Fish Hole takes soccer title

The Community Center’s first ever Adult Co-Ed soccer season fittingly ends in a dramatic shootout. The Center’s recreational athletics programs strive for parity in its leagues through a structured drafting system. Apparently this system works when three out of the five competitive league championship games went into overtime shootouts.

On a cold Friday night, the Fish Hole Team came out red hot. The strength of this team all season was the superb goaltending of Scott Rudacille and its strong aggressive defense led by Josh Sato, Brad Lowery, Katie Berzowski, Erin Heckler and Evelyn Saenz. The offense came ready, too. The family trio of Brent Moss, Ed Moss and Ryan Moss combined for shot after shot on Back Alley goaltender Nate Talucci.

About seven minutes into the first half, the Fish Hole got on the scoreboard. Josh Sato had a pass deflected around midfield. Sato hustled to the ball and with a powerful shot, almost in frustration, he blasted a beautiful bender into the top corner of the goal. The Back Alley defense of Tim Tedesco, Jesse Brisson, Jen Calhoun, Amy Talucci and Erin Vogel held strong and swarmed around the Moss family trio making it hard for them to score. After a very physical half, the Fish Hole remained on top 1-0.

The second half started, and it seemed as if Back Alley changed its game plan. Making the adjustments needed, and trailing the game, players started to pressure the ball up the field and crank up their offense. Back Alley’s offensive speed and ball control by Zach Gilliland, Mike Brusso, David Green and Justin Noyes seemed to wear the Fish Hole team down somewhat.

By pushing the ball up more, it got defender Tim Tedesco involved in the offense. Tedesco had three awesome one-on-one opportunities with the goalie but Scott Rudacille stopped all of them. Then, late in the game, Tedesco sent a beautifully timed lead pass up the left side to Zach Gilliland. Defender Josh Sato tried to get there in time, but a strong left footed kick by Gilliland deflected off Sato and past the goalie for the tying goal.

With only two minutes left in the game, Sato took a corner kick that almost won the game, but goalie Talucci came through with a huge save. This left the game a tie 1-1 and sent the game into a shootout.

In the first round of the shootout, each team decided on a goalie, three players to shoot for their team and what order they will shoot in. First to kick for Back Alley was Tim Tedesco, who put one into the right side off Rudacille’s hands. First to kick for the Fish Hole was Ryan Moss, who scored off Talucci’s hands. Second for Back Alley was David Green, who banged one in off the post for goal two.

Second for the Fish Hole was Brent Moss, who also banged his in off the post for goal two. Third for Back Alley was Zach Gilliland, who decided to go lower right corner with his and scored goal three. The last shooter in round one was Josh Sato, who went upper left corner for goal three and a tie again.

In round two, each team only selected one player to shoot and it could be someone who has already shot. The first to shoot for Back Alley was Jessie Brisson, who missed wide to the left. The first to shoot for the Fish Hole was Ed Moss, who found the back of the net on the right side and won the game and the championship. Congratulations to both teams for an exciting end to a great season!

Island runners end successful cross country season in 2010

In cross country, there are no substitutions, no time outs, no quarters, periods or halves to gather your thoughts or your breath. It is game on from the sound of the starting gun. Five kilometers or 3.1 miles later it ends up with you versus the clock and other runners vying for an individual place and total team scoring of the first five runners on the team. It’s like golf – lowest total wins. The Manatee High School Cross Country Hurricanes compete in the toughest 4A Cross Country District and Region in the state of Florida. After finishing 5th out of 21 teams on Nov. 6, they ended their season with a great effort on a difficult and narrow course at Tampa’s, Lake Park with the team finishing 13th in the Region.

Islander’s Chris Pate and Joey Tilelli represented the Island runners well. Chris Pate, a 10h grader at Manatee High, ended his season as the #2 runner on the MHS varsity cross country team with a personal best time of 16 minutes and 59 seconds for 3.1 miles. Pate finished second in the county and 17th in the district. He closed out finishing with a 17:10 in the region championship. Junior Joey Tilelli had an outstanding year continuously lowering his season best time from 21:35 at the beginning of the year to season's best of 18 minutes and 22 seconds at the end of the year. He consistently performed in the top MHS places. Congratulations to these outstanding student athletes.