Surprise, surprise: Pasco posts a shutout in the final
By JOHN SCHWARB
Published February 7, 2004
BROOKSVILLE - During most of the season, Pasco could relate to scoring outbursts like four goals in a 19-minute span.
From its opponents.
Friday, in a surprising turn, the Pirates instead found a sudden nose for the net themselves with four second-half goals in a 4-0 win at Hernando in the Class 3A, District 6 title game.
With the win, Pasco (4-17-1) - district champion Pasco, that is - will host a playoff game Thursday at home against Newberry, which lost 5-1 to Ocala West Port. Hernando (6-13-2) will travel to West Port.
Go figure.
In the first half Friday, Hernando maintained a slight edge with a number of good scoring opportunities. At game's end, the Leopards even maintained a 16-14 shot advantage.
But Pasco seized the title with four goals on five shots in 19 minutes, starting with a Michael McLeod goal in the 45th minute. The senior scored two more, nearly equaling his goal output - four - in the regular season.
"(Roberto Cervantes) gave me some nice passes, I did what I could with them," McLeod said. "They weren't miraculous goals or anything, I just put them in the back of the net."
Cervantes assisted on two of the goals and scored his own on a penalty kick in the 67th minute.
"In the second half, my senior defenders broke down," Hernando coach John Bifulco said. "Their two strikers against my three backs, and they beat them three times in a row. Why they broke down tonight, I don't know."
Down 2-0 midway through the second, Hernando had a penalty kick of its own that could have shifted momentum back its way, but Mitchell Rose stuffed it right into Pasco goalkeeper Luis Hernandez.
