Navarre falls in 1-5A final
PACE - The resiliency of the Tate High boys soccer team produced a district tournament championship.
The Aggies rallied twice to defeat Navarre 4-3 in a riveting District 1-5A title game Saturday at Pace High. The game was played Saturday due to inclement weather Friday night.
Mother nature still played a factor, said Tate coach James McHenry, who also credited his team’s strong game and season performance.
“This game was a huge difference, because of the wind,” McHenry said. “We knew that was going to be a factor; it was going to be an advantage for one team, if you were going with it. In the first half, we knew if we could stay within a goal, we’d be all right.”
In a game filled with big moments, Tate (14-2-3 overall, 8-0-2 in district play) broke a 2-2 tie with 17:10 left in the second half as Christoph Zeller got a shot off from inside the box right before tumbling into the goalkeeper.
The ball reached the back of the net before a Navarre defender could clear it.
“This is amazing; this is our first year winning it. It took a team effort to go this far, and hopefully we’ll go a little further,” Zeller said. “We kept the ball on the ground. We knew they had a fast defense, so we used combination plays and played simple on the ground and came forward and pulled the win out.”
Just over three minutes later, Zeller completed the hat trick with his third goal as he scooted past the keeper; the keeper grabbed a hold of his waist to try to stop him to no avail, resulting in a yellow card. Although Navarre players argued his case, the goal stood., making it 4-2 Tate.
Zeller said his goal was legit.
“Someone took a shot and it was tipping the keeper, and he got a finger on it; but then I followed up, and he held around me from the back, and I kicked it in,” Zeller said. “I guess he was trying to say that I kicked him or something, but I play clean.”
However, Navarre would not go quietly.
With about three minutes to play, Garcia was tripped inside the box. Landon Scheffler connected on the penalty kick as he hit the left corner to pull the Raiders within one. The teams exchanged possession a few more times before time ran out.
“This means everything to these boys,” McHenry added. “This is what we set out to do at the beginning of the year; at the end of last year we knew we’d have a strong team that could compete for the district championship. We just had to prove that we could, and we did. It’s been an amazing season so far.”
Navarre scored the game’s first goal as Andres Garcia connected on a header off a corner kick by Scheffler with 14:22 left in the first half.
But with just 15 seconds remaining until halftime, Tate’s Mauricio Contreras rocketed a shot from long range to the back right corner of the net to even the score.
The Raiders answered first in the second half as Garcia made it 2-1 Navarre with 30:27 left, but Zeller tied the game less than four minutes later.
“This feels great; we’ve worked hard as a team all year, and this is our reward,” Contreras said. “Teamwork was the key tonight, and I think we played with a lot of heart.”
His coach marveled at the shot that evened the game right before halftime.
“That’s probably the best goal I’ve seen all year,” McHenry said. “I don’t know if I high school player in this area scored one that good. That ball went straight upper 90, left-footed from a good 25 to 28 yards out; that’s tough for a high school kid to do.”
Despite the loss, the Raiders still have chance in postseason as they face Niceville on the road next Thursday.
“I believe in our guys,” Navarre coach Jeff Knapp said. “Niceville’s an excellent team, and we’ve played them twice before. If we can play to our ability, we can play with anybody. This is tournament play, where everyone turns up the heat.”
