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 teams’ 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 haven’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.
“We are up for the game. You can see it at practice,” 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 haven’t played each other before. “Sometimes, that’s a good thing,” Coach Fernandez said about the situation, “I tell the girls to always respect the other team and only look for one goal at a time.”
