BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Bradford High School came up short in the District 3-3A championship game (see related story), but the Tornadoes’ season will continue after they earned a berth in the Region 1 girls basketball playoffs.
The four district champions in the region automatically qualified. Four at-large berths were awarded to the highest ranked teams in the Florida High School Athletic Association/MaxPreps power poll that weren’t district champs.
Bradford (14-8) earned the seventh seed and will travel to Panama City to play second seed Rutherford (20-3) in a Region 1 quarterfinal game on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. local time.
Rutherford is the ninth-ranked team in all of Class 3A
Newberry (16-6), which defeated the Tornadoes in the District 3 final, earned the third seed and will host sixth seed Jackson (16-10).
The rest of the Region 1 matchups are top seed Bolles (21-5) versus eighth seed Episcopal (11-14) and fourth seed Florida High (16-9) versus fifth seed South Walton (18-5).
Only one of Rutherford’s losses came against a team from Florida. The Rams lost 32-20 to Fort Walton Beach, which is the seventh-ranked team in Class 4A. Rutherford defeated Fort Walton Beach 59-52 in a prior meeting.
Rutherford also has losses to Alabama’s Brewbaker Tech by a score of 39-18 and Georgia’s Norcross by a score of 43-16.
The Rams’ average margin of victory is 27 points, with 11 of their wins being by 21 points or more. Rutherford’s largest margin of victory was 54 against Bay, while its closest win was 57-54 against Fairhope (Alabama).
Rutherford has 11 wins against schools with winning records, with two the result of forfeitures. Five of those wins (minus the forfeitures) came against regional playoff qualifiers: 54-33 against Class 5A Mosley, 44-36 and 49-35 against Class 5A Lincoln, 58-26 against Rural Class Blountstown, 59-52 against Class 4A Fort Walton Beach and 44-36 against Class 3A South Walton.
If Bradford defeats Rutherford, which would be its first regional playoff win since 2016, it will travel to play the Newberry-Jackson winner in a Tuesday, Feb. 18, semifinal game at 7 p.m.
The Tornadoes are making their eight regional playoff appearance in 10 years
