By REID TUCKER
The Freeport Bulldogs simply couldn’t be bothered on the night when they claimed the program’s first District 1-2A soccer championship with a 2-1 win against arch-rival South Walton.
They weren’t fazed by adverse conditions – not inches-thick mud, slippery grass, or lingering misty rain. They weren’t put off by adversity on the field either. The worst of those challenges was the prospect of a final round match on the home field of an energized Seahawks club which had the night before pulled off one of the greatest upsets of a county sports program against the usually nigh-invincible Pensacola Catholic.
That doesn’t mean Freeport (13-6-2) didn’t have to fight from behind on the chilly evening of Jan. 23. The ‘Dogs and the ‘Hawks were evenly matched most of the night, and they equally hindered by the soggy pitch, left a sloppy mess after a night and a day of heavy rains, and players from both sides careened into each other throughout the game. As typical of meetings between the schools’ teams, no matter the sport, those collisions not always by accident, as the game went from a scoreless deadlock at halftime to a late-match scramble for a winning goal.
South Walton got out ahead first on a nice conversion from Nick Trodd in the 44th minute of the game. He won control of the ball near Freeport’s goal after a pass from a team mate went on a zigzagging between Bulldog defenders, but Trodd slipped past them with plenty of time to line up a shot, going head to head with Freeport keeper Daniel McGinnis. Trodd drilled the ball deep into the right corner for a 1-0 lead, but Freeport responded six minutes later when Matthew Blair pushed ahead of South Walton goalie Lee Cox to tie the contest with most of the second half still to play.
Both teams strove to get the advantage, with the best chances for either side coming near the 60-minute mark. Seahawk Alex Koonce had a wide-open shot after a breakaway drive in the 55th minute, but he shanked the ball wide right of the Freeport goal, and Blair put the ball way over the top bar on a free kick in the 59th. South Walton’s Joey Rodriguez tried again with 16 minutes to go, as did Blair, but both those shots were saved by the other side’s goal keeper.
The tension finally broke when Freeport’s Bernard Turko, made a desperate shot from the edge of the box in the 75th minute, snaking the ball past Cox to score the winning goal – the first goal of the Turko’s soccer career. Try as they might, the Seahawks couldn’t get anything going on offense as time wore down and the game was settled with Freeport playing keep-away near mid-field.
The local teams of District 1 silenced their critics in the 2015 district tournament, with every team showing marked improvement since last season’s campaigns. Even Walton finished up the regular season with several wins in a row before being knocked out of the tourney 2-1 by South Walton. Freeport ground out a win against North Bay Haven, with Blair scoring the sole goal of the match in the 67th minute, but South Walton was arguably stole the tournament spotlight thanks to its 1-0 upset over Catholic in the semis.
The 16-4-3 Crusaders were heavily favored to win the whole tournament, being larger and stronger by far than was South Walton – a factor which played into the Escambia County club’s strategy of limiting the quicker Seahawks’ offensive options. Indeed, South Walton only managed to get across midfield with the ability to score a handful of times in the second half. None of that mattered, given the Seahawks’ utter determination to throw their bodies in front of seemingly every Catholic shot before the ball could even get close to the goal.
South Walton managed to hold off Catholic in the first half, and then, taking advantage of a free kick situation in the 59th minute, Daniel Rodriguez put one past the Crusader keeper for the only goal scored in the entire contest. Cox, backed up by his defense, had so many saves in the remaining 20 minutes of the game that it was impossible to get an accurate consensus from anyone as to the exact number. The Seahawks sealed the deal on the win when Cox caught a zero-angle kick in the final minute of the game to the stunned horror of Catholic’s fans and players alike.
Freeport and South Walton will both advance to regional play, with the Bulldogs set to host District 2 runner-up Wakulla on Thursday night, while the Seahawks will hit the road to Tallahassee to take on Florida High. The Walton County clubs have their work cut out for them, as Florida High blanked the stout 12-6 Wakulla 6-nil in their championship match.
