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PSJHS soccer teams end regular season on winning note
~Coach Gary Hindley reaches 50 wins at Port St. Joe~
The preliminaries are over. The playoffs kick into gear this week and next for the Port St. Joe High School soccer teams.
The past week saw the Tiger Sharks fall for just the second time this season, but both the boys and girls finished off the regular season in the win column with the playoffs under way this past Tuesday.
The Lady Tiger Sharks finished the regular season 9-3-1, a school-best record, and 3-2-1 in District 1-1A. Second-seeded for the district tournament, the girls faced host Franklin County on Tuesday.
The winner of that game is guaranteed a region playoff spot and will face Rocky Bayou, the No. 1 seed, at 7 p.m. ET on Friday at Franklin County.
The Tiger Sharks finished 13-2-1 overall and 4-1-1 in district play. They are the top seed for the district playoffs which will begin Jan. 24 in Niceville.
Rutherford 4, Port St. Joe 1
The Tiger Sharks suffered just their second loss of the season last Tuesday against visiting Springfield Rutherford during Senior Night.
Rutherford scored twice in the first half – Port St. Joe entered the game having allowed just eight goals on the year – and the Rams added two more goals in the second half.
The first half goals came in the seventh and 30th minutes, both against first-year keeper Walt Bowers, a senior.
The Rams scored again in the 45th minute before junior forward Javarri Beachum scored his eighth goal of the season for Port St. Joe to break the shutout. Beachum’s goal was unassisted.
Rutherford completed the scoring in the 78th minute.
The Rams outshot Port St. Joe 14-12. Bowers had eight saves.
Port St. Joe sweeps Marianna
The boys and girls each won decisively at Marianna last Thursday.
A hat trick by senior midfielder Rachel Jones, who now has a team-leading 13 goals for the season, spurred the Lady Tiger Sharks to a 5-0 whitewash of Marianna.
Sophomore forwards Allie Strippling (No. 6) and Christian Laine (her fifth) added goals and providing assists were freshman Haley Wood and middle-schooler Kathleen Rish, who each had two assists, and Jones with one.
Her third shared shutout of the season in goal was freshman Shannon Pridgeon, who played 60 minutes before being spelled by Strippling. Pridgeon's is now 4-2-1 with a goals-against average of 1.61. She made one save, as did Strippling, on only three Marianna shots. Port St Joe had 25 shots.
The Tiger Sharks won 5-2 with Marcel Duarte and Beachum each scoring two goals. Duarte, a freshman, leads the team with 14 goals and Beachum scored his ninth and 10th.
Daniel May, a senior, also scored a goal, his 12th of the season. Daniel Jones, Drew Lacour, and LaGrand McLemore each had an assist.
Bowers saw 60 minutes in goal and gave up two goals on six shots, recording three saves. Beachum finished in goal, saving both shots he saw. Port St. Joe had 21 shots on goal. Bowers is 9-2-0 on the year.
Regular season finale wins
The final games of the regular season, played at North Bay Haven Academy, produced wins for Port St. Joe.
The Lady Tiger Sharks routed Freeport 8-0 in a neutral site game while the Tiger Sharks crushed North Bay Haven 7-1.
The two wins gave Hindley 50 wins in his three years at the helm of Port St. Joe High soccer.
Jones led the way for the girls with a pair of goals, bringing her team-high total to 15, and one assist.
Sophomore Lexie McGhee added two goals and Wood, Rish, Strippling and Laine each had a single goal. Wood and Cailyn LaPlante had assists.
Pridgeon, who played 60 minutes in goal, earned the victory before being replaced by Strippling. Both keepers had one save and Port St. Joe outshot Freeport 40-3.
Duarte and Beachum each had a hat trick for the Tiger Sharks – Duarte finishing with a team-high 17 goals, Beachum upping his total to 13 – with Witt Shoaf scoring the other goal.
Assists came from Duarte, Shoaf, LeGrand McLemore, Cole Cryderman (two) and Beachum (two). Bowers had two saves as Port St. Joe outshot North Bay Haven 38-4.
