6A-8 soccer semifinals: East Bay wins in OT; Durant cruises

SARASOTA — East Bay didn't plan on fighting this hard to reach the district final. Playing a Sarasota team the Indians defeated handily earlier in the season, they pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory Wednesday.

"Our school hasn't done anything in soccer for the last couple of years," said Kyle Whiteside, who had two goals. "Getting to the (district) final means a lot."

East Bay opened the scoring in the 12th minute when it got a lucky bounce on a long free kick by Forrest Meredith.

Sarasota evened things up just before the half ended when Chris Tan hit a crossing pass that was redirected by Ariseld Mucaj.

East Bay wasted no time as the second half started, stringing passes together before Brandon Walker found Whiteside in front of the net to make the score 2-1.

"I crashed the net and somehow found the ball and I barely got it past the keeper," Whiteside said.

Again the Sailors didn't quit. Julian Betancur one-timed a pass from Keith Webster to tie the game.

The teams battled in sudden-death overtime before Whiteside sealed the win.

"It kind of bounced off the keeper's hands and I really had no idea what happened," he said. "I was staring at the ball and I killed it."

"We've had a good attack all season and our goals come from everywhere," Indians coach Jonathan Drake said. "Sometimes you have to get lucky during tournament time."

In the other semifinal Durant breezed by Plant City 5-0. Neither team scored in the first half but Cecil Clarke tallied a hat trick and Billy Fanning added the other two goals.

"We were nervous in the first half," Durant coach Jamin Hollingsworth said. "We were able to string passes together in the second and score. "