Dall’Acqua led Santa Fe to an 11-4-2 record, a 4A-District 2 championship, and an FHSAA playoff spot in earning the Bosshardt Realty Big School Coach of the Year award.
Seven starters return for the Raiders, including 12 varsity players total as Santa Fe moves to compete in 3A-District 4 with Eastside, Interlachen, Keystone Heights, North Marion (Citra), and Palatka.
“The success of this season will be predicated on filling several skill groups,” Dall’Acqua said. “With the graduation of several players in our backline we have been playing around with a few formations. Senior Jose Bustamante has waited his turn behind graduates Madu Durran and Ram Cantreas and has had an exceptional offseason of growth and a quality conditioning cycle.”
Veterans Deva Spradling and Paul Morgan return for their final season at SFHS which will go a long way to fortify the backline. The addition of Drew Cornell and freshman Kaiden Auman should help protect one of the best goalkeepers in the region in sophomore Mayer Steen.
The Raiders have assembled a regular season schedule that will test their team and prepare them for postseason success, including a home game Monday at 6:30 p.m. against Buchholz and head coach Phillip Journey.
They also have road trips this season to Forest, Bolles (Jacksonville), McClay (Tallahassee) and Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville).
“After running the gauntlet, we should be in form to battle Keystone Heights and All Area Player of the Year Aaron Wiley [37 goals in 18 games which tied for the state lead], but after district realignment Eastside, North Marion, Interlachen or Palatka may find their way into the mix.”
Gunther Burden enters his first season as head coach with Eastside, which returns 11 starters from last year’s 2-12-4 team.
“My first step is to get the program back to being a contender for the district title, then back to work on returning the program back to being one of the top teams in Gainesville,” he said.
Trevor Waters (261-149-58) enters his 20th year as head coach at Keystone Heights. Last year the Indians finished 13-3-2 but were upset by Williston in the 3A-District 4 semifinals.
Led by Wiley and fellow senior captain Nathan Brunt (17 goals, 20 assists), a total of eight starters will return for the Indians, who will host Williston at 7 p.m. on Monday, followed by trips to Crescent City on Wednesday and Eastside on Friday.
Class 2A-District 3 should be competitive as P.K. Yonge and Williston join the new district after battling each other for the 3A-District 4 title last year, a 3-1 win by the Blue Wave.
P.K. Yonge, which finished 20-3 last year under head coach José De León, went on to defeat North Bay Haven Academy in Panama City, 4-0, in the first round of the 3A state playoffs followed by an 8-0 loss at eventual state semifinalist Maclay (Tallahassee) in the regional semifinals.
Newberry has nine starters back from an 11-8-1 team that had no seniors last year and should be able to compete for a district title.
“We will have an experienced goalkeeper who actively manages the defensive backline,” said Jon Doles, who enters his sixth year as head coach of the Panthers. “We also have experienced players in the middle and attacking thirds of the field.
Region finalist Bell seeks its third straight district championship game appearance.
However, this year the Bulldogs move into a new district.
Last year, No. 2 seed Bell lost to top seed Oak Hall, 2-0, in the 2A-District 2 championship game and earned a spot in the FHSAA playoffs. The Bulldogs (12-5) parlayed that into a run all the way to the 2A-Region 1 final where they lost at St. Joseph Academy (St. Augustine), 3-0.
Bell will compete 2A-District 2 with Branford, Fort White, Hamilton County (Jasper), and Lafayette.
Concepcion Ledezma enters his first season as head coach at Fort White, which returns six starters.