Road to Lakeland: Eight South Florida teams reach State Final Four

LAKELAND – We have reached the final days of the 2024-2025 high school basketball season.

After the myriad of district tournaments were played, we went through three rounds of the FHSAA state playoffs in eight classifications (Rural, 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, and 7A):

•Regional quarterfinals

•Regional semifinals 

•Regional finals

In South Florida, eight teams emerged from the field and qualified for this year’s State Final Four at Lakeland’s RP Funding Center. We have six from Broward and two from Miami-Dade County that reached the regional summit, while none from Palm Beach County, the Treasure Coast, and surrounding areas outside of Broward and Dade remain in the playoffs.

We will start with Calvary Christian Academy (20-1), which is the nation’s No. 3-ranked team, per MaxPreps. Led by the likes of senior Shon Abaev and sophomore Cayden Daughtry, the Eagles have blown out their opposition through the Class 3A-Region 3 playoffs.

The region’s No. 1 seed took down the following opponents:

•Regional quarterfinal: Beat No. 8 seed Avon Park, 68-21 on Feb. 12

•Regional semifinal: Beat No. 4 seed North Broward Prep, 62-34 on Feb. 17

•Regional final: Beat No. 2 seed St. Andrew’s, 74-53 on Feb. 20

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Calvary Christian Academy is the No. 1 overall seed in Class 3A for the State Final Four and the favorite to win it all.

The other South Florida teams in this year’s State Final Four are:

7A: Miami-Columbus (25-3; No. 1-ranked team in the nation, per MaxPreps; No. 1 overall seed and favorite to repeat as 7A champion)

6A: St. Thomas Aquinas (28-2; No. 26 ranked team in the nation, per MaxPreps; No. 1 overall seed and favorite to win 6A title)

5A: Pompano Beach-Blanche Ely (18-9; No. 1 overall seed and favorite to win 5A title)

4A: Fort Lauderdale-Stranahan (23-7; No. 2 overall seed and favorite to reach 4A title game)

3A: Fort Lauderdale-Cardinal Gibbons (25-4; No. 4 overall seed in Class 3A)

2A: Miami-Riviera Prep (19-10; No. 1 overall seed and favorite to win 2A title)

1A: Weston-Sagemont (20-8; No. 1 overall seed and favorite to win 1A title)

STATE FINAL FOUR SCHEDULE

Rural, 1A, 2A, and 3A state semifinals and state title games: Feb. 26 through Mar. 1

4A, 5A, 6A, and 7A state semifinals and state title games: March 4 through March 8

PHOTO CREDITS: Chuck Bethel and James Harden / Tuff Shot Media

VIDEO CREDITS: James Harden / Tuff Shot Media