Neither of the top seeded teams in District 4A are headed for the boys’ regional soccer quarterfinals. Instead, the Nease Panthers and the Ponte Vedra Sharks, the fourth and fifth seeds respectively in this week’s district playoffs, met for the title with the Panthers claiming an exciting 1-0 victory. The lone goal of the game came on Garret Cox’s bicycle kick at the 23-minute mark of the second half.
The Panthers entered the game with a record of 9-11 while the Sharks stood at 9-6-2. In two previous meetings the teams split games decided by a single goal. Nease won the first 3-2 and Ponte took the second by the score of 2-1.
Nonetheless, earlier in the week the Sharks eliminated two higher ranked seeds, Bartram Trail and Matanzas, while the Panthers bounced the district favorite Pedro Menendez.
Panther coach Johnny Sarpi, in his second year as head coach was not surprised at the success of the two local teams.
"I knew in this district this year, anybody could win — even the eighth seed St Augustine," said Sarpi. "We played some very competitive games and then some good things happened for us."
Sarpi and the Panthers are looking to repeat after winning it all last year.
Nease met Bishop Kenny at home in the regional quarterfinals on Thursday, while the Sharks traveled to Stanton the same evening.
The Sharks had several good scoring opportunities but weren’t able to convert. Still coach Daniel Vallareal was upbeat about his team’s chances.
"It’s disappointing to loose the district title game but this is a strong district. We have a chance to play another game and if we can play with the intensity we had against Bartram and Matanzas we’ll be okay," the coach said.
