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Balanced Attack Key For Patriots

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By NICHOLAS J.E. MURRAY

nmurray@tampatrib.com

Published: February 19, 2009

TAMPA - Looking at Freedom's run to its first final four, you'd think the return of forward Manny Martes from a hamstring injury was what has pushed the Patriots into Friday's state semifinal against Niceville. After all, he has scored in every game from the district tournament on, including a hat trick against Lake Howell on Friday night.

Ask Martes whether that has been the case, and he sets the record straight.

"It's nice to hear," Martes said. "But I just try to stay humble about everything, not think I'm all that or the best player on the team, because we're all good equally."
Freedom coach Dennis Derflinger does give Martes a portion of the credit, saying he adds an extra dimension to the team, but adds the team also played well in Martes' absence.

"Deion Jones is a very skilled player," Derflinger said. "If he gets people on the outside, he'll usually draw two, three or even four defenders. That opens up space for the rest of the team, so it's not just about Manny, it's about Deion, or Mike Panter, who plays well in the back for us."

A balanced attack has Martes, Jones and Taylor Nalls all with double-digit goals, and seven players with five or more on the Patriots' roster. Compared to last season, when Bobby Huertas scored 36 goals but the Patriots were eliminated in the region semifinals, that balance has made the Patriots' attack unpredictable and tougher to defend.

"You can't just mark one player, because we have two or three kids that can score," Jones said.

And the Patriots have more than just two or three who can create chances. While Jones leads the team with 16 assists, and Martes has 11, midfielder Ellis Curry is someone his teammates say gets overlooked.

"He definitely sets up things for us," Derflinger said. "It doesn't look that way on the stats sheet, he has a number of assists, and less than a handful of goals, but he's the person who puts the first pass together for the guy who gets the assist."

Players like Curry, fellow midfielder Eliot Toledo and goalkeeper Kyle Peel also have played their roles, resulting in a level of trust the Patriots haven't seen in previous seasons. That trust allowed them to come through an unexpectedly tough region quarterfinal against River Ridge, and then sweep past Land O' Lakes and Lake Howell.

"These guys respect each other, they have confidence in each others' abilities," Derflinger said. "They feel that any time a player gets the ball on their foot in scoring range, they're going to score, or they're going to put a quality shot on goal, and that's the big difference."

A difference that has landed the Patriots on the verge of the school's first state title.

"It's an exciting time for us, obviously," Derflinger said. "I just think the guys are concentrating on the way they play, they're not trying to get wrapped up too much in all the outside things that are going on, it's just an exciting time and an exciting experience."

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

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