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Wharton Takes Class 5A-District 8 Title In Shootout

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A Tribune staff report

Published: January 26, 2008

TAMPA - A flick off a keeper's hand, a few inches lower on a shot, a second quicker here and there ... the slimmest of things seperated Wharton and Freedom on Friday night in the Class 5A-District 8 final.

In the end, after a frenetic regulation and two 10-minute overtimes, it was a penalty kick ripped to the back of the net by Joe Layton that finally ended it: Wharton 2, Freedom 1 (won 4-2 on penalty kicks).

"Honestly," Wharton coach Scott Ware said, "It could have gone either way. It was that close. It was great."

With about 30 seconds left in regulation, Ware admitted his heart skipped when Freedom fired a shot off a defender's foot, then off the Wildcat keeper's chest, then snapped a header off the crossbar.

"I really thought we had it right there," Freedom coach Dennis Derflinger said. "When you have a sequence like that, you think you're going to score."

"I was nervous with all those people screaming in the stands and everything," said Layton, who also scored the Wildcats goal in the 47th-minute of regulation with a header off a corner kick. "But when I hit it, I knew it. I hit it just like I wanted. Man what a feeling!"

Freedom (19-5) will now travel to Land O' Lakes for next Thursday's first round of regionals, while Wharton (14-5-2) will host River Ridge.

Scott Purks

Sever's Hat Trick Leads Tampa Prep

LARGO - This one was a little closer.

When Tampa Prep (22-2-2) and Calvary Christian (15-5-2) met during the regular soccer season, the Terrapins rolled to a 7-0 win. When the two teams played Friday night at Indian Rocks Christian for the Class 2A-District 10 championship, the Tampa club won by a final score of 7-2.

Sophomore Wes Sever had three goals for Tampa Prep while Ryan Griffin had one goal and two assists. Jake Peterson and Mark Hooker also scored for the Hillsborough County team.

Calvary took a surprising 1-0 lead when Benton Jones broke away for a score early in the first half. But the defending state champion Prep squad quickly tied it and moved to a 3-1 halftime lead. Calvary cut the margin to 5-2 when Andy Thomas scored with about 15 minutes remaining in the game, but the Warriors could get no closer. Tampa Prep has won two of the last three 2A state championships. The Terrapins will host Academy at the Lakes on Thursday while Calvary travels to Bishop McLaughlin.

Mike Moore

No. 2 Seed Gaither Upsets Alonso

CLEARWATER - Down 2-1, with time running out in the Class 6A-District 7 championship Friday night at Countryside and missing its best scoring threat due to injury, Gaither boys soccer coach Eric Sims took a chance.

Less than 10 minutes later, the Cowboys were district champions.

"We had to do something to tie the score," Sims said. "If we lost 2-1 or 3-1, it didn't matter."

With Brendan Howard, who's hat trick propelled Gaither to the championship match, on the sideline, Sims moved Steven Tobon up from defense to press the issue. His goal, off an alert play when Alonso goalkeeper Nick Hall bobbled a Cowboys' free kick into the box, tied the match a minute later. When Richard Kerster, who assisted on the game's first goal, found the net with five minutes remaining, No. 2 Gaither had its 3-2 lead and first title in four seasons.

The victory sends Gaither (19-3-1) into Thursday's Class 6A regional quarterfinal where it will host Sarasota Riverview. Alonso (21-6-4) travels to Plant City. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.

Chris Errington

Plant City Needs PKs To Defeat Rams

PLANT CITY - After getting doused with a ice cold container of Gatorade, Plant City coach K.C. Van Der Luit could only describe the intense match that his team had just played in one short gasp of breath.

"A roller coaster of a game," Van Der Luit said.

That pretty much sums up in a nutshell how emotional and exciting the 6A-8 district final was, with the Raiders edging out Sarasota Riverview 5-4 in penalty kicks to win the game by the same score.

Plant City's Delagraza stopped the Rams' second shot, and it came down to the senior goalkeeper's shot to win the game. His blast to the left side of the net ended a see-saw battle that earned the Raider's a district title and home field advantage against Alonso in the region quarterfinal next week.

Although the outcome of the match was resting on his shoulders, Delagraza welcomed the pressure.

"I believe I play better in tough situations," Delagraza said. "I felt comfortable with it."

Jeffrey Jones

Berkeley Beats TC For 3A-9 Title

CLEARWATER - Berkeley Prep used a dominant offensive game to capture the Class 3A-9 district title Friday at Clearwater Central Catholic with a 6-1 win against Tampa Catholic. It was the second win in as many games for the Buccaneers over the Crusaders.

With the win, Berkeley Prep will host Fort Myers Dunbar on Thursday in the 3A-3 regional quarterfinals. Dunbar lost to Fort Myers Bishop Verot, who will host Tampa Catholic on Thursday.

Berkeley Prep forward T.J. Roehn continued his hot streak by scoring the first two goals of the match. The first goal came at 29:50 of the first half on a rebound off a shot from the right side by Joey Rosati, Roehn booted the ball into the left side of the net for a 1-0 Buccaneers lead.

Ten minutes later Roehn recorded what turned to be the match-winning goal when Roehn banked in a short from the left post for a 2-0 Berkeley Prep (10-7-6) margin. Roehn now has four goals through two postseason games.

"We took our shots, pressed hard, capitalized on their mistakes and took advantage of them," Roehn said. "We caused mistakes by our speed. It wasn't just me. As you can see we had six goals. I only had two of them. I can't do it all by myself."

Tampa Catholic's (11-8-1) lone goal came from Dan Caruso when his shot bounced off Berkeley Prep goalie Alex Jenkins' hands into the right corner of the goal with 18:36 left in the game.

Lee Diekemper

East Lake Wins 5A-9 On Penalty Kicks

DUNEDIN - As arguably the fiercest rivalry in Pinellas County boys soccer, it seemed only fitting for the Class 5A-District 9 championship game between Palm Harbor University and East Lake to come down to penalty kicks Friday night.

It was the third straight time the two programs met to decide district primacy and this latest edition certainly did not disappoint.

Battling to a high-energy 3-3 tie after regulation and two overtime periods were not enough, East Lake's Drew Petzoldt boomed home the game winning penalty kick on the Eagles' final attempt. The goal sent the team - and its raucous student section, the Blue Crue - into a frenzy.

Eric Horchy

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