Three Baldwin County schools saw both their girls’ and boys’ soccer teams claim regular season area championships and earn the right to host the first round of the AHSAA Soccer State Championship.

Five more schools earned runner-up finishes to punch postseason tickets with the tournament starting on the Class 6A level at the end of this week.

Class 6A

For the third straight season, both Spanish Fort Toros teams were crowned Class 6A Area 2’s regular-season champion. The girls’ team (12-7-1, 4-0) closed regular-season play with a 4-0 win over Robertsdale for sophomore goalkeeper Holland Burkhalter’s 10th shutout of the season. Junior Basia Czarkowska helped pace the offense with 9 goals on the season to go along with 29 assists.

Spanish Fort is set to host the Theodore Bobcats at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Baldwin County Tigers (8-8-3, 3-3) finished as area runners-up and will join the Toros in the first round as they hit the road to face the Saraland Spartans at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

The boys’ team from Spanish Fort (9-3-2, 3-1) won their first three area contests by shutout with senior Owen Williams tending goal. Senior classmate Jacob Anderson racked up 9 goals and 1 assist over those three area matches. The Toros will square off with the Saraland Spartans in the first-round match scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Spanish Fort High School.

The Robertsdale Golden Bears (9-6-2, 3-1) worked their way into the runner-up spot with a 4-3, come-from-behind win over the Toros in the area finale. Facing a 3-0 deficit, Dereck Berrera opened the scoring before senior Hayden Harville fired home a hat trick.

Robertsdale is scheduled to open the playoffs on the road against the Theodore Bobcats at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The teams have met four times already this season where each team has won a pair.

Class 4A

Now with their own home stadium, both St. Michael Cardinal soccer teams will play their first-ever home playoff games as regular-season area champions when the postseason opens.

The Cardinal girls’ team (16-2, 8-0) is looking for a repeat trip to the state finals. The run started with their first area championship since 2022 with a 1-0 win over Orange Beach with sophomore Sabrina Pulido serving as the goal scorer. St. Michael is set to host the Trinity Presbyterian Wildcats at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30.

The Makos (14-2-1, 6-2) will be the other Area 1 representative in the Class 4A bracket as the runners-up. Orange Beach is scheduled to hit the road to open the playoffs with a 5 p.m. contest against the Montgomery Catholic Knights next Tuesday, April 30.

Now a four-time defending area champion, the Cardinal boys’ team (15-7, 8-0) will play the nightcap of Tuesday’s playoff doubleheader against the Montgomery Catholic Knights with kickoff set for 7 p.m. St. Michael finished its area championship with a 5-0 win over two-time defending state champion Bayside Academy where senior Etienne Duchesne potted 2 goals and 1 assist and junior Hillel Bill registered 1 goal and 1 assist.

The Admirals (7-3-1, 6-2) locked up the runner-up slot to begin their title defense. Bayside Academy is set for an away match in the first round against the Trinity Presbyterian Wildcats on Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m.

Class 5A

Similarly, both Gulf Shores Dolphin squads made their first-ever trip to the state finals last year and returned with Red Map trophies as runners-up. This year’s return trip starts as area champions once again.

The Gulf Shores girls’ team (13-5-4, 8-0) used a 2-1 win in overtime against Faith Academy to secure its second straight area crown. The Dolphins are set to host the Eufaula Tigers on Monday, April 29, at 4:30 p.m. Gulf Shores has been averaging nearly 4 goals a game having outscored opponents 84-38.

The Dolphin boys’ team (17-7-1, 11-1) delivered a 5-0 win over Elberta to lock up a second consecutive No. 1 seed entering the postseason. Gulf Shores is scheduled to host the Charles Henderson Trojans next Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Senior and Southern Union signee Talan Galvan has been leading the offense and finished the regular season with 37 goals. The Dolphins’ all-time leading scorer also eclipsed the triple-digit goal mark for his career this year with a total of 102, which has him No. 20 all-time in the AHSAA record book.

Class 7A

The Fairhope Pirate boys’ team (15-2-1, 5-0) had the chance to lock up the Area 2 crown with Wednesday’s match against the second-place McGill-Toolen Yellow Jackets, who hold a 4-1 area record with a plus-11 goal differential compared to the Pirates’ plus-17. As a top-two finisher, Fairhope will be heading to its fourth straight postseason.

The Pirates knocked off the two-time defending champion Daphne Trojans with wins of 3-0 and 2-1 during the regular season.

The Daphne girls’ team (9-7-4, 3-3) secured a runner-up finish to earn its trip back to the playoffs. The Trojans were scheduled to face the St. Paul’s Saints on the road at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 29.

Daphne used a 3-1 win in its first meeting with Fairhope to balance out a 3-2 loss later in the season and win the tiebreaker for second place by one goal.