By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

Here’s a quick snapshot of the three district championships Osceola County boys soccer teams were involved in last weekend:

Osceola lost its game.

Celebration won theirs but lost an important player.

And, if Gateway Coach Oswald Attin had hair before Friday’s championship game, it’s now gray, or he lost it.

And, after those rather tumultuous games, the three will play today in the regional quarterfinal playoff round.

Gateway, after two painfully dramatic games last week in the 6A District 6 tournament, claimed its first district title since 1999, which the Panthers later rescinded after it was discovered they played with ineligible players all season. They also won a 3A district in 1993.

The Panthers (13-7-3) will host 6A-5 runner-up Ocoee tonight at 7 p.m. Gateway, after winning its 6A-6 semifinal last week, 4-3, in penalty kicks after 20 minutes of overtime, needed another come-from-behind performance in Friday’s final to upend Vero Beach, 3-2, at South Park in Port St. Lucie.

Attin said it was definitely a disadvantage having to put his team on a bus to Treasure Coast and have them think about the season’s most important games for two hours.

“Vero Beach had a crowd there, and we had like two or three parents,” Attin said. “I guess my team was nervous, but they settled in and were determined to win. In this district, nobody on the coast gave us a chance.”

The Indians scored 30 seconds into the match, but Gateway responded and scored the next two goals of the half. Felipe Oliviera pounded home a free kick, then 20 minutes later, Adrian Rowe caromed in a shot off the post.

Vero Beach (10-9-4) tied it 20 seconds before halftime, but Oliviera gave the Panthers the lead for good with an individual effort, as he beat the Indians’ keeper one-on-one with 18 minutes left. Gateway then turned away a couple of late Vero offensive flurries to preserve the win.

The Panthers will play a regional game for the first time since 2004. Attin said his players knew it had been a while between playoff appearances, and it motivated them.

“They’ve worked so hard, they deserve this,” he said. “They’re happy, but not satisfied. I was going to give them Monday off, but on the way back (Friday) they said they didn’t want it. You can see the confidence now after coming from behind twice.”

Ocoee, the No. 2 seed in the 6A-5 tournament, lost to West Orange in its title game and will be a tough test, Attin said.

“I know they had to play hard just to get to their finals,” he said. “But we have everybody back from injuries, sickness and red cards, for a change. And, playing at home will be a big help. I know they won’t come out scared.”

While Gateway measures the span between district titles in decades, Celebration can measure theirs in months (12) and days (one), after defeating Tavares, 2-1, in overtime on Saturday at Harmony in the 4A-6 championship game.

Dominic Barros headed in Miguel Cortes’ corner kick with five minutes remaining in overtime to help the Storm (13-1-3) defend its district championship. Tonight, Celebration will host Ocala Vanguard in a 4A-2 regional quarterfinal.

Saturday’s win came with a loss. Center midfielder Santiago Echeverri, leading scorer and the hub of the offense, picked up a red card early in the second half after scoring a first-half goal to give Celebration a 1-0 lead. Echeverri will likely not be eligible to return until the 4A state tournament.

“He spent the entire first half getting banged around with no penalties called,” CHS Coach Julio Machuca said. “He’d had enough and gave a kid a forearm shove, and that was that.”

It would get stranger. The Storm held off the Bulldogs, despite playing a man down, until the very end. Officials hurried to let Tavares take a free kick from midfield with 20 seconds left, and on the kick they whistled Celebration for a foul in the penalty area, resulting in a penalty shot with 10 seconds left, according to the Celebration coach.

“The (official) who made the call wouldn’t tell my captains what the foul was, and when I asked, he said two of my guys grabbed their guy in the box,” Machuca said. “I asked what number players it was and he said, ‘I saw what I saw, coach.’”

The Bulldogs tied it on the PK and sent the game into overtime, which the Storm dominated despite the 10-against-11 disadvantage.

“In OT, my kids were fired up,” Machuca said. “They dominated the play and we played in their end the entire overtime.”

He said the only good thing about the loss of the Storm’s top offensive threat is that the team played a half without him, and still won.

“That really hurts us, but we’ll play on,” he said. “At this point you play one game at a time like it’s your last, and hope you get another game after that.”

Osceola is alive in the regionals for the first time since 2003, but it’s on the road tonight at Auburndale, the 5A-6 champion. The Kowboys (17-5-1) fell behind Ridge in the first minute and never recovered, losing 3-1 in the 5A-5 tournament final at Liberty High School.

OHS Coach Tom Bell said that despite defeat, his team played strong.

“I’m not too upset, we had a couple of mental lapses, and you can’t have them against really good teams. Outside of that I thought the kids played really well,” he said. “There are nights when your best isn’t good enough. I give credit to Ridge, they won the game, we didn’t give them anything.

“I’m proud of what all these kids accomplished this year. We’re not done. We know Auburndale is big and fast and physical and it will take our best game to get a win. We’re going to come as close as we can to that.”