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Buccaneers Buoyed By Victory

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By NICHOLAS MURRAY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 24, 2008

TAMPA - Tick one goal off the list.

For the first time, Berkeley Prep won a championship at the High School Soccer Invitational as it defeated Palm Harbor 5-1 in the Premier Division final Tuesday evening at the Ed Radice Sports Complex.

Five different Buccaneers found the net, but at the center of it all was midfielder Eri Jacobs. It was Jacobs' corner kick from the left that found Mark Biddenger alone at the far post to open the scoring, but his free kick from 25 yards out early in the second half was the goal that turned the game.

Jacobs felt awed by the moment after the game.

"Unbelievable. It's a feeling I've never had, it's awesome," he said. "It's what I play for, it's what I live for. I love the game. My team, I have to give it up to them, they moved off the ball for me, helped me out, created runs which I was able to put them through on to score goals."

Berkeley's Kevin Harvey and T.J. Roehn each added goals soon after, both with assists from Jacobs, before Roehn set up J.D. Post for Berkeley's fifth.

Before the season started, Bucs coach Tim Cooper had set a goal of winning the tournament for the first time. He was thrilled by his team's performance, a performance that was all the more impressive considering it was the Bucs fourth game in the last two days.

"That was what we talked to the boys about before we even started was that the best we'd ever done was third," Cooper said. "I honestly feel we have a great squad this year, and I think we can do some good things this year. But we all sat down before this started and said, 'We want to win this.'"

The team that finished third in the 2003-04 season went on to cap the season with a state championship. The Bucs players said they thought this victory could provide a springboard to that level of success at the end of this season.

"At the very beginning our coach took out a booklet, and he had a list of all the winners of this tournament," Joey Rosati said. "And he checked all the ones that went on to win a state title. It's an easy comparison to see who wins this tournament, and who wins a state title."

After beating Jesuit to advance to the Elite Division final, Wharton was unable to end the tournament on a high, as the Wildcats fell to Orangewood Christian 4-1.

Orangewood took an early lead when Josh Hudson broke the Wildcats offside trap, and ran onto a ball down the left. His pass into the center of the penalty area was met with a thunderous finish by Jordan Hiremath to give the Rams an early lead.

For the rest of the half, however, the game was balanced. That was until just before the break, when Wharton's Khalil Marriott was ejected for what the referee termed serious foul play. The decision appeared harsh, and left the Wildcats with playing 10-on-11 for the remainder of the game.

Despite that, the Wildcats played possibly their best soccer of the tournament early in the second half, possessing the ball well and stringing together good passing movements despite the man-disadvantage.

"It looked great for the 10 minutes we had that, it's just a shame we didn't have it for 40," Wharton coach Scott Ware said.

As with Berkeley's win, Orangewood's second goal of the game proved decisive. After an errant Wharton pass near midfield, the Rams counterattack with speed, Hiremath beating his man before slipping the ball to Garrett Caslow, whose low shot snuck under Wharton goalkeeper Andrew Stickley.

Orangewood added another pair of goals shortly after, Hudson converting from the penalty spot after a foul in the area, and Hiremath adding his second of the game after a nice give-and-go with Aaron Gendreau.

It was the first time the Rams had attended the tournament, and after beating Jacksonville Bolles 6-5 in a penalty shootout that went to a ninth round, Coach Jeff Johnson was delighted by the victory.

"It's great," he said. "I thought we had a really tough group, Sickles was really solid, and Tampa Prep is always a good rivalry for us in 2A. I think we gained momentum every game, the guys played with a lot of heart, and I think our unity is probably our best strength through this tournament. The guys really unified well."

Wharton pulled a goal back late as Gerald Sheaffer found space down the right, and after drawing the goalkeeper to him passed to Cody Brown, who fired home. Ware said he was pleased with the team's character despite the final's outcome.

"I kept all the guys that had started the game on there, five games, they pushed it on the field, they did well," Ware said. "A couple of guys we weren't sure about started on the bench, and we've got a pretty deep bench. I didn't know about that until this tournament. We had to use just about everybody during this tournament, and it was good to see those guys step up off the bench and play well."

Nicholas J.E. Murray can be reached at (813) 259-8243.

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