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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 30, 2002
TAMPA -- Tampa Catholic coach Peter Ward had been telling his players this for weeks, but somehow it didn't quite catch on.
It was a simple philosophy: Attack at the first whistle, score early and put most of the night's energy into the first half.
The Crusaders (4-13-2) finally got it, and just in the nick of time. Seconds after Tuesday night's district semifinal against Berkeley Prep began, freshman forward Matt Rogers scored and set the tone for the postseason.
Tampa Catholic defeated Berkeley Prep 2-0 to advance to the district championship. The Crusaders will play No. 1 seed Clearwater Central Catholic on Friday night at Berkeley Prep.
"We've been unlucky a number of times this season," Ward said.
"Tonight was highly deserving."
Rogers scored after sweeper Ryan O'Connor and forward Casey Smith kicked the ball downfield toward Berkeley Prep goalkeeper Peter Akman. A Bucs defender mishandled the ball, and Rogers pounced, putting the Crusaders ahead 1-0.
Tampa Catholic scored again with two minutes left in the half. Smith led Akman to the left side of the goal on the attack. As several players closed in, Smith passed to senior midfielder Eric Blattler for the goal.
The Bucs (8-15-3) came out firing in the first 20 minutes of the second half, peppering the Crusaders' goal with a majority of their 11 shots, but couldn't get a break.
"The ball just wouldn't fall for us," Bucs coach Dave Zimmerman said.
"I felt that the bottom line was that TC wanted it more than us. You could tell with the aggressive way they came out in the first half.
"We didn't do things as sharply as we had in the past."
The Bucs were also at a loss without one of their top players, center midfielder Joe Yaffe, who banged his head on the ground after getting tangled with another player during the first half. Yaffe was dazed and almost feel asleep on the bench before his mother took him to the hospital.
"When the other team scores 35 or 45 seconds into the game, you think, "Is this going to be my day, or is this not going to be my day,' " Zimmerman said.
"There's just an emptiness you feel when you know your team can play better."
BRADENTON -- Durant's Chris Davis scored the game's lone goal as the Cougars beat Bradenton Bayshore 1-0 at Bradenton Lakewood Ranch on Tuesday.
The Cougars will play Lakewood Ranch on Thursday for the district title.
Lakewood Ranch beat East Bay 3-1 in the other semifinal. Gary Cismesia scored the game-winner for the Mustangs. Daniel Blanco and Ryan Bannon had the other goals.
The Cougars and Mustangs will be facing each other for the third time this season. The Mustangs defeated Durant 3-0 in December, and the Cougars improved to beat the Mustangs 3-2 on Jan. 11.