Dolphin boys make it a district sweep
Gulf Breeze hosts Bay in regional quarterfinal tonight
BY JASON THOMPSON Gulf Breeze News jason@gulfbreezenews.com

Photo courtesy of Monica Hoskins The Gulf Breeze boys soccer team beat Washington 3-1 to win the District 1-4A championship Friday at the Navarre Soccer Complex.

It'll simply go down in Dolphin soccer history as 'The Save.'

The Dolphins led 2-1 in the final six minutes of their district championship match with Washington. The Wildcats had been unleashing shot after shot at goalkeeper Johnny Miller for about 10 minutes, but couldn't get one past him.

Then, with about six minutes left, Washington Geoff Joseph lobbed a shot from about 25 yards out that was heading for the upper left hand corner of the goal. Miller, at full extension, slapped the ball away. Three minutes later, Cory Gibson's second goal of the game sealed a 3-1 win.

"He's been there for us all year," head coach Bruce Savage said of his senior keeper. "Anytime they got one past the defense, he was there."

Miller had to watch for the sidelines in the 55th minute as Washington's Mike Schenck scored a penalty kick that tied the match at 1. Miller was sent off with a yellow card for protesting the foul that led to the PK.

Schenck was given a yellow card for pushing Clarke O'Connor in the 13th minute. A minute later came the Wildcats' best scoring chance of the first half when Michael Taylor pushed a ball through the box that wasn't followed up on.

Taylor was hit with a yellow card in the 33rd minute for stepping on Gibson while he was on the ground. AWildcat corner kick required a leaping save by Miller in the final minute of what ended up a scoreless first half.

Stuart Parks broke the tie two minutes into the second half as he fielded a long cross by Andrew Davis and sent it from the right side.

The Wildcats would tie it in the 55th minute before Gibson's first goal put the Dolphins ahead to stay 11 minutes later. O'Connor's ball was fielded by Gibson, who dribbled up the center of the pitch before putting it away.

The goal spurred a flurry of activity by the Wildcats in the Dolphins' third, capped off by Miller's one-handed stop. Kyle Losoya cleared out another dangerous ball that Gibson ran under and put away with three minutes left. The goal was Gibson's 31st of the year.

Dolphins 2,

West Florida Tech 0

Gulf Breeze faced nine, and sometimes 10, Jaguars in the penalty area, which kept their semifinal match close.

Despite a 6-on-10 in the Jaguars' third, Cody Williams put the Dolphins on the board in the 22nd minute, scoring off a feed from O'Connor. A long throw in by Eric Keasler was redirected into the back of the net by Nik Hoskins to round out the scoring in the 43rd minute.

The fifth-seeded Jaguars advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 upset win over the fourthseed Navarre.

Dolphins 8, Milton 0

(55 minutes)

Gibson scored four goals, including the first three, as the Dolphins mercy ruled the Panthers in the quarterfinals on Jan. 23.

Parks set up the first two goals, while Andrew Davis assisted on the third.

Hoskins scored the first of his two goals off a pass from Gibson before Gibson scored off a pass from Ross Sakey. The Dolphins led 5-0 at the half.

Keasler started the second half scoring off a feed by Tommy Gibble. Gibble scored himself off a Austin Santiago pass to make it 7-0.

Hoskins ended the match with a goal off a pass from Sakey.

The Dolphins host Bay in a Region 1-4A quarterfinal match tonight at 7 p.m. Gulf Breeze beat the Tornadoes 5-1 in last year's regional quarterfinals in Panama City.