Blue Streaks Survive Tornado Blast To Advance

Jazen Jimenez sat on the ground praying that his Sebring teammates would let him off the hook.

The Blue Streak senior watched as Washley Jean's shot went wide left and goalie Ryan Cochran denied another attempt by Booker to win on penalty kicks.

So Jimenez walked up to the ball.

"I had nothing on my mind except I'm going to kick this ball as hard as I can and hope for the best," Jimenez said. "I couldn't believe the whole game was on me at this point. I was really hoping that someone else would come through and I wouldn't have to be in this position"

Jimenez found the right mojo, as he watched his shot go past Booker's Bryce Allman and was mobbed by his team at midfield before they awaited their fate.

Cochran batted away Devin Keller's shot and Jimenez had a chance to finally savor this moment with his team, as Sebring defeated Booker 8-7 after penalty kicks in the opening round of the Class 4A-District 10 tournament at Harlee Stadium on Monday.

The Sebring goalie admitted he was nervous during his first time ever in net during penalty kicks.

"I've never been through penalty kicks like that except during the course of the game," Cochran said. "It was nerve-wracking and I realized that I needed to stay loose. If I hesitated, then we'd lose.

"This was such a relief to win this game and keep our season alive."

Jimenez had another name for his goalie on this night.

"Just call Ryan 'Superman,'" said the Sebring senior. "He really was superhuman during the penalty kicks. I was in awe of that last save."

Sebring head coach Tim Boulay addressed his team after the game and pressed upon them their abundance of chances to end the game in regulation.

"This game shouldn't have gone to penalty kicks," said Boulay. "We let Booker in the match with our lack of capitalizing on some good scoring opportunities. But we should savor this win tonight. This was a great win, but we need to get back to work on Wednesday."

Both teams went through eight players during penalty kicks after being tied 6-6 after the first five strikers. In that event, the teams both send up a player and whoever makes a goal and a save first wins the match.

The Streaks face No. 1 seed Palmetto tonight in the semifinals at 8 p.m.

Boulay took notice that Palmetto wasn't present during their opening round match.

"I feel real insulted that Palmetto didn't even come out to watch our game tonight," Boulay said. "They haven't played us since November and I know we're not the same team we were back then.

"I hope the kids use this as motivation that Palmetto doesn't even respect them and are looking past them. If I'm playing one of these teams in the tournament, I'm going to make sure to come watch them play."

The Tigers swept the Streaks this season 4-1 and 6-0, but the two teams haven't played since Nov. 24 - the second week of the season.

"I think Palmetto believes they have it won since they swept us, but we're not the same team now - we've got all our guys healthy," Jimenez said. "I consider Sebring top dogs and not underdogs going into the game. We're ready for anything."

Booker, with just two district wins all season, showed that anything can happen during the tournament, as they were able to match Sebring step-for-step.

Ken Graham got the Tornadoes on the board first with a goal just nine minutes into the game before senior Daniel Klatt tied the game with a header in front of the goal 12 minutes into the match.

But Booker's physicality and solid ball control kept Sebring at bay and they were the more aggressive team in the first half, as Aldo Castro gave the Tornadoes a 2-1 lead on a penalty kick after being fouled in the goalie box.

Sebring on the other hand couldn't get a good push from their forwards and managed just three shots-on-goal for the half.

Jimenez had a beautiful crossing shot but Allman made a leaping save to deny the goal.

Klatt evened the score with yet another header at the 56-minute mark, giving him the first two goals of his career.

"I'm glad I was able to finally score some goals and what better place to do them than a tournament game," Klatt said.

Sebring's defense shut down Booker's aggressiveness and both teams played to a stalemate and were headed to overtime, where Buck Schroeder had the best opportunity to end it for the Streaks, but his shot clanked off the right post during the first overtime and Austin Brady's direct kick during the second overtime went wide to send the game into penalty kicks.

After the win, Jimenez walked off the field and still couldn't believe what he had been through.

"This is just an amazing feeling. I know I'll remember this game for the rest of my life," Jimenez said. "It felt like we won the district title all over again. It was that magical."