Boys district soccer wrap: Mandarin stays perfect, Clay and Englewood end drought

In a split second, Luke Renne saw his moment to make his red-hot scoring week even hotter.

"I just thought, I'm getting this one… sometimes, the ball just falls the right way," Renne said.

The senior defender reacted to a shanked Creekside clearance to notch the tie-breaking 42nd-minute goal, keeping Mandarin's unbeaten season humming along with a 3-0 victory in the Florida High School Athletic Association District 1-7A boys soccer tournament.

Scorer of only three goals in the regular season for the Mustangs (17-0-2), Renne is suddenly unstoppable around the net. He also tallied both Mandarin goals, including the overtime game-winner, in Monday's 2-1 district semifinal against Sandalwood.

For the first 40 minutes, much of the possession belonged to Creekside, which threatened on the counter with forwards Cooper Maurer and Kasen Smith. But Mandarin's senior back line of Renne, Sergey Rakhamimov, Sasha Maric and Marius Tulip held the Knights at bay.

Renne's goal opened the floodgates. Junior winger Danny Moreno repeatedly sliced through the Knights (16-5-2) in the next eight minutes, setting up Michael Burns for a close-range finish and scoring another himself.

Both teams are progressing to the FHSAA regionals, which start Tuesday for Class 2A through 4A and Feb. 13 for Classes 5A through 7A. Mandarin, ranked fifth in Region 1 by the United Soccer Coaches, is still seeking its first state title.

"It's feeling quite nice right now," Renne said. "We've got five more to go, so we're not reading too much into it."

Girls district soccer wrap: Bartram Trail, Episcopal, St. Johns among tournament champions

DISTRICT 3-6A

Junior forward Colin Negron tallied his fourth goal of the season for Nease, beating Battle of the Bridge rival Ponte Vedra 1-0 on Thursday night.

Tyler Ghazanfari assisted the goal for the Panthers (9-5-3). Ponte Vedra (6-7-3) had progressed to the final by knocking off top seed Fleming Island in the semifinal.

DISTRICT 2-5A

For the first time since 1997, Clay (11-3-3) is a boys soccer district champion.

The Blue Devils notched two second-half goals for a 2-0 victory over visiting Tallahassee Rickards (11-4), a surprise finalist after upsetting Tallahassee Lincoln.

The Blue Devils move on to the regional quarterfinals on Feb. 13.

DISTRICT 3-5A

Englewood held on through a penalty shootout to defeat host Beachside 4-2 in Thursday night's tiebreaker, after regulation and extra time finished 0-0.

Midfielder Darwin Munoz-Rojas delivered the game-winning penalty and Rams keeper Ismael Uriostegui made two key saves in the shootout.

The Rams (17-5) ended a long district title drought, while the Barracudas (8-3-5) missed out on the chance to win two titles in their first two years. Beachside beat Bishop Kenny in last year's district final, which also ended in penalties.

DISTRICT 2-4A

Sean Allin, Caleb Freeman and Clayton Morgan scored to lead top-seeded Alachua Santa Fe (11-3-2) in a 3-1 win against Suwannee.

Suwannee (8-13-1) struck its lone goal on a Joel De La Cruz penalty kick in the second half.

DISTRICT 3-4A

Senior midfielder Dhruv Garud scored the lone goal to boost Stanton to a 1-0 victory against 2023 state semifinalist Yulee (10-4-1), in a game played at Fernandina Beach.

Garud broke through after halftime for Stanton (12-5-1), a Gateway Conference semifinalist in January.

DISTRICT 4-4A

Goals by Haydon Bray, Emilio Calderon and Mateo Rojas sparked top seed Bishop Kenny to a 3-1 win against White at William H. Johnston Stadium.

Van Thang scored after halftime for the Commanders (14-5), who were seeking their first trip to the FHSAA regionals since 1984. Gavin Salomone saved two shots for Bishop Kenny (9-7-3).

DISTRICT 3-3A

Senior midfielder Will Morales assisted both goals as Bolles found the net early and late to wrap up the school's 26th district championship, 2-0 against rival Episcopal (9-3-3) at Skinner-Barco Stadium.

Ayden Ashchi scored the opener after three minutes and Alex Diaz added an insurance score 10 minutes from the end for Bolles (10-5-2), which is attempting to reach a fifth consecutive FHSAA semifinal.

DISTRICT 4-3A

Surging back from a halftime hole, P.K. Yonge won 3-1 against Williston (13-7-1) on goals from Ciaran Foley, Sebastiaan Hochman and Chris Zeppieri.

Ibrahim Seck recorded 10 saves in goal for the Blue Wave (19-2), winners of their last eight. Area schools Keystone Heights and Fort White both exited in the earlier rounds.

DISTRICT 3-2A

Ryan Sharrit set up Judah Zeigler for the game's only goal as Christ's Church won 1-0 against St. Johns Country Day (6-7-1) at the Field of Dreams Complex.

Junior goalkeeper River Turlington saved four shots to preserve the shutout for the Eagles (9-8-1).

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville boys soccer district tournaments: 2023-24 roundup