District 1-1A boys: Port St. Joe edges Franklin County for crown
PORT ST. JOE — The lunch menu on Friday at Port St. Joe High School was fairly sparse for the Tiger Sharks soccer team.
The discussion was all about victory in the District 1-1A final against rival Franklin County later in the evening.
“We had a meeting and we decided that we were going to win, we had to win, we were not going to let us lose this one,” senior co-captain Daniel May said.
A Gibraltar defense and a converted opportunity by freshman striker Marcel Duarte, whose 17 goals and 40 points leads Port St. Joe, were sufficient in the Tiger Sharks’ 1-0 victory at Sam Cox Field.
Both teams will enter the regional round Tuesday, Franklin County (7-6-2) traveling to play the winner of Tallahassee Maclay-Lafayette Mayo; Port St. Joe (15-2-1) hosting the winner.
The teams had split home-and-home during the season, Franklin winning 1-0 and Port St. Joe 2-0. They were the district’s top two seeds and the title game was moved from Niceville after each won district semifinals on Wednesday.
“This might have been our best defensive effort of the year,” Port St. Joe coach Gary Hindley said.
“We wanted to mark (junior midfielder Elton Olvera), their most dangerous player. We wanted to be aware of where he was. Our game plan worked out. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. Tonight it did.”
The defensive effort was total for Port St. Joe, but the back line of May, Blaine Bush, LaGrand McLemore, Raymond Robles and Daniel Jones was particularly impenetrable, allowing just a single shot on first-year keeper Walt Bowers.
“That’s the way I like it,” May said. “The back line, I thought we played smart and we played composed.”
The action took place primarily at midfield throughout the first half, with the Seahawks enjoying what passed for any foray into opposition territory during much of the first 35 minutes.
The Tiger Sharks pressed the attack in the final few minutes before halftime. When the Seahawks mishandled a clearing effort 25 yards from the goal Duarte was there to pounce on the loose ball.
He dashed in untouched and launched a perfect shot past Franklin keeper Daniel Carrino as regular time elapsed.
The lone threat Bowers faced was from a pass off a free kick in the middle of the field. Tanner Klink drilled a shot from near the top of the box that Bowers punched away.
During the final 40 minutes the Tiger Sharks kept the ball primarily in the Seahawk end. Duarte twice temporarily got loose in front of the net, but could not convert. Port St. Joe employed six corner kicks and two free kicks.
Until the final four minutes Franklin County simply could not penetrate the Tiger Shark defense.
“It was a hard-fought game and this is a tough loss,” Franklin County coach Jono Williams said. “They are our rivals. We prepared hard for this. But we are still alive and we have to shake this off and get ready for Tuesday.”
