Booker T. Washington head coach Felipe Lawall didn’t expect this at the beginning of the season.
Lawall knew he had a talented young group, but one that needed time together. There wasn’t time to think about another deep playoff run. They entered the District 1-5A tournament needing to win it to keep their season going.
But while every No. 8 seed in the state playoffs was eliminated in the regional quarterfinals last week, the Wildcats continue to play on. A young team is hitting its stride at the right time, as Booker T. won at No. 4 Gulf Breeze 3-1 on Feb. 12 to advance to its fourth straight regional final.
The Wildcats (10-5-3 overall) will play at No. 2 Beachside in the Region 1-5A final on Feb. 17. The winner will advance to the 5A state semifinals, which will take place on Feb. 27 at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
“If you (told) me at the beginning of the season that we would be the 8 seed and going to the regional final, I would say you’re crazy,” Lawall said. “But I knew how talented this team could be. I know they had a lot of work to do because they were younger.”
Maturing through tough schedule
Lawall didn’t expect this season to be a breeze.
After losing 16 players from last year, including a main core that won a regional championship in 2022 and played in three straight regional finals, there were always going to be growing pains.
Ones he may have caused intentionally to prepare for the postseason. Booker T. played the second toughest schedule in the FHSAA 5A classification this winter, trailing only Gulf Breeze (14-6-4).
The Wildcats already play in a top-heavy district, with District 1 rivals Choctawhatchee and Gulf Breeze joining Booker T. in winning on the road in the Region 1-5A quarterfinals. They Wildcats also played six other teams that qualified for the state playoffs in their respective classifications, and one of the top teams in Louisiana (Jesuit) and Mississippi (Lewisburg).
When the team returned from Christmas break, they started hitting their stride. Booker T. was 3-4-2 in the 2025 portion of the season. It’s now 7-1-1 in 2026.
That started with a 3-2 win at Choctaw on Jan. 8, but confidence really started to build with a 2-2 draw with Jesuit two days later. The Wildcats led 2-1 before conceding a penalty kick late against the fifth best team in the country according to the US Soccer Coaches poll.
“I know the kind of level of players that we have,” Lawall said. “I think we can be a very strong team if we’re prepared mentally to battle.
Against Gulf Breeze, the Wildcats looked like a team prepared for any situation.
Early in the game, senior defender and captain KeAndre Hernandez left with an injury and never returned. Senior Brendan Boyer, who had been sick in recent days, filled in for the defending PNJ Co-Defensive Player of the Year.
The Dolphins lone goal came in the 53rd minute after Booker T.’s goalie overran a pass and Jonas Noury tapped it in. But otherwise they held firm without their top defensive player.
That included craziness in the 66th minute, when it looked like Gulf Breeze would get a penalty kick after Amar’e Royster committed a foul in the box. But the linesman overturned the ruling, saying it was outside the box. As the sizable Gulf Breeze crowd went berserk, the Wildcats stayed composed, turning away the ensuing free kick.
“Everyone’s telling each other to stay focused,” sophomore John Claude Germain said. “And lock in around the madness.”
On offense, Booker T. used the formula that’s worked throughout the second half of the season. A team loaded with talented and young skill players made magic happen.
In the 29th minute, a throw-in was deflected in the box before sophomore Jace Tran flicked his left foot into the air, making contact with the ball and putting it in the back of the net. Four minutes later Germain, saw the goalie coming out to far and blasted a goal from 30 to 35 yards out. Germain, who played in Mobile last year before transferring to Booker T., basically put the game out of reach with an Olimpico in the 73rd minute.
After losing to Gulf Breeze twice in the regular season, the Wildcats have beaten the Dolphins twice in the postseason.
“You play all those tough teams to build that experience on the boys to be prepared more mentally than anything else to be able to perform in front of big crowds like that,” Lawall said. “Because none of them were used to because none of them had been in that scenario before.”
Seeding slight fuels fire
When the postseason started, the Wildcats knew what kind of team they were. A young but skilled attack caused problems for defenders. A senior-laden backline complemented the group up top that thrived on possession and being creative.
The results just fully didn’t show it. Booker T. entered the district tournament as the No. 3 seed, which means they were the away team in both games at Ashton Brosnaham Park.
They believed they were better than the No. 8 seed in Region 1-5A too.
Instead of letting that fester into a one-and-done state playoff exit, Booker T. just focused on how they could keep playing soccer.
That meant being the first team to win at two-time defending state champion Arnold since 2020, also avenging losses in the last two Region 1-5A finals. Next it was vanquishing Gulf Breeze in the postseason again. A road trip more than five hours to St. John’s County awaits.
“We were disappointed when we got the 8 seed,” Lawall said. “But we were like ‘hey, we don’t make the rules, right?’ We just gotta go play who’s in front of us and Arnold was the next one. I think when we got that win, they have all the confidence in the world. We just have to go and keep fighting for more."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: 8th seed Booker T. Washington soccer reaches regional final