Fort Meade, George Jenkins Advance to Semifinals

Wed. February 01, 2012 at 3:00 a.m. | By Polk Preps Staff

LEDGER STAFF REPORTS

FORT MEADE | After two district tournament nail-biters, the Fort Meade Miners boys soccer team was starting to think the opposing goal was smaller than a golf hole.

Finally, in the Miners' Class 1A regional quarterfinal game against Foundation Academy Lions, the net opened as wide as the Red Sea.

Jack Cortez scored two goals and five different Miners found the back of the net, including eighth grader Dru Lott, as Fort Meade cruised to a 6-0 victory Tuesday.

With the victory, the Miners travel on Friday to take on Windermere Prep in the regional semifinals.

Alfredo Jaimes, Dylan Linares and Juan Jaimes also scored for the Miners. Keeper Abel Armijo got the shutout on a relatively easy night although he had to make two tough saves early.

"I thought we played pretty good," Cortez said. "It was a team effort as everyone tried hard."

Although very happy with the victory, Fort Meade coach Lynn Haase saw a lot of room for improvement as his team advances.

"In the first half we played a very good game," he said. "In the second half, we started smelling blood and we got sloppy. Everyone wanted to score a goal. We're going to have to play better on Friday. We're not going to get away with playing as sloppy."

In the first half, the Miners' deft passing helped them get going. Juan Jaimes was fouled in the box and Cortez nailed the penalty kick for a 1-0 lead.

Alfredo Jaimes made it 2-0 on a hard-angle shot from the left wing. His shot hit the post, rebounded off of the Lions' keeper and into the net.

Cortez made it 3-0 at the half, speeding by the defense and easing a shot past the keeper.

Linares opened the scoring in the second half with a blast from about 25 yards for a 4-0 lead, and Jaimes connected on a penalty kick for a final goal.

The most exciting goal, however came from Lott, who outraced the defense to a deep ball and slid the ball by a charging keeper that went into the net. He then got mobbed by his teammates.

"That was exciting," Cortez said. "The little man got a chance to shine. That's a great feeling."

– RICK BROWN | THE LEDGER

Class 4A

George Jenkins 3, Tampa Freedom 1

LAKELAND | George Jenkins midfielder Jon Ibanez, playing his first game of the season, scored a tie-breaking goal with 3:01 left to help lift the Eagles into the regional soccer semifinals.

Ibanez, who was academically ineligible the first semester, scored off of a corner kick breaking a tie and Alex Morrell added a game-clincher with 11.9 seconds left to propel the Eagles to a win over Tampa Freedom at Jenkins High School.

Jenkins, 23-2-2 with an 18-match winning streak, will play at home Friday night at 7 p.m., in the Class 4A semifinals against Tampa Gaither, which defeated Lake Region, 3-1, Tuesday night in Tampa.

Jenkins coach Shawn Fitzgerald just found out Tuesday afternoon that Ibanez would be allowed to play Tuesday night. Because he didn't play in any matches during the season and teams are now in the playoffs, Jenkins had to ask for a waiver from the FHSAA to allow him to play.

"We emailed the people up there (at the FHSAA), and I got the email (Tuesday afternoon) that said he was good to go," Fitzgerald said.

On the go-ahead goal, Ibanez picked up a deflected ball in traffic in front of the goal and was able to direct it in to give Jenkins a 2-1 with 3:01 left in the match.

"It's a great feeling. It's my first game," Ibanez said. "It was kind of lucky; I put it in off my chest."

Morrell added his goal with 11.9 seconds left on a breakaway on a long clearing pass from defender Mitchell Rogers.

For the first 77 minutes of of the match, the two teams played even, trading opportunities. Freedom grabbed a quick 1-0 lead when forward Jett Wright blasted a shot past Jenkins goalkeeper Chandler Jones. It was the first goal allowed by Jenkins in six matches.

The Patriots, 11-7-1, had a few other chances to score, but Jones was able to handle the shots keeping the Freedom lead at 1-0 before Jenkins tied it with 29.9 seconds left in the half. Anthony Lucido fired a shot from the right wing off the outstretched hands of Freedom goalkeeper Nathan Brown, and Sean Whalen picked up the rebound to score.

By MIKE COBB LEDGER CORRESPONDENT

Tampa Gaither 3, Lake Region 1

Lake Region held tough with Tampa Gaither for a half before falling.

The Thunder were tied 1-1 with Gaither at the end of the first half on a goal by Brad Moore. Jacob Kalogridis got the assist.

Lake Region goalkeeper Fernando Aguirre had 10 saves for the Thunder, who finished the season at 16-6-3.

Class 2A

Berkeley Prep 5, Frostproof 1

Berekely Prep scored all five of its goals in the first half to eliminate Frostproof.

"Our defense had problems clearing the ball out," Frostproof coach Luis Rodriguez said.

Frostproof's lone goal was put in by Rhett Pooley in the second half.

Class 1A

Windermere Prep 3, Lakeland Christian 1

Jordan Green had the only goal for the Vikings as they were eliminated from the playoffs.

Lakeland Christian finishes the year with a 12-9-0 record.