Class 4A
Class 4A Bracket
Cape Coral Mariner, consistently one of the top teams in Class 4A all season long, continued its storybook season by advancing to the Class 4A state final. The Tritons (25-4-1) beat visiting Jacksonville Bishop Kenny 5-2 to win the right to face Gulliver Prep (14-7-4).
The Tritons have won 11 straight and scored a fantastic 157 goals this season. No in-state team has held them below two goals this season. Senior Leonardo Perez has scored 69 goals and assisted 30 others to help Mariner advance to DeLand. Perez has scored in 28 of Mariner’s 30 games this season.
Awaiting the Tritons is a Gulliver Prep team (14-7-4) whose record may not look spectacular. However contests against Doral Academy — who finished the season ranked No. 1 in the FHSAA rankings — as well as Class 3A finalists University School prepared the Raiders for a playoff run.
Gulliver Prep, like Tampa Jesuit, has won six state championships. The Raiders are seeking their first title in five years.
“We’re competing to get back to the glory days, and the kids that have come in here have done a wonderful job,” Gulliver Prep head coach Chris Bart Williams told the Miami Herald after a 3-2 win over North Broward Prep in the Region 4-4A final.
Class 3A
Class 3A Bracket
One goal may be enough to decide the Class 3A state champion. Neither Tampa Catholic (23-1-2) nor University School (20-0-2) has conceded a goal during the postseason.
Tampa Catholic has produced five straight shutouts and allowed 18 goals in 26 matches. The Crusaders’ only loss came to a 22-win Wesley Chapel Wiregrass Ranch team on Nov. 20.
Tampa Catholic will play for its first state title with a center forward who may be a better baseball player. Tony Watson score a hat trick and assisted a fourth goal in Catholic’s 4-0 win over Bolles in the state semifinals. Watson has 31 goals and 28 assists in 26 games this season.
Meanwhile, University School will be in search of its first state title since 2011 and second in program history.
The Sharks (20-0-2) have outscored opponents 106-11 this season. Senior Joel Castellanos leads the Sharks with 28 goals and 11 assists, but he is one of four players who have scored 10 or more times this season.
Class 2A
Class 2A Bracket
One way or another the first state championship to be awarded this week in DeLand will be historic.
Either Tallahassee Maclay (22-0) will become the fifth FHSAA boys soccer team to finish a season unbeaten and untied — Joining 1998 Tallahassee Leon, 1994 Lakeland Christian, 1996 Lakeland Christian and 2016 Ponte Vedra — or St. Petersburg Shorecrest Prep will win its first FHSAA state championship.
Shorecrest (17-3-2) is the only state finalist from 2019 to return to DeLand. The Chargers have not allowed a goal in the district tournament, regional tournament or in a Feb. 22 state semifinal win over Divine Savior Academy.
If Shorecrest is going to win the program’s first boys soccer title, it will have to defeat a Maclay team that is not only unbeaten and untied, but playing in its third state final in the last four years. The Marauders won in 2017 and 2018.
