Gulliver Prep’s Davidson, Coral Gables’ Fotso share honors as Miami-Dade boys’ soccer coaches of year
The two most thrilling postseason runs by boys’ soccer teams from MiamiDade County could hardly have started in more different places.
Gulliver Prep was one of the favorites to win the Class 4A championship and did, closing the season with five straight wins to claim an eighth state title. Coral Gables was one of the last teams into the Class 7A playoffs and wound up getting all the way to the Region 4-7A title game.
Their coaches are now the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade
County boys’ soccer coaches of the year.
In Pinecrest, Gulliver coach Scott Davidson crafted the Raiders’ deep roster into a champion by getting his players to overcome a loss in the District 16-4A tournament and win a second state title in three years.
“They’re an incredibly unselfish group and were just as happy regardless of who scored, they were just as happy and just as supportive no matter who was on the field,” Davidson said.
Cavaliers coach Michel Fotso’s group also overcame a loss in the District 15-7A tournament to regroup
and upset Cypress Bay in the first round of the Region 4-7A playoffs. Coral Gables then routed
Palmetto in the next round to reach the region championship for the first time since 1981.
The Cavaliers did it with only two seniors on the roster.
“I always knew, starting the season, that I had a good young group, that we could have an OK season or we could have a good season,” Fotso said.
Both teams expect to be among the best in Dade County next year, Gulliver because it always is and Coral Gables because of the young talent it should have returning.
The Raiders’ eight state titles are the most for a school from Miami-Dade and tied for the most by any team from South Florida. The Cavaliers will try to win their first since 1980 — and second ever — after hitting heights they hadn’t since the same era.
“We all love Gulliver and most of our kids have been at Gulliver since a very, very young age,” Davidson said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who have been there since kindergarten. We’ve got players who’ve been there since first, second, third, fourth grade, so they’re Gulliver through and through, and that helps us to love the program so much.”
Said Fotso: “If the same group comes back, we will be a force to reckon with.”