History Made

High school sports don’t get much better than the spectacular staged by Marco Island Academy and First Baptist Academy on Thursday, January 30th, at the Jane Watt Sports Complex. The Watt was shining brightly with the home crowd chanting Let’s go Rays! and the freshman-dominated Rays lineup bouncing back from a 1-0 second-half deficit to top FBA, 2-1, for the 1A District 12 championship. It’s the first soccer district title in the school’s 13-year history.  

As time expired, Rays players took off across the field, hugging each other and shouting excitedly, "Where’s Señor?” Next thing you know Señor - MIA coach Fernando Higuera - is being doused with a cooler full of ice water. Judging by the smile on his face, he didn’t mind the cold bath one bit. 

Higuera said his players call him Señor because he’s the school’s Spanish teacher. It’s easy to see the deep respect the players have for Señor. And Higuera’s smile shows that the feelings are mutual. Higuera spent the past couple of weeks convincing his young team that they had a chance to make history at MIA by winning the district title. His players listened to their coach and delivered on the field. 

The teams traded body blows throughout a scoreless first half, then FBA scored the game’s first goal early in the second half. Minutes later, the Rays barely missed a penalty kick that would have tied the game.  

"They score a goal and we miss the penalty kick,” Higuera said. "But somehow, we fight back. When they scored the way they did, the morale went down a little bit. So, we tried to be positive. We just kept pushing and pushing. When we missed the penalty kick, morale was down. But we fought back. We've always been like that. We've had to fight back. We've had to earn it. We just push, push, push. And at the end, we scored two amazing goals. I’m happy; I’m very happy." 

Freshman Ben Savarino knocked in the first goal from close range to tie the game. Then fellow freshman Raul Antonio-Carrillo flashed some fancy footwork to free himself for the game winning goal from about 20 yards out. 

“He was going from left to right,” Higuera said. “He dribbled by two or three people, saw the opening, and then he just went and hit it. It was amazing. He has amazing skills.”  

Higuera wasn’t even sure he’d have Antonio-Carrillo for the title game after he had to be helped from the field following the district semi-final win just three days earlier. 

“He rested the last two days,” Higuera said. “He’s a key player, like he showed today. He was a little bit tired, but he came through. He’s still in pain. It’s not like he was 100 percent. But this is the final, and no one wants to miss this game. I found out earlier today that he was going to be able to play." 

There were still over 15 minutes left in the game when Antonio-Carillo scored the deciding goal. 

"At the end, they pushed back and we pushed back,” Higuera said. “This is how finals are won. Finals are never won by like 5-0, 6-0. FBA fought well. They tried. I mean, it was a very, very level game. Their goalie was just phenomenal. We made history for MIA, for us. It was amazing, just the way it happened. We won the district. We were in first place. And we're 80 percent freshmen. I'm so proud of these guys." 

The Rays (9-5-2) have a while to prepare for the state championship tournament. Their regional quarterfinal game is scheduled for February 11 at 7:00 PM at Out-of-Door Academy (15-3-2) in Sarasota.