- November 5, 2024
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ORMOND BEACH — The ball sat in the back of the net. Players congregated near the fence, far away from the field. Jerseys covered their faces to hide the tears.
At one point, Matanzas was 13 minutes away from winning the District 6-3A boys soccer championship Friday night. They were just one kick away; one save away.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
Seabreeze rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat Matnazas, 2-1, in sudden-death penalty kicks after an additional scoreless 20 minutes.
The Pirates (16-3-5) were heartbroken.
“It was a battle,” Matanzas coach Rich Weber said after the game. “It was a war. Those two teams were really fighting hard.”
Much larger than the game, Weber said, was the showing from Matanzas’ student section, which he called the 12th man. Matanzas sent a spirit bus to the game. All 50 seats available were booked almost immediately after it was announced at school. They were loud, and they were rowdy.
“I’m really proud of the student section,” he said. “It was really, really special tonight. And that, for me, it’s great. It’s building our programs at our school to new levels.”
The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute on a goal that came off a free kick. The ball bounced inside Seabreeze’s box and then Matanzas’ Faruh Isakov poked his head at the ball and sent it into the back of the net.
But with about 13 minutes left on the clock, a low cross came into the Matanzas box, and Seabreeze’s Jordan Collins got on the other end of it, rifling the ball into the back of the net.
The two teams battled for another 13 minutes to end regular time at 1-1. For another 20 minutes of golden-goal extra time, neither team could score the winning goal.
After 100 minutes of soccer, the game headed to penalty kicks. Matanzas converted its first PK, and Collins, who was Seabreeze’s hero, clanked his off the post.
With Matanzas up 4-3, Joey Garro stepped up to seal the win and the championship for the Pirates. Seabreeze keeper Jack Zimbelman had different plans, though. He saved it, and then Jordan Bowling buried his for the Sandcrabs, making it 4-4 and send the game into sudden-death PKs.
Both teams made the first two PKs in sudden death. Then, on Matanzas’ third, Zimbelman sprawled out and made the save. Alex Ortolani converted his for the Sandcrabs.
Matanzas’ seniors were freshmen when Weber took over the program four years ago. Their coach says they have battled through adversity all four years, especially this year. But they never “bat an eye,” Weber said.
“They are young men of character,” Weber said. “They believe in each other as a team. It’s unique. You don’t see it a lot .It’s special.”
Matanzas will travel to Lake Minneola at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Class 3A regional quarterfinals. Lake Minneola (16-4-4) beat South Lake, 3-2, in the District 5-3A championship.
District 5-3A is an eight-team district, and the top two seeds — Leesburg and Belleview — didn’t make it out of the tournament. Instead, Lake Minneola and South Lake pulled the upsets to make it to the state playoffs.
Weber isn’t looking past Lake Minneola, but he likes the way the brackets play out. All signs could point to a Matanzas-Seabreeze matchup for a fourth time.
“I’ve looked at it ... and we’re all right,” Weber said. “I think we see (Seabreeze) again in two weeks.”
More photos from Friday night's game.
