FLEMING ISLAND - Clay High's boys soccer team, 12-2-0, got knocked from the one-loss teams ranks in Clay County with a 3-1 loss against Matanzas as the Golden Eagles of Fleming Island, 9-1-6, are now the lone one-loss team in the county.
Not to be forgotten is a solid season being orchestrated out in Keystone Heights as the Indians, 10-5-1 and led by Aaron Wiley's 27 goals with two more players; Noah Jaramillo and Luke Brunt adding double-digit totals; 10 and 12, respectively, are positioning for another region playoff run for coach Trevor Waters. Keystone Heights is matched up with Santa Fe, 10-2-1, in District 4-3A as the two top teams there. Eastside at 6-5-5 always a Keystone Heights nemesis, a 3-3 tie with the Indians in November with 7th-ranked Santa Fe "diming" the Indians 8-0 on December 2. Keystone Heights is 30th ranked in 3A.
"Newberry (10-3-1, two losses to Keystone, one to Eastside) is not in our district this year and we had good games against them with two wins of their three losses," said Waters. "Our three guys up front; Wiley, Jaramillo and Brunt, have been pretty scrappy in front of the goal. The loss to Santa Fe (8-0) was without our regular goalie."
Waters is anticipating a good rivalry game with Clay as their final regular season contest.
"I want to use that game to let us know where we are against a really good, fast team before we hit the playoffs," said Waters. "Hopefully, they won't 8-0 us."
Fleming Island's dilemma, as per coach Roger Dailey, is getting games finished without a tie as the Golden Eagles got a 2-2 tie with Bartram Trail last week for their sixth of the season.
"For me, soccer is a weird sport because how many sports can you get a draw, a tie," said Dailey. "We have to get out of close games. I got this team holding down the fort, but we still have to finish better."
Dailey noted that his main two scorers are in the center of the field; Ryker Dailey and Ethan Medlock; 12 and 11 goals, have been in the mix, but his Golden Eagles need to be more assertive when in the goalie face.
"We are getting into good areas to shoot, but just not getting on the frame," said Dailey. "Our two main guys; Ryker and Ethan, have been goal scorers all their soccer days. We are getting more guys in the box, but now they have to get on target. Blake Gaucher has been so close to being a 2-3 goals per game guy."
Dailey conversely lamented that if his team is tying games, they are not losing games, but playoffs, where ties are played through with overtime and penalty kicks, the win has to be established.
"Any team in 16 games with just one loss is having a good season," said Dailey. "Mandarin, Matanzas, Creekside were all ranked teams we tied."
Dailey is still confident that the wins will come, but that late strategy will include penalty kick practices for the next few weeks before region playoffs.
"Penalty kicks are a special breed of guys because defenders on the field are always under pressure and a penalty kick is not that big a deal," said Dailey. "Strikers and forwards are in the bathroom when we need to select our kickers for PKs."
Fleming Island has more tough games with Oakleaf, Englewood, and Bolles on the schedule to finish.
In the Clay County strong district 2-5A standings, with Fleming Island, Clay, Ridgeview, Orange Park, Middleburg and out-of-county Columbia (8-2-3) all in the mix, Dailey noted that Ridgeview coach Paul Tomaro may be his wild card team.
"Paul Tomaro, I would say, is probably the best ever player out of this area and he always has his teams ready at the right time," said Dailey. "He has won district titles out of nowhere and had decent region runs for them."
Ridgeview, 6-6-1, recently took a 3-2 win over St. Johns Country Day School after being the lone loss for Clay earlier in the season and a 2-2 tie with Columbia on January 8. Ridgeview also has two strange losses to Orange Park under new coach Rebecca Jollow.
Jollow has her boys playing closer to top teams lately with a 1-1 tie with both Menendez and Middleburg and a close 1-0 loss to Paxon after losing to Clay 5-1. Orange Park finishes with Middleburg and Columbia.
Clay finishes with Bishop Snyder and a big game at Keystone Heights to finish regular season play. Clay's Louvens Joassaint leads the Blue Devils scoring with 17 goals.
Middleburg, 5-11-1, finishes with Orange Park and P.K. Yonge. Senior Xavier Abuhl has seven goals for the Broncos.
For Oakleaf, 5-7-1, a tough 2-0 loss to Clay (12-2-0) happened on a bitterly cold night on January 6 and a tough 3-0 loss to Beachside (10-3-1) set up the Knights to exact on Bishop Snyder's 6-1 with Fleming Island visiting January 14 in the season finale.