The Florida HS playoffs continue this weekend after a day of surprise results last week.

In Region 1, Naples is at Orlando, and Westside is at Tampa. Those are region semifinal matchups that were decided a week ago. Tampa has beaten Orlando twice and Naples twice. Meanwhile, Naples and Orlando have not played each other, but Orlando has dominated in their pool.

In Region 2, last week’s quarterfinals were a bit of an eye-opener. 

RBMA were hit by Spring Break at a tough time, and battled early with Key Biscayne, but Key Biscayne finished the stronger and won 47-19. Cardinal Gibbons won 28-13 over Cape Pirates in a bit of a surprise.

“They played well as a team,” said Gibbons Head Coach Rocky Miyares. “We played Cape earlier in the year and beat them by five, so we knew they matched up well with us and we had to play as hard as we can for 70 minutes and hope to have at least one more point than them. We had a solid performance against a good Cape team that was very close with us at the half.”

Okapi shut out Boca Raton 40-0, and while that wasn’t as big a score as the last time they met, for Head Coach Gavin McLeavy this was a better performance.

“This was the first time I saw my guys follow the game plan to the letter,” he said. “Guys who weren’t sure about the game plan looked like they knew it backwards and forwards, and they saw that it worked.”

That has built confidence for the Okapi team. 

“In other games when we did what we were supposed to do, we scored, but against Boca we did what we were supposed to do the whole time,” said McLeavy. “They’re clinical but also humble. They score a try, pick the ball up, shake a hand and hoof it back to halfway. They looked professional and it’s good.”

Meanwhile, St. Thomas Aquinas slammed Jupiter 36-5.

So that sets up some intriguing matchups this week:

These games will lead to regional finals next week, and then a state final the week after.