BROOKSVILLE - After the weakest county team beat Central, it seemed unrealistic to think the Bears could rebound against the best.
But on Wednesday night Springstead found itself in a dogfight. A 13-1-1 team is expected to pull out the tough ones, and in this case it took a remarkable late goal from Joey Lorentzen to win 3-2.
Central (8-7, 7-5 Class 4A, District 9, 4-6 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference) came in two days after a 2-1 loss to 3-8-2 Hernando, yet played with far more intensity and skill than it showed Monday or last month in a lopsided loss at Springstead.
When Austin Grey dribbled, faked a defender and fired a bullet from 30 yards out to the high left corner of the goal, the Bears had a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the game and showed they were ready to play.
"It's been the Jekyll and Hyde thing with the team, you're never quite sure which team's going to show up," Central coach Jerry Bon said. "I thought they played real well."
Springstead (13-1-1, 10-1-1, 9-1-1) got off to a slow start, failing to take a shot for the first 24 minutes. The Eagles' finishing power finally came through in the 31st minute, when a free kick by Devin Shaw was headed in by George Kirshy.
Lorentzen gave the Eagles the lead just before the half with a finish from the right after Ian Wald's throw-in from the left traveled through the box.
Central continued fighting, answering midway through the second half with another marksman's goal by Grey from some 35 yards out to the top center of the net. He and the Bears rejoiced with the tie, but it vanished 13 minutes later.
Lorentzen, on a tough angle from the right side, beat Central's Joey Cantu to the far post for the winning goal with 7 minutes left.
"Joey couldn't hit that again if he wanted to," Springstead coach Sal Calabrese said. "But he's been staying after practice with George (Kirshy), we've been working on striking some balls. It seems to have paid off."
