By Official Florida FC

The stroll toward Spec Martin Stadium begins in earnest this week as boys soccer teams in Florida kickoff their district tournaments.

For many programs, district championships are a formality. However, any loss now — outside of the district tournament final — ends one’s season.

Sprue Creek ends the regular season atop the statewide standings after a 15-1-1 regular season where the Hawks conceded six times. Spruce Creek rebounded from a 1-0 loss to Lake Howell in its penultimate game of the regular season to beat Deltona Pine Ridge 1-0 on Jan. 28.

The Covid-19 pandemic meant many schools across the state played a smaller schedule this season. In the 2019-20 season, no team in the final statewide top 10 played fewer than 18 games. This year, only statewide No. 6 Tampa Catholic and No. 10 Naples Gulf Coast played more than 18 games.

Tampa Catholic (18-2) and Tampa Jesuit (11-1-2) are the only two programs that ended the regular season ranked in the statewide top 10 in consecutive years. Both made it to the state final last year, but University School beat Catholic 3-0 in the 3A final, while Jesuit won a wildly entertaining Class 5A state championship over Pembroke Pines Charter 5-4.

Though last year’s state finals featured a pair of goalfests — one of which included Niceville’s 7-3 after extra time triumph over South Broward — this time of year is all about finding ways to not concede the opening goal.

The regional playoffs kickoff on Feb. 17.

All-Classification Rankings

Rank	School Name	Class Rank	Rating	Strength of Schedule	Record	Class	Region	District
1	Port Orange Spruce Creek	1	19.628	7.10	13-0-1	7A	1	2
2	Tampa Jesuit	1	19.254	11.46	8-1-2	5A	2	8
3	Tallahassee Maclay	1	19.187	7.29	10-0-1	2A	1	1
4	Palmetto	1	19.017	8.59	12-1-1	6A	2	6
5	Miami Dr. Krop	2	18.817	6.95	6-0-0	7A	4	14
6	Tampa Catholic	1	18.631	7.77	17-2	3A	2	7
7	Orlando Lake Nona	3	18.326	9.85	8-0-4	7A	1	4
8	Winter Park	4	17.809	9.44	10-1-3	7A	1	4
9	Orlando Cypress Creek	5	17.756	9.24	9-1-2	7A	2	6
10	Naples Gulf Coast	6	17.538	10.18	13-3-2	7A	4	13

Classification Rankings

Class 7A

1.Port Orange Spruce Creek (13-0-1)
2. Miami Dr. Krop (6-0-0)
3. Orlando Lake Nona (8-0-4)

Class 6A

1. Palmetto (12-1-1)
2. St. Johns Creekside (10-2-1)
3. New Port Richey Mitchell (15-5-1)

Class 5A

1 . Tampa Jesuit (8-1-2)
2. Gulf Breeze (13-0-0)
3. Naples Lely (12-3-3)

Class 4A

1. Panama City Beach Arnold (17-0-2)
2. St. Augustine Menendez (9-2)
3. North Broward Prep (9-0-2)

Class 3A

1. Tampa Catholic (17-2)
2. Winter Park Trinity Prep (9-1-1)
3. Miami Ransom Everglades (9-1-5)

Class 2A

1. Tallahassee Maclay (10-0-1)
2. Fort Myers Canterbury (12-3-1)
3. St. Johns Country Day (10-2-1)