Don Estridge boys’ soccer coach Josh Bender said he didn’t know what to expect when he faced visiting Wellington Landings for the Palm Beach County Middle School boys’ soccer championships recently.
“I thought we were the best team in the South (County) by far, just because we knew the players who were coming back and the new players that we added,” said Bender, who coached the Dragons to their first boys’ county title in the sport last season.
“You never know what the North (County) is like, because we don’t play each other,” he said. “They walked on the field and our boys knew it was going to be a game. They were strong and a good defensive team. We practice PKs every single day and we knew we were not going to miss.”
The Dragons (11-0-2) finished the year with the same record as it did last season when they won their first county title, also needing penalty kicks in defeating Jupiter, 1-0 (4-3 PKs). This time it was Wellington Landings, and after 50 minutes of scoreless regulation, the Dragons prevailed 7-6 in PKs.
Don Estridge converted all seven of their kicks as Vince Ferrigno, Ahmed Osman, Kye Phillip, Vincent Jackson, Ben Ginsberg, Hunter Bushouse and Ali Osman scored. Osman’s kick was drilled to the lower right corner beating Gators’ goalkeeper Tylor Bradley.
Wellington Landings (11-1) delivered on their first six kicks — Elias Sabido, Mathia Galindo, Mauricio Perez, Phoenix Considine, Samuel Jara and Lucas Lanzaca scored, while Chase Dagnan just missed forcing another sudden victory round of kicks as he hit the ball off the crossbar.
“I couldn’t be prouder because we work on PKs every day at practice, especially when we get to the playoffs,” said Bender, who is also the school’s athletic director. “It was definitely a frustrating game because we should have beaten them in regulation. I knew we were going to make our PKs and the boys knew it as well.
“Last year was special because it was our first title,” Bender said, “and for us to defend the crown is right up there.”
Don Estridge seventh-grade goalkeeper Sam Migliano helped keep the game scoreless with three acrobatic saves. Gators’ goalkeeper Bradley, also a seventh-grader, was busier making 11 saves in the game, including five in the first 12 minutes of the contest.
Migliano, 12, said he didn’t play that much as a sixth-grader, so he was happy to contribute to this year’s championship.
“I was third string behind two eighth-graders, so to come in this year and do this is pretty surreal,” Migliano said. “I trusted my team from the very first game. With them not scoring during the game, I knew in penalties, we would win. This is huge. To go back-to-back, it’s pretty amazing.”
Dragons eighth-grader Ben Ginsberg, 14, said this year’s title was better than last year.
“It meant more to me this year because I was a captain,” he said. “The first 10 minutes of the game we had like 10 chances, and we were right in front of their goal the entire time. After that, we were just like, ‘settle down.’ We could have put five away on them honestly. They had like one or two chances.”
Ginsberg, the team’s central defender, said the frustration mounted as the game remained scoreless.
“It was unimaginable because we also went to PKs last year,” he said. “Ending in sudden death penalty kicks this year was crazy. It’s unbelievable.”
Sixth-grader Ali Osman, 12, of Boca Raton, said he was proud of his game-winning penalty kick.
“It felt really good,” he said. “When I was walking up for the kick, I just said to myself, ‘Just score it.’”
His older brother, Ahmed Osman, 14, an eighth-grader, said he felt the Dragons dominated the contest. He was cut initially from the team during tryouts; however, the captains went to Bender and asked him to add him to the team.
“It was pretty frustrating because we weren’t scoring,” Ahmed said. “I thought we were the better team. In the beginning (of the season), I wasn’t even on the team. I was cut and then I got re-recruited I guess, and we won.”
Don Estridge continued their two-year unbeaten streak to 22-0-4 with the win. They are the first team since LC Swain went back-to-back in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. The Dragons outscored the opposition 32-8 this year.
The only blemishes on the Don Estridge record this year are ties against Boca Middle, 0-0 in the third game of the season and 1-1 in the eighth game. They downed Boca Middle 2-0 at home for the South County Championship. The girls have been to the county finals winning half of them.
Wellington Landings second-year boys’ soccer coach Howell Long said losing in penalty kicks “was a hard way to go out.” He lost in the quarterfinals to Jupiter last year on penalty kicks.
“Unfortunately, somebody has to win, all we can do is try and be back next year,” Long said. “After the first quarter (12 minutes), we settled in and got a little more comfortable. I switched some of my personnel around, especially my wings and that seemed to settle us down.
“It kind of slowed down their attack and gave us a chance to maintain possession in the midfield because that is really our game,” he said. “Honestly, I liked our chances in PKs. Our goalkeeper made three saves in the semifinals (2-1, 4-3 PKs vs. Okeeheelee) to get us here and he got his hands on two today, unfortunately, he couldn’t parry them away.”
The Gators have 10 returning players, including some key players. He added that some of his players who will be eighth-graders next season would have been on the team for three years. Wellington Landings outscored the opposition, 35-3, this season.
