Above photo by Tim Hunt of VeroNews.com St. Ed’s was able to hold off  Jensen Beach in a physical, hard-fought District 19 game 8-7 in Vero Beach.  Terrell Sands (High Point) along with Senior Clay Deal controlled the Face Off through much of the Contest winning on 10 of 16 Face Offs. From there the rest of the young Pirates took over and contributed equally with Kevin Murphy leading the way in goal with 14 saves. The Pirates went up early on a nice assist from Ritter Marchant to Ross Pridemore Sitting on the Crease. The Falcons came right back and tied the game at 1-1 just two minutes later with a nice cut from midfield. The first quarter ended tied at 1-1. Early in he second quarter the Pirate’s Sands took control of the game, sprinting out to a 5-2 advantage. Jensen Beach struck back before half on a transition goal to end the half down 3-5. Jensen Beach again made a comeback getting the game back to 6-5 before the Pirates stretched the lead out to end the 3rd quarter at 7-5. At the start of the 4th quarter the energy started to heat up with fans and coaches from both sides adding commentary.  St. Eds finished their scoring with 8:00 minutes to go in the 4th when Josh Hurwitz lined a perfect pass for Austin Strazzulla cutting from his midfield position to the back side of the crease and an 8-5 advantage. The Pirates and the Falcons exchanged turnovers until the 2:00 minute mark when the Falcons made one last raucous Stampede to try and win the game. St. Edwards and Jensen Beach committed many turnovers, but it was the penalties at the end that allowed Jensen Beach to bring this game within one goal with 6 seconds left. The Pirates leading 8-5 were again stung by the speed of Jensen Beach and allowed them to bring the score to 8-6 with 2:00 minutes to go, then you could see the wind come out of the Pirate Ship as three players ended up in the penalty box with 1:16 to play. Two non releasable penalties and an offside call gave Jensen Beach the advantage, but it was the St. Edwards defense led by Joey Beale, and Johnny Schwerer who helped goalie Kevin Murphy save the victory for the St. Edwards Pirates. District 19 looks to be anyone’s prize at this moment with Martin County sitting a top at 5-1 in the district, and hosting St. Edwards 3-1 district, on Thursday on a rain delayed make up game where Martin County is up 1-0 in the First quarter.  FLN will be keeping an eye on that game and tweeting updates.