There was never any doubt what Palm Harbor University's Ben Sweat was going to do when he gathered the ball at midfield in overtime against Plant in the Class 6A-Region 2 semifinals Wednesday night.
"I was going all the way," said Sweat, whose goal in the 88th minute on a 3-on-1 break gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 victory.
And his coach wouldn't have had it any other way.
"(Sweat) was amazing. What else can I say?" Hurricanes coach Alex Delgado said. "He's a natural left back and will probably play that position next year at USF. He's been playing forward for me and that was his 21st goal. Vince (Esposito) started cutting down the right side. The (Plant) defender kind of peeled off toward Vince and Ben just took off. I just wanted him to get a shot on goal."
The game started like it was going to be a high-scoring contest. P.J. McDonald scored the first two goals for Palm Harbor (19-5-3) but each time, Plant had an answer. After McDonald's first goal in the fifth minute, Quinn Ebright scored for Plant (11-8-1) in the 14th minute.
And following McDonald's penalty-shot goal in the 17th minute, Spencer Muratides scored on a free kick from 25 yards and momentum had shifted toward the Panthers.
"I thought we dominated the majority of the game," Plant coach Christopher Carbon said. "A couple of things didn't go our way but there's not much you can do about it., They did everything I asked and didn't leave anything behind."
The Hurricanes travel to Orlando Olympia for Friday's region final.
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