Boys soccer: Central, River Ridge left seeing red

By DAVID MURPHY, Times Staff Writer
Published January 10, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Before a virtually meaningless Class 5A, District 7 showdown with River Ridge on Wednesday night, Central coach Hank Deslaurier assigned his team three objectives: avoid injuries, avoid red cards, and, of course, win.

In the end, he had to settle for two out of three.

Central, which will face River Ridge again in the 5A-7 semifinals in two weeks, beat the Royal Knights 6-3, but both teams could be without key players for the foreseeable future thanks to a trio of red cards issued during the spirited match.

River Ridge's Seth Wade and Taylor Watson and Central's Darrin Foreman will miss at least two games, and could miss up to two weeks for three separate instances of rough play, putting their status for the 5A-7 tournament in jeopardy.

The length of each suspension depends on the postgame report game officials will file with the Florida High School Athletic Association.

A two-week suspension for any of the players would sideline them for the 5A-7 semifinal, which will pit No. 2 seed Central against No. 3 seed River Ridge.

Afterward, neither coach seemed too concerned with the impending suspensions.

"It's nice to have a good, hard game, but not against a team we have to play again," River Ridge coach Mike McHugh said.

Central, off to its best start since 2002, scored twice in the first 15 minutes, once on a penalty kick by Cody Grey and one on a deflection by Nick Hernandez.

With 24:00 remaining in the first half, River Ridge forward Drew Peterson scored to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Grey answered 10 minutes later to give the Bears a 3-1 lead at halftime. River Ridge battled back in the second half, getting a goal from Wade and a penalty kick from Eric Karcinski to tie the match at 3-3.

Watson was given a red card 15 minutes into the second half for grabbing Grey during a breakaway. Ten minutes later, Wade picked up his card, which was soon followed by Foreman's card for a rough slide tackle.

Central senior Will Anderson, who finished with two goals, broke the tie with 11:26 remaining. The Bears then scored twice in the final two minutes.

Central 6 River Ridge 3

[Last modified January 9, 2008, 23:47:25]