Tough district losses last week mean the Niceville High Girls and Boys teams will have to travel for the first round of the state tournament this week.

Both teamsโ€™ opponents have been announced.

Boys

The Niceville High Boys (13-4-2) will travel outside Orlando, where they will take on East Ridge High School (17-5-2). The East Ridge Knights look like a formidable foe on a long hot streak. The Knights havenโ€™t lost since December 10th.

Should Niceville overcome East Ridge on the road, they will have a chance to get even with the Fort Walton Beach High School Vikings. The Vikings must overcome an 11-6 Fleming Island in Fort Walton Beach.

Girls

The Niceville Girls Soccer Team (10-3-3) will head to Gainesville on February 8th, where they will play the Buchholz Bobcats for the right to advance in the state playoffs at 6 pm.

The Bobcats (14-3-2) will rely on Sophomore Zoe Torres, their leading scorer, to move them through.

โ€œWe are up for the game. You can see it at practice,โ€ said Eagles head coach Kelly Fernandez. The team has bounced back since a crisis of confidence against Gulf Breeze earlier in the year and a tough loss to Navarre in the district finals.

Buchholz will be an unknown quantity to the Eagles, as they havenโ€™t played each other before. โ€œSometimes, thatโ€™s a good thing,โ€ Coach Fernandez said about the situation, โ€œI tell the girls to always respect the other team and only look for one goal at a time.โ€