Who will win the SAC?

By Friday night, the race for the Sunshine Athletic Conference crown will have ended, but entering their SAC finales, Gulf and Zephyrhills were still within striking distance of defending champion Land O'Lakes.

The Gators can clinch the SAC title with a win Friday at home against Mitchell, which has a conference-high 14 losses. That might seem an easy task, but it's a loss to the Mustangs that is keeping Gulf from enjoying the view from the SAC top.

"The Mitchell game killed us," said Buccaneers coach Sam Koleduk, recalling a November loss to the Mustangs. "It's been exciting for the guys, though, and we're playing our best soccer right now.

Gulf played Ridgewood on Wednesday night, and a win would put them atop the conference standings. That puts more pressure on Land O'Lakes, which had a chance to clinch the title Monday but lost to Ridgewood 2-0.

So tightly bunched is the top of the conference that should Gulf and Land O'Lakes both lose their final SAC games, Zephyrhills could vault from third to first with a win Friday against ... Ridgewood.

If it seems like the Rams are a bigger factor in the conference title than any of the contenders, their play in the last two weeks makes that less surprising.

The Rams have not only won three straight, but they've done it against Springstead, Hudson and Land O'Lakes, all teams with at least 10 wins.

"It's really exciting for us," said coach Ed McComiskey, whose team beat the Gators twice by a combined four goals. "It reinforces that we can beat the best teams when we want to, that we're capable of playing at that level."

The Rams' last two wins have been shutouts, giving goalie Sean Sendra four on the season. "He's really been the difference for us," McComiskey said. "If it weren't for Sendra, we couldn't have beaten Land O'Lakes.

"He's always been a good goalie, but he's never played at this level before."

ROAD WARY: For fans disappointed to hear that Mitchell and Ridgewood -- two schools five miles apart -- would be traveling two hours Monday to meet in Leesburg to open the Class 3A District 7 tournament, don't fill up the gas tank just yet.

Coaches from both schools hope to move the game to a local site -- likely Mitchell -- rather than subject both teams and their fans to unnecessary travel.

"We're working on it," McComiskey said Wednesday. "We'll be glad to give Leesburg the gate (revenues), and they'll get more money if we play here than if it's up there."

McComiskey said he'd be content to play at Mitchell, and Mitchell coach Pio Rizzo said he'd play on nearly any field just to avoid the long drive.

"It just makes sense," Rizzo said. "It would be nice for both teams."

Leesburg AD Randall Wilson said he had not heard about moving the game but expressed concerns about whether the Florida High School Activities Association would allow it.

"That would be the hurdle to clear," he said. "Any type of change has to go through the state, so it's not for me to call.

"I'm pretty sure when you have a district tournament, the teams have to come."

FHSAA associate commissioner Dan Boyd said he doesn't see any reason why such a "slight modification" could not be made.

"We've been doing that for years," Boyd said. "It makes perfect sense to me, for both schools, and you're only going to enhance your gate.

"I don't know why we couldn't accommodate such a request."

Regardless of location, Monday's winner will travel to Leesburg on Wednesday to face top-seeded Springstead in a semifinal. Ridgewood is one of teams to beat the Eagles this season.

LONG KNIGHTS: River Ridge, which entered last weekend with a shot at a conference crown, lost 2-0 to Zephyrhills and 6-1 to Gulf and now could finish as low as sixth in the SAC standings.

"We got embarrassed," said coach Concepcion Ledezma, whose team trailed 1-0 at halftime, then saw senior Gulf's Alex Maric explode for four second-half goals, giving him a county-best 35.

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