Celebration soccer clinched its third consecutive OBC championship on Friday night, defeating Tohopekaliga in overtime, 1-0. PHOTO/J. DANIEL PEARSON
Freshman forward Yosberth Quintero, who was just called up from the junior varsity a few weeks ago, slammed home a goal off a set piece with seven minutes remaining in the second overtime to give the Celebration Storm a 1-0 win over Tohopekaliga in the Orange Belt Conference boys soccer championship.
The victory capped off a tremendous week for the Storm, who came into the tournament as the fourth seed and proceeded to take three 1-0 wins: over Osceola in Tuesday's quarterfinals, Wednesday's win over top-seeded Gateway in the semifinals, and then Friday.
“Really proud of the effort from the entire team tonight,” Celebration assistant coach Chad Boudreaux said. “In recent memory, this was one of the most difficult tournaments we have participated in. Lauren (Head coach Lauren Osborne) does such a phenomenal job with our defense, which was really the deciding factor tonight.”
The first half was played with neither team dominating possession or generating much in the way of offense. Each team had just one solid scoring opportunity in the half. Tohopekaliga’s chance came at the 31-minute mark of the first half off a corner, but Storm goalie Christopher Vargas smothered a shot in front of the net to keep the game scoreless.
Jose Mazzarri had a chance to put Celebration on top 15 minutes later. He blasted a free kick from distance, forcing goalie Jason Barrientos to make a diving save.
Celebration controlled both the possession and pace of the second half, firing off seven shots, compared to just one by Tohopekaliga – but none of those shots were on goal and the second half ended scoreless.
The Storm missed a golden opportunity in the first 10-minute overtime to take the lead. Abraham Badillo sent a beautiful pass over to Josa Mora on the right side, but his blast was stopped by Barrientos to keep the game scoreless.
Celebration finally broke through in the second overtime. Off a corner kick, Barrientos made a great save on a point blank shot in front of the net, but Quintero found the rebound at his foot and slammed it into the right corner of the net.
Tohopekaliga mounted two more charges at the end, but Vargas made his fifth save in front of the net with five minutes to go and at the 2:30 mark, Antonio Quintana was brought down in the Celebration box, but the official ruled it a clean tackle and the Storm were awarded a goal kick as the ball trickled past the end line.
The Storm led the game in both shots (16-8), shots on goal (5-3), and corners (7-2). Each team was called for seven fouls.
With the victory, Celebration wins its third consecutive OBC title and sixth in their last seven years (excluding the 2020-21 Covid year when no champion was crowned). After a 1-2-2 start, it was Celebration’s sixth straight win – all by Vargas shutout. Tohopekaliga fell to 12-4 with the loss.
In other action, Gateway defeated St. Cloud, 5-1, in the third place game; Harmony knocked off Osceola, 2-1 in overtime in the fifth place game and Poinciana beat Liberty in the seventh place game.
The championship match could very well be a preview of next week’s Class 7A, District 9 tournament final, as Celebration, Tohopekaliga, Osceola, Poinciana and Harmony are all slated to play in that event. “I think this tournament will give us a lot of confidence heading into the post-season,” Boudreaux added. “We played a tough schedule early and we have gotten better each week.”
Gateway and Liberty will play in the 5A, District 6 tournament and St. Cloud is scheduled to play in the 6A, District 7 tournament.
