Wakulla blanks South Walton for 4A-1 district title continuing historic season
Ambitious is one word to describe the War Eagles this season.
Playing with a large senior core, who's been together since they were in elementary school, they wanted to leave a resounding impact in their final year. In the regular season, they sought to schedule teams in Tallahassee and went 6-3-2 against squads from up the road, including a program's first win over Maclay.
Wakulla's bulked-up regular season schedule wasn't just made out of want, but a need to prepare for a deeper district and region. The War Eagles district jumped from four teams to seven teams, including the addition of Panhandle powers like South Walton, Bay, and West Florida.
Following a shutout win over Bay, the War Eagles were back in the district title game, facing off against South Walton for the third time this season. In a narrow matchup throughout, it was a goal by senior Braeden Paul with less than two minutes left in the first half to give the War Eagles the edge and the Win, 1-0, over the Seahawks.
"I'm excited," War Eagles head coach Chad Linville said. "We have a huge group of seniors and they've been working super hard this season, and put us in a good position...The boys had grit tonight and they've been battling. We've had a hard, but good season, and it's really prepared us for where we are now."
Wanting more
For the third time this week, a Big Bend team goes back 2 back. pic.twitter.com/P0G6Mz4k7j
— Jack Williams (@jackgwilliams) February 3, 2023
Wakulla has taken the Big Bend by storm this winter, jetting out as not just a surprising turnaround, but one of the top teams in the area.
They went 3-2 against LCS programs, taking Chiles to its limit in both meetings, who eventually won its district in 6A-2. Wakulla has climbed to the top of the state rankings, sitting the No. 4 in its classification, seeing them as a heavy favorite to win state. This season has been a jolt of energy to the program, which went 5-6-4 only two years ago.
"This season had been huge," Linville said. "We started off the season with 10 seniors, we had a few issues and lost a couple, so now we're down to seven, but this group has been together since they were little kids. They asked me after last season to play a harder schedule and play all the Leon County teams, and that's playing 5A, and 6A teams."
"One weekend, we played in a tournament at Arnold and then turned around and played Chiles. That's three top 10 teams in less than a week. We had some injuries because of that, but we're finally fully healthy. I'm excited for the boys and we're hoping to make a good regional run."
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One of the players that have seen his game spike is Paul, who leads the War Eagles with an impressive 23 goals for 47 points, averaging a goal a game. He's had four multi-goal games this season, scoring four in the first game of the season against Marianna in a 9-1 win.
Paul said that it's been his work ethic driving his game this season. That could be seen in his goal to win the district title Thursday night, outlasting the goalkeeper before scoring into the open net.
"I just work hard until the end," Paul said. "I just fight to the end until I can't anymore."
In being a part of that core group that's been playing with each other for years, Paul said that it's been great to finish out his Wakulla soccer career with a run like this. In addition, he believes that a season like this can continue the success for years to come.
"All the seniors won't be here anymore, but I feel like they can do something like this again," Paul said. "All the leaders can keep this going."
Playing for February
Wakulla is one of four Big Bend boys soccer teams that is guaranteed a spot in regionals as a district champion, with one more team waiting to see if they'll draw an at-large bid Friday afternoon. The War Eagles will host their quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday, having the possibility of facing Suwannee, Stanton, Bishop Kenny, or South Walton again.
There is also the possibility of Wakulla facing Bay again, who've they've played three times this season.
"We told the boys as long as they keep battling and playing Wakulla soccer, the way we play, we're fine and have a great chance to go forward," Linville said.
Jack Williams covers prep sports for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Wakulla shutouts South Walton for 4A-District 1 championship
