Mesquita, Durant Hand East Bay First Loss

GIBSONTON Leandro Mesquita scored twice and added an assist as Durant stayed undefeated while giving itself the inside track to the top seed in the Class 6A-District 8 tournament with a 3-2 victory against previously undefeated East Bay on Tuesday night.

After building pressure through most of the second half, Durant forward Cecil Clarke was fouled on the left edge of the East Bay penalty area. Mesquita's curling free kick, originally intended as a cross, found its way all the way through to the right corner of the net to put the Cougars up 2-1 with 17 minutes to go.

"I meant to cross that ball, but we got the goal, that's all that matters," Mesquita said.

Durant defender Freeman Bass had a header cleared off the line by East Bay defender Walter Pimental shortly after, but added a third for the Cougars in the 68th minute as Mesquita found him at the far post on a cross from the left. Bass' header glanced off the under-side of the crossbar on its way into the left corner of the net.

Durant's pressure had developed in part thanks to a five-man midfield that was able to win and maintain pressure on the Indians' defense. But despite the Cougars' pressure, it took Mesquita's lucky goal to break the deadlock. According to Durant coach Jamin Hollinsworth, it was the opposite of how the Cougars (6-0-0) have been playing so far this season.

"We didn't create that many chances tonight," Hollingsworth said. "We have been creating a lot of chances and our finishing has not been great. Tonight, we did not create as many as we'd like, but we took advantage of the chances we created."

East Bay coach Jonathan Drake thought his team got away from what had made the Indians (3-1-2) successful so far this season.

"We play three in the middle," Drake said, "but I had my defensive [midfielder] dropping way too far back into our defense. That way we were losing the middle of the field, we just didn't have enough players in there."

Mesquita had given the Cougars the lead from the penalty spot in the second minute. After East Bay's defense misjudged a long-ball towards the right side, Durant midfielder Andy Nassar slid the ball down the touchline for Clarke, who was brought down in the penalty area by Pimental. Mesquita stepped up and coolly shot low into the right corner of the net.

Durant almost doubled its lead in the 10th minute, but Billy Fanning's snap shot from 16 yards out found the right side-netting instead of the goal. East Bay tied the game four minutes later, as Forrest Meredith ghosted in at the far post to head home an angled free kick by Josh Walker.

The Indians scored a second time in second half stoppage time, as Miguel Cerveleon drove a shot into the top left corner of the net from just inside the penalty area after a corner broke down, but didn't have time to find an equalizer.

Durant will try to complete a perfect district schedule next Tuesday against Plant City. Hollingsworth said doing that, and earning the 6A-8 No. 1 seed was one of the team's main goals entering the season.

"All along, that's our No.1 goal to have the No. 1 seed going into districts, and winning the district tournament," Hollingsworth said. "Our No.1 priority was to go undefeated in district play, and we're 5-0 in district now, and proud of that."