WATCH: Tempers flare in American Heritage vs. Somerset-Canyons district soccer thriller
American Heritage-Delray and Somerset-Canyons boys soccer produced a fiery 2-1 district semifinal thriller on Thursday in Boynton Beach.
Alex Peterman, Special to The Post
PALM BEACH GARDENS – With Gianluca Balzano’s sure-handed save, the Benjamin boys soccer program survived King’s Academy’s ferocious upset bid, defeating the Lions 3-3 (7-6) in penalties.
It was a match where nearly every goal scored deserves its own story – and while not the most incredulous in build-up, the one that turned the tides of the match came just moments before the final whistle.
After officials declared seven minutes of stoppage time, Benjamin, facing a 3-2 deficit, needed all but about 15 seconds to find the net.
And as he’s done many a time this season for the Bucs (8-4-4), Ford Cash was the player who stepped up to play hero, though not without a frantic setup by his teammates.
His last-second goal sent cheers flying down the Buccaneers sideline as Lions (4-10-2) players, who had defended so valiantly following a blue card penalty, held hands on heads in dismay and disbelief.
While it’s an unfortunate early exit for King’s, the Buccaneers’ semifinals wins propels them into a district championship match against Oxbridge Academy, who upset Cardinal Newman on Friday.
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Here are three takeaways from the Bucs’ hard-fought victory.
1. Cash, Balzano hailed as heroes for clutch performances
The win went from probable to hopeful, to questionable, to doubtful very quickly for the Buccaneers.
Luke Egizio’s early score and an own-goal by King’s set the Bucs up nicely just four minutes into the match, but three straight Lions goals had the Bucs searching for answers for much of the second half.
So when Ford Cash’s miracle tap-in found net to tie the score with less than a minute to play in stoppage time, the movie-plot thrill swept across the field.
“[Justin Jobson] made a great save,” Cash said. “The ball kind of came out. We rotated it to Joshua Luiz, our left winger, and it was kind of fifty-fifty from there. Gavin Venoff, he’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember, so I know his tendencies. I saw him take his time and he played it with his left foot in the air, and I just tried to flick it to the back post.”
Bang: Tie game.
And then, of course, the save that secured the win.
“That was actually my first time where it went past five [penalty kickers], so I just thought in my mind, ‘If I stay composed, I’ll get through this. I can make some key saves that can help us win.’”
It was “key save,” as in singular, and it was the only one that mattered, as fans stampeded the field and lifted their goalkeeper into the air.
“I think the reaction of the boys showed just how tight they are and how close they are, and ultimately how much it meant to them,” Benjamin head coach Kris Steeves said. “It was like releasing the pressure valve.”
2. Lions show mettle, moxie in underdog role
The Lions did a lot of things on Friday, but go quietly into the night, they did not.
Coming in with just three wins and having recently returned two of their previously injured seniors, the Lions were not supposed to challenge the top-seeded Buccaneers.
Apparently, no one gave them the memo.
As Lions backed against a corner might do, the young King’s roster fought tooth and nail in Friday’s semifinals loss, taking Benjamin to the brink with a late lead.
“Just super proud of the guys to fight back that way,” head coach Joby Slay said. “Being down two-nil in the first four minutes of the game . . . these games come down to grit, determination, the fortitude to keep fighting.”
Carson Chung, one of the returning seniors, tallied three assists, one for each goal, providing a big boon to the King’s offense throughout the evening.
Tag-teaming with him were goal-scorers freshman Oscar Hackney, 8th-grader Micheal Ahearn, and sophomore David Brainard.
Hackney’s goal in particular was nicknamed “the wonder goal” by Benjamin players, with both players and coaches indicating it was a goal that rattled the home squad a bit because of its sheer incredulity off Hackney’s left foot.
The team, as dictated by the scoring trio on offense, is a young one – and it’s a core unit that Slay believes can be a force to be reckoned with moving forward.
“When we were there just having the conversations with them, it was like, ‘we couldn’t think of a better way to go out with the seniors. You guys, this is what we’ve been wanting to see.’”
King’s will return their very young core, graduating just three seniors on the squad, and one might not want to doubt that another playoff push against Benjamin might be in the cards next season, too.
3. Records forgotten when Bucs, Lions grapple for bragging rights
Though the squads facing each other at Benjamin Friday night were on opposite sides of the win columns, you wouldn’t have known about the win percentage gap just by watching the match.
The rain set in to match the tense extra-time vibe, and the penalty kick shootout that followed had everyone in the stadium standing on the edge of their seats.
“I think we’ve had a really strong season and started the game really strong, and then they scored an absolute wonder goal that I think rocked us a little bit,” Benjamin’s Steeves said. “We managed to scrape that goal right at the death and take it to penalties, just to keep it interesting,” he joked.
With players slipping on the wet turf in the final minutes, the urgency was very real from both sides.
Lions players were heard cheering on their teammates from the bench, screaming for the ball to be cleared as they cradled their 3-2 lead late in the second half.
For all the tiring runs that pushed the players’ endurance to the maximum, the final minutes saw Buccaneers players seemingly running even faster, playing even harder as they sought to tie the game.
When Balzano’s save secured the win for Benjamin, it was a deserved reward for the perseverance of Benjamin, a trait the program has consistently displayed.
But the match as a whole was also a testament to the determination of King’s Academy as well.
“Coming into this game, we felt confident that we could score goals, and by halftime, we had it even – and then we had the lead,” Slay said. “Going into PKs, it was like, ‘anything can happen.’”
This year, it went the Bucs’ way. Next year, it’s anyone’s guess.
But for now, Benjamin will welcome Oxbridge Academy for the district championship.
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