BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School didn’t get the chance to play for a district championship, but the Indians will continue their season after being awarded an at-large berth in the Region 1-3A boys soccer playoffs, which begin Tuesday, Feb. 11.
This is Keystone’s first time qualifying for the regional playoffs since 2020. The Indians (11-6-3) are the number-seven seed in Region 1 and will travel to Santa Rosa Beach to play second seed South Walton (14-3-5) in a quarterfinal match. The match will begin at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time.
Wolfson earned the number-one seed in the region, which also consists of third seed Florida High, fourth seed Santa Fe, fifth seed Bolles, sixth seed North Bay Haven and eighth seed Pensacola Catholic.
If Keystone defeats South Walton, it’ll either travel to Tallahassee to play Florida High or to Panama City to play North Bay Haven in a Friday, Feb. 14, semifinal match.
The South Walton Seahawks, who won the District 1 championship by defeating Pensacola Catholic 3-0, are on a four-match winning streak. They’ve scored 71 goals in 22 matches, while allowing a total of 28.
South Walton’s only losses were 2-1 to Fort Walton Beach, a number-two seed in the Class 5A playoffs, 5-0 to Booker T. Washington, a number-one seed in Class 5A, and 8-0 to Maclay, a number-one seed in Class 2A.
The Seahawks’ five ties occurred against three teams (Chiles twice, Niceville twice and West Florida) that are in the regional playoffs in higher classifications. West Florida is a number-one seed in Class 4A, Niceville a number-five seed in Class 6A and Chiles a number-six seed in Class 5A.
South Walton was a Final Four team in Class 4A last year.
Keystone is looking to win for the first time since Jan. 15. The Indians have gone 0-1-2 in their last three matches, with the loss coming by a score of 3-1 to Eastside in the Ja. 28 District 4 tournament semifinals.
