By REID TUCKER
When the dust settled on the street fight that was the region quarterfinal it was Freeport that came out on top by a score of 2-1, securing the soccer program’s first-ever playoff win after appearances in 2010, 2011 and 2014.
The on-field action could only have been rougher if Freeport and Wakulla’s soccer teams had been issued billy clubs and boot knives prior to their regional quarterfinal matchup, but it wouldn’t have been by much. Maybe then the refs would have seen some blood and actually made a few more calls on the night of Jan 29. Indeed, the officials granted both sides plenty of leeway when it came to contact and conduct, and the Bulldogs (16-6-2) and War Eagles (12-9-3) ably shrugged their shoulders and ran with it all the way to the game’s thrilling conclusion.
In fairness to the referees, they did throw out a fair number of cards over the course of the contest, including the one that led to the first score of the game. Wakulla’s Matthew Warnock got a free kick in the second minute, but Freeport’s Sage Paiz blocked the shot in the line stand to thwart that initial attempt. Warnock hooked up with teammate Zane Paul for another shot three minutes later, but that one didn’t go either, and even this early in the game players on both sides were starting to get chippy.
Jordan Trussell and Carlos Legasi tied up in penalty box in the ninth minute, giving Legasi a yellow card and Trussell a spot kick, though just who started to squabble was hard to call. Regardless, Trussell got the hard 12-yard shot past Freeport keeper Daniel McGinnis for a one-goal lead. McGinnis was grimly determined thereafter, not letting another Wakulla shot get by for the rest of the game, on the way to accumulating 15 saves over the remaining 71 minutes of play.
The game was evenly paced after that, with both squads putting a few shots on the goal to no avail until the 22nd minute, when Freeport tied the game 1-all on a header from Juan Alvarez. He made the goal as fellow Bulldog Gerald Beaty had a free kick rebounded back into the field of play by Wakulla keeper Cameron Briggs, with Alvarez swooping in to make contact low and hard from only a few yards out. Neither team scored through the end of the half, but it wasn’t for lack of trying: Freeport had five tries and Wakulla four before the intermission, though near-misses and tight saves from the goalies kept the score where it was.
Roughhousing continued to be the modus operandi for the competing sides, but it didn’t help anybody as the score remained 1-1 for the next several minutes – all the way up to the 53rd, in fact. Freeport striker Matthew Blair (who’d had a few close calls with opposing players and the refs) finally had his shining moment, when he picked up a long pass in the 52nd, converting it into the winning goal. Blair, one of only a few Freeport players on the Wakulla side at the time, gained possession and kept the ball, rushing downfield and dribbling past the Wakulla defenders put the go-ahead shot into the right corner of the net, despite nearly being knocked down/clobbered in the process.
The War Eagles tried a few more times to even up the score, but even though the shooting wasn’t bang-on plenty of players were still getting banged-on as the action got even harder as the match wound down. Freeport’s Brian Alvarez almost scored in the 65th minute, but Wakulla was the more active team on offense by far. McGinnis was having none of it, accruing five saves, two by truly impressive leaps into harm’s way as the War Eagles barreling into the box, in the last four minutes of the game.
District 1-2A runner up South Walton didn’t fare so well as Freeport in its regional quarterfinal. The Seahawks were blanked in a road game hosted by District 2 champ Florida High, which put a 6-0 drubbing on the Walton County squad to end their playoff hopes. The loss makes South Walton 1-4 in five appearances in regional play.
