Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
American Heritage, Otero rally for state title
Boys complete the school’s third soccer sweep in past 19 years
For the third time, the American Heritage boys and girls soccer teams finished a sweep of state championships.
The boys’ team rallied from a 1-0 first-half deficit behind senior forward Juan Otero’s three goals to pull out a 3-1 victory over Naples at Spec Martin Memorial Stadium in DeLand on Saturday afternoon.
The girls had defeated Cape Coral Mariner 1-0, 4-2 in penalty kicks on Friday.
American Heritage, which has won a combined 20 state soccer championships — 12 for the girls — also swept state titles in 2005 and 2019. The championships in 2019 had been the previous state final appearances for either squad.
Otero, who finished with 20 goals this season, is headed to Carnegie Mellon University. He had only scored one goal in the six previous playoff games. Otero saved his best.
“To be honest, I haven’t scored a lot in the playoffs,” Otero said by phone. “I only had one goal [against TERRA Environmental in a 2-0 win]. I was trying to score a hat trick in one of these games and I did it in the state finals, a very important match, at the highest peak.
“I was crying after the third goal because I was so happy,” Otero added. “The most important thing in soccer is to get momentum and we got it right before the end of the first half on the PK. Getting that goal basically broke that other team down.”
Patriots head coach Todd Goodman said he wasn’t concerned when Naples took an early 1-0 lead. American Heritage (19-1-2), ranked fifth in the nation and No. 1 in Florida, had battled back three times in a regional final win over rival Pembroke Pines Charter. They trailed 1-0, and 2-1 in regulation, and then 3-2 in PKs before winning 4-3.
“We are ecstatic,” Goodman said. “We had a tremendous season. We knew we had the talent to win a state championship. The one thing we had to work on was our mental fortitude. We came back and beat Pines Charter after being behind three times, so when we went down 1-0 to Naples, we didn’t panic. We stayed confident and true to our system, and we were justly rewarded with another state championship.
“All season long, the boys have supported the girls and the girls have supported the boys,” Goodman added. “To have both teams win a state championship in the same season is twice as nice for us.”
Naples (16-5-3) was making just its second appearance in a state title game in program history, and first since 1995, when they finished as Class 4A state runner-up. The Golden Eagles struck first in the 12th minute when Harvey Sarajian carried the ball deep toward the goal, drawing two defenders and slipping a centering ball to Ty Collins for the 1-0 lead.
American Heritage equalized with 30 seconds remaining in the first half as Nicolas Weyenberg sent Otero into the box, he dished off a pass to Jelani Morgan-Sawyers, who returned it to Otero who backheeled the ball back to Weyenberg in front of the goal. Weyenberg was sandwiched by senior goalkeeper Kevin Reyes and two other Golden Eagles defenders to draw the penalty kick.
Otero calmly hit a right-footed penalty kick to the right corner, while Reyes dove to his left. The Patriots held a 13-6 shot advantage in the first half and finished ahead at the end of the match in shots 20-13.
The lone loss by the Patriots came in December when they fell to Gulf Coast 3-2. They closed out the year unbeaten in their last 14 and won their last eight straight contests.
The final featured 31 fouls, 8 yellow cards, and a blue card sendoff of Naples’ Cason Shepard for accumulating two yellow cards. Naples played the final three minutes of the game a man down.
The Patriots took the lead for good in the 60th minute when Weyenberg slipped a ball past Naples’ Aaron Cardenas and Otero, who was making a diagonal run across the box struck the ball to the far post past Reyes for a 2-1 lead.
Just four minutes later, Naples had its best chance of the second half when Alvin Nunez Arreguin hit the near post with a shot from 19 yards out which would have tied the game.
The final four minutes of the match proved to be critical as Naples’ Sarajian was streaking down the left side and got past the Patriots’ defense. He tried to find Collins with the pass in front of the goal, but American Heritage defender Leo Levitin slide-tackled the ball away. While the Naples forwards were protesting for a penalty kick, senior center back Xavier Simpson launched a long clearing pass to Otero who got in past the Golden Eagles defenders and slid the ball past a charging Reyes with the outside of his foot in the 67th minute.
“It’s an amazing achievement, just an amazing accomplishment,” said Simpson, who is bound for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “We did this as a team and as a family, so I feel proud. I am also a little bit sad because I won’t be able to do this anymore [with them].
“We had confidence we could win because the whole season we prepared for moments like this,” he added. “We have a rigorous schedule and one of the things we did was deal with adversity when it hits. We went down 1-0, but we knew we had time.”
Top-ranked University School stunned in 3A penalty kicks:
Winter Park Trinity Prep held off an offensive juggernaut in the nation’s No. 8-ranked team and the state’s top-ranked Class 3A team, University School, to pull out a 5-3 penalty kick win in the boys Class 3A championship game.
After 100 minutes of scoreless soccer, including regulation and overtime, the Sharks, who averaged more than four goals a game, fell in the penalty kick shootout. They outscored their opponents 91-9 for the season.
The Saints (15-2-1), making their first championship game appearance, converted all five of their penalty kicks (Ryan Avallone, Caden Clifton, Mason Dowdy, Henry Brown, and UCF signee Shane Wright), while University School (19-2-1) scored on three of their four, with Rafael Guerra, Nicholas Marques, and Gabriel Ciffoni scoring. The Sharks’ Raul Leyva was just wide on his penalty kick in the third round. It was Wright who stymied the Sharks throughout the contest in goal, making seven saves.
Guerra, who scored 35 goals this season, had the best chance of either team with 19 minutes left in regulation when he was inches wide of the goal on a breakaway attempt. He had received a pass and chested it down as Dowdy slipped and fell down, Guerra took two touches and Wright held his ground as Guerra’s shot hit the side netting.
“I am extremely proud of the boys,” said University School coach Thiago Oliveira. “These guys wanted it badly. They played a great match, but the ball didn’t go our way. We created a few very clear chances but couldn’t capitalize and their goalkeeper certainly saved them all match long. He was fantastic.”