Region 1-2A girls: Rocky Bayou routs PSJ

NICEVILLE — Thursday night’s convincing win over Port St. Joe was extra satisfying for Rocky Bayou Christian girls soccer coach Brian Alldredge.

After overcoming the loss of five players due to injury and academic issues, his Knights are moving on to the Class 2A regional semifinals. The coach couldn’t stop himself from grinning after the final whistle was blown.

The Knights got three goals from Katie Kaim and limited Port St. Joe’s scoring opportunities, as Rocky Bayou cruised to a 4-0 win at Twin Oaks in the regional quarterfinals.

Brittany Tiller scored the other goal for the Knights (6-7-1), who had several opportunities to win by an even larger margin. They will host South Walton on Tuesday for a chance to move on to the regional finals for the first time in school history.

“This has been a long year,” Alldredge said. “Our team is shrinking between injuries and academic probation. This was satisfying. I’m pretty pumped.”

Most of the first half was played with the Knights keeping the ball in their offensive zone, as the Rocky Bayou defenders refused to let the Sharks (5-9-2) move the ball past midfield. After a few missed scoring chances, Kaim got Rocky Bayou on the scoreboard when she pushed a shot into the lower-left corner of the goal past Port St. Joe goalkeeper Cody Clark.

Kaim didn’t score the Knights’ next goal, but her playmaking ability set it up. She fired a shot on goal that Clark wasn’t able to control, allowing Tiller to knock in the rebound and give the Knights a 2-0 lead.

“Katie Kaim is a real trooper,” Alldredge said. “She’s such a skilled kid. What can you say? She always has good touches with the ball.”

The Sharks had some serious scoring threats in the second half, but, for the most part, it was Rocky Bayou that remained on the attack. By the time Kaim knocked in another pair of goals, the outcome wasn’t in doubt.

Although Port St. Joe was disappointed that its season ended, the Sharks took solace in how far they’ve come as a new program. First-year coach Gary Hindley was thrilled at the progress made by his inexperienced group and is already looking forward to next year.

“This is a new program that I took over,” Hindley said. “We tried to change so many things and at least make it look like real soccer. I thought the more athletic team certainly won tonight, but we have a lot of first-year players. They came so far, but not far enough to play in a game where we were outclassed athletically.”