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Boys Soccer: Mitchell, Gaither Pull Upsets

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A Tribune staff report

Published: January 29, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Mitchell coach Oscar Ubillus has always claimed Class 6A-District 7 is the toughest in the state.

After the semifinals Wednesday night at Mitchell, he might just be right. No. 5 seed Mitchell and No. 6 Gaither will play for the title Friday as a result of upset wins. Mitchell (12-12) ousted No. 1 St. Petersburg 4-3, while Gaither (9-8-2) ended No. 2 Sickles' season with a 1-0 win.

"It just shows how tough it is," Ubillus said of the two lowest seeds playing in the title game. "There are no surprises. Anyone reading the newspaper or coming to the stadium shouldn't be surprised."

St. Petersburg's only district loss in the regular season was to Mitchell while Gaither failed to win a district game until the tournament.

Gaither's Jordan See scored the only goal of the game in the 21st minute and held off a late barrage of shots by Sickles (15-6-1).

"We had a bunch of opportunities in the first half," said Gaither coach Eric Sims. "After we scored the first goal, we had a chance to go up 2-0 or 3-0 but didn't. I was a little worried about that going into the second half. This is a big rivalry. It goes way back."

On Monday, Mitchell had to go to penalty kicks to defeat Countryside. Against the Green Devils, it was a shootout in the second half.

In a 17-minute span, Mitchell and St. Petersburg combined for five goals with Chris McVeigh getting the game-winner in the 60th minute. St. Petersburg (8-6-2) made a late run at the Mustangs, but the Mitchell defense was able to keep the Green Devils out of the net.

Ryan Poole scored twice for St. Petersburg while David Vasquez had a goal and an assist for Mitchell.

"We had trouble with their set pieces [Wednesday]," Ubillus said. "Except for that, I don't think they had many runs at us. We didn't play our best but a win is a win."

Rick Harmon

East Bay, Durant Make 6A-8 Final

SARASOTA - East Bay will get a third chance to finally knock off Durant, but it didn't come easy.

The second-seeded Indians (12-5-3) lost a pair of one-goal leads during their semifinal against host Sarasota before rallying for the 3-2 victory in the second overtime period. Kyle Whiteside, who put his team ahead 2-1 in the 49th minute, found a long throw in at his feet and blistered the ball into the back of the net to trigger a joyous celebration.

Durant (22-2) joined East Bay in the Class 6A-District 8 final by blasting Plant City 5-0 in the second semifinal, scoring all five goals in the second half.

"We're waiting for them," Whiteside said.

The Indians had waited a long time to be able to celebrate a berth in the state playoffs. Coach Jonathan Drake has engineered a fantastic turnaround, taking the Indians from 3-9-2 last year to a date in the district final against Durant.

The Cougars got a hat trick by Cecil Clarke and Billy Fanning added two goals.

Anthony Gagliano

Berkeley, Tampa Catholic Win

TAMPA - Berkeley Prep (21-2-2) and Tampa Catholic (11-6-4) will play Friday in a rematch of last year's Class 3A-District 9 championship after claiming victories Wednesday.

The Buccaneers dominated the early game against Clearwater Central Catholic (7-8-5), winning 5-1.

Senior Joey Rosati blasted a shot past CCC goalie Matt Thomas to open the scoring.

Junior T.J. Roehn provided two more goals in the first half to secure the win for Berkeley Prep. Roehn added three assists.

Coleman Dean put the Marauders on the board, but Post and senior Eri Jacobs scored to put the game out of reach.

In the second game, Tampa Catholic (11-6-4) fought off St. Petersburg Catholic (7-8-2) 4-3.

Junior Andrew Buckley rebounded his own miss and put it in the net for Tampa Catholic.

Less than a minute later, Buckley assisted on junior Matt Moore's goal.

Moore and senior Robby Sherman added a goal each in the second half to seal the victory.

St. Pete Catholic senior Adam Skonicki freed himself twice in the area and scored at 49 and 65 minutes to cut the deficit in half.

Mike Franz

Pasco, Hudson In 4A-8 Final

SPRING HILL - Pasco and Hudson won Wednesday night and will advance to the Class 4A-District 8 boys soccer final Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Hudson (16-5-3) rolled up a 7-0 lead in the first half. Scotty Combs scored four goals as Hudson downed Gulf 8-0 in just 50 minutes under the mercy rule.

Top seed Pasco (18-2-3) had to go deep into penalty kicks - 9-8 - to win 2-1 against Sunlake (10-12-3).

Pasco goalkeeper Gilbert Tanguma knocked away a Brian Rodriguez shot to preserve the victory.

"We shouldn't have won," said Pasco coach Barry Grayling. "We didn't play in the first half. It was luck."

"I'm proud of my team," said Sunlake coach Sam Koleduk.

Blain Sanderson scored the first Pasco goal assisted by Whyatt Williams.

Sunlake's Calvin Restrepo scored the goal for the Seahawks with Jordan Landry assisting.

Larry Bugg

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