Fort Walton Beach and Rocky Bayou picked up wins to move on, while Choctaw’s season came to a close Thursday night.

Fort Walton Beach 4, Vanguard 1

The Vikings are moving on — and at this point, it’s simply what they do.

Fort Walton Beach punched its ticket to the Elite 8 for the third time in four seasons Thursday night with a 4-1 win over Vanguard at Steve Riggs Stadium.

• “It’s the standard,” Head Coach Mario Rodriguez said. “Every time we get to this phase, these boys know — it’s the standard.”

Much like last week’s matchup against Rickards, both defenses controlled the early minutes. Each side had chances, but nothing found the back of the net until Isaiah Esparza broke through at the 15-minute mark to put the Vikings up 1-0.

Juanma Cotes doubled the lead at the 21-minute mark, and he nearly completed a hat trick in a matter of minutes. His first attempt narrowly missed, and his second was turned away by a strong save from Vanguard goalkeeper Santiago Carvajal.

Brian Velazquez made it 3-0 at the 27-minute mark before Vanguard got on the board at the 30-minute mark to cut the deficit to two heading into halftime.

• Any hopes of a Knights comeback were put to rest when Oscar Gallardo scored at the 59-minute mark, and Fort Walton’s defense locked things down from there.

With Wakulla’s 3-2 win over Bishop Kenny, the Elite 8 matchup sets up a rematch of the district championship, a game the Vikings lost 1-0. The rematch will be held at Steve Riggs Stadium on Tuesday night — and Rodriguez and his squad believe that loss put them in a better position heading into the next round.

“Obviously I know that my boys didn’t play their best that game, but it’s soccer, it happens,” Rodriguez said. “We’re focused on the now and let the best team win.”

“Now that we figured out how Wakulla plays, next match we’ll be ready for them,” Cotes added.

Rodriguez believes the district championship loss lit a fire in his team.

• “We should’ve never lost that game, but it’s how we grow as a team, and that’s what I’m looking forward to,” he said.

Rocky Bayou 8, Redeemer Christian 0

To put it bluntly, Tuesday night was a dominant night for Rocky Bayou.

Not only was it the best game the Knights played all year, but the lopsided victory reached mercy rule — and the most impressive part was how many players got in on the scoring. Seven different Knights found the net.

Dominic Ferguson scored twice, including one in the first three minutes that quickly set the tone. Mark Harlan, Leyton Tidwell, Carter Tidwell, Liam Moore, Justus Rossell and Matthew Donahey each added goals, with Donahey’s strike at the 57-minute mark being the one that triggered the mercy rule.

“That’s amazing. That’s like a coach’s dream right there,” head coach John Agnew said.

The Knights’ performance wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the play of goalkeeper Trand Scott. The senior was clutch all game, consistently making saves to deny Redeemer Christian and preserve the shutout.

• Rocky Bayou then traveled to Jacksonville to face University Christian on Friday night where they won in a shootout after a score of 1-1.

“You can play with anybody,” he told his players in the postgame huddle. “We’re going to do our best to prepare and be ready to go when we play them, and we’re going to give them a quality matchup.”

Beachside 4, Choctaw 1

The Indians’ season came to an end Thursday night at the hands of Beachside, as the Barracudas denied Choctaw’s hopes of reaching the Elite 8 for the first time since 2016.

Despite being tied 1-1 at halftime, Beachside scored three unanswered goals in the second half to pull away for the 4-1 win.

Beachside will host Booker T. Washington on Tuesday. Booker T. Washington beat Gulf Breeze 3-1.