Choctaw, Niceville, S. Walton gear up for regional semis

The feeling-out process for area soccer teams involved in the boys regional semifinals began long before tonight.

Strong familiarity with their opponents will be a theme tonight for South Walton in Region 1-2A, Choctawhatchee in Region 1-4A and Niceville in Region 1-5A.

Choctaw coach Chris McDaniel, whose squad will meet Gulf Breeze for the fourth time, summed it up nicely.

“We know what they’ve got. They know what we’ve got,” he said. “It’s going to be a battle of wills.”

A battle of wills will also take place when South Walton hosts Port St. Joe at 4 p.m. and Niceville travels to Tate for a 7 p.m. kickoff, the same time as Choctaw at Gulf Breeze.

South Walton (14-1-2) has defeated Port St. Joe twice, but the Tiger Sharks (9-6-2) seem to be closing the gap on the Seahawks, who followed a commanding 4-1 victory in the regular season with a 3-2 edge in the District 2-2A finals. South Walton coach Danny Blain said he believes the game is “going to be tough as hell.”

“It’s the old saying of it’s hard to beat a team three times in a row,” he said. “We know we’ve got a hard task ahead of us.”

So does Niceville (15-5-5), which defeated Tate 4-1 at home and tied the Aggies 2-2 on the road. Tate is coming off of its first district championship, while the Eagles have won six straight and advanced to the final four last year.

“I’m hoping that builds a desire to do it again,” Niceville coach Wes Nelson said, adding that postseason success is “kind of all new to (Tate’s) program, so they’re hungry to keep the season going.”

McDaniel and the Indians believed meeting Gulf Breeze four times this season was a distinct possibility. Choctaw (17-2-2) has yet to beat the Dolphins, with Gulf Breeze (16-5-3) bridging victories of 2-0 and 2-1 in the District 1-4A finals around a 2-2 tie at Choctaw.

“They capitalize on mistakes all the time,” McDaniel said. “We’ve got to limit those and make sure we finish our (scoring) opportunities.”