Fort Myers school reaches 2A title game

FORT LAUDERDALE — Canterbury’s Mclaren Badgett scored twice within a nine-minute span of the second half to break a 1-1 deadlock and give the Cougars the 3-1 victory over host Westminster Academy in the Class 2A boys state semifinal soccer game on Friday night.

Badgett, who has a team-leading 30 goals, scored from 18 yards out in the 58th minute and then added a breakaway goal off a long through pass from Harrison Ames to ice the game in the 67th minute and send the Fort Myers school to its first state championship game.

Westminster Academy (13-5) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute on a goal by Jaiden Clunis. In scoring his team-leading 12th goal of the season, Clunis received a throw-in from Micah Lewis after it bounced once in the penalty area and he headed it past Cougars’ goalkeeper Chase Johnson.

Canterbury (20-3-1) winners of 11 straight games, equalized 10 minutes later when Conor Thomas spun his defender and centered the ball to Ethan Weise, who scored his sixth goal of the season at 1-1 from 5 yards out.

Canterbury will play the winner of the St. John’s Country Day/St. Edward’s in the state final on March 3 at 4 p.m. at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand. The Cougars won its first two regional games by a combined 12-1 score and then edged last year’s Class 2A state runner-up, Bradenton Christian, 2-1 (2 OTs).

Westminster Academy boys coach Chris Lamarre, whose team was playing in the first state semifinal in school history, saw his team’s nine-game winning streak come to a halt.

“We knew going in that they were going to have speed, talent, and technical ability,” Lamarre said.

“They have a lot of club players. When we got the lead early on, it was a bit unexpected, but it was within our game plan and we were happy with that.

“They found the holes [in our defense] because they are a good team, but I am proud of the boys for not succumbing to that. We were able to stay in the game and still fight and stay in the game all the way to the end.

“You always want to go forward, and you always want to win, but playing in our first state semifinal ever was huge. The boys were winners before they even came to the game because they had done something that no one in school history had ever done before.”

The Lions fell to Divine Savior Academy 2-1 in the regional finals last year.