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On Short Notice: Calvary Christian (Ft Laud) Pulls Away in the 2nd Half for the 14-10 Win over West Broward

  On short notice.  In Southeast Florida that term has been in full use so far this season.  Games cancelled and delayed.  I don’t have a good feel for the rest of the state but it’s been difficult here.  After West Broward had a cancellation (unfortunately Flanagan opted out this year) a quick call was made to Calvary last week and they agreed to Monday’s game, with a 5:00pm start. 5:00pm is pretty rare for Calvary but hosting a game at the last minute does come with logistical issues.  That’s magnified at Calvary because they have a tradition of hosting the visiting team after the game and providing a meal, and that also means re-arranging schedules and after-game clean up.  One charming thing about watching an early game at Calvary is that there are a few track & field practitioners utilizing the track circling the field.  There was one practicing hurdler that was pretty darn good at it and I wish him luck!  Looks like he has the form to potentially make a state tournament this year.  There are many famous hurdlers and when you see it done properly, with the rhythm of stride between the hurdles and the attempt to replicate the glide over each you are watching a more physical version of Ballet. There was not a lot of Ballet on the field last night though.  Both schools lost key pieces from last year and they are both coping with growing pains.  The first half was a bit of a strange one, as both teams looked like they were trying to slow the pace when it wasn’t a natural style for them, which the 2nd half highlighted.  A total of 6 goals in the first half was followed by 18 in the second.  Either one or the other was out of style.  One mitigating factor in the first half was the sun.  This is an East-West field with nothing on the horizon and the sun played havoc in the first half with the passing and I thought one mistake each team made was not putting more shots on goal to challenge the goalies.  There was no sun to deal with in the 2nd half, and even though the pace picked up a lot, the number of turnovers fell and that also tells that a faster pace was more natural for both teams.     There was not a lot of finishing off feeds, as only one player had more than one assist (I did miss two WB assists so that might be a little off) and WB struggled more with some questionnable dodging decisions, making Calvary’s defense easier to play at times.  It wasn’t until WB got their transition game going that they showed what they could do, but in settled situations they did not show patience.  When they did they could get inside but that came too late in the game to win it.  Calvary was able to get more open looks in the 2nd half as they found success working from X, with skip passes up high being most effective.  They also had the advantage of senior Eric Stephenson at the faceoff, as he won 17 of 26 and basically killed the WB early 4th quarter run with a clean win and quick tally when WB was threatening to make their run, and WB got no closer than 4 goals the rest of the way. WB’s Brey Engeler was the dominant Bobcat, with 6 goals and all of them were individual efforts where he was able to dodge and get his hands free despite CC trying to key on that.  On the other side it was freshman Blayze Rodriguez, who contributed 5 assists to go with his 2 goals and four of those points where in the 3rd quarter when CC took their biggest lead of the game.  His decision-making was quite good for a freshman.  Noah Horne, Tyler Asbate and Killian Sullivan combined for 8 goals of their own for CC.  Both goalies, CC’s Tyler Martinez and WB’s Colin Gonzalez, played a solid game and finished with 12 saves each. West Broward is in a district with Columbus and that will be the path to take to make their first appearance in the FHSAA playoffs, while Calvary faces a stiff test with ranked Pine Crest and American Heritage-Plantation in their district. Thanks to CC Coach Adam Bond and WB Coach Nate Fontenot for talking to me before and after the game.     1st Quarter 9:58  CC 1-0 – Asbate feeding Ernesto Ispir as Ispir cut to the net 5:03  CC 2-0 – Sullivan dodging right alley with the bounce shot 3:55  WB 2-1 – Brey Engeler curling from behind left on EMO 2:42  CC 3-1 – Rodriguez feeding Horne up top on EMO 0:40  CC 4-1 – Horne stepping in from up top 2nd Quarter 7:09  WB 4-2 – Brey Engeler drifting in on left wing for the rip 3rd Quarter 9:36  WB 4-3 – Brey Engeler down the right alley 8:03  CC 5-3 – Asbate going to cage from GLE 7:09  CC 6-3 – Horne feeding Gonzalez on left wing 4:05  CC 7-3 – Asbate face dodging to the crease 2:42  CC 8-3 – Fast break with Rodriguez finding Asbate on the crease 2:03  CC 9-3 – Derek Krueger finishing in front 1:01  CC 10-3 – Rodriguez firing home a rebound     4th Quarter 11:07  WB 10-4 – Brey Engeler dodging to the middle 10:46  WB 10-5 – Brey Engeler dodging the right alley 10:40  CC 11-5 – Stephenson popping forward and finishing down the middle 10:13  WB 11-6 – Brey Engeler feeding Hunter Brown down low 7:41  CC 12-6 – Sullivan going left alley 7:05  CC 13-6 – Horne step down up top from the Rodriguez feed at X on EMO 6:23  WB 13-7 – Kyle Awve taking an alley oop pass in front 2:09  WB 13-8 – Brey Engeler spin move from left GLE to the cage 1:47  WB 13-9 – Colton Engeler dodging right from the left wing 1:41  CC 14-10 – Stephenson pops forward leading to Rodriguez finding Jacob Tralongo on low left 0:15  WB 14-10 – Awve completing a similar play to his first goal   Team Statistics Faceoffs:  CC 17-9 Shots:  CC 46-35 Shots on Goal:  CC 26-22 Turnovers:  18 each Penalties:  8 each   Individual Statistics CC Noah Horne and Tyler Asbate with 3G/1A each Blayze Rodriguez  2G/5A Killian Sullivan  2G Ernesto Ispir, Derek Krueger, Jacob Tralongo and Eric Stephenson with 1G each Tyler Martinez with 12 saves WB Brey Engeler  6G/1A Kyle Awve  2G Hunter Brown and Colton Engeler with 1G each Colin Gonzalez with 12 saves  

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