Port St. Joe High Soccer Seasons Underway

As the Thanksgiving holiday passes, the Port St. Joe soccer teams, nearing the midpoints of their seasons, are gearing up for the home stretch and the heart of the District 2-2A schedule.

The season has been one of transition as first-year coach Gary Hindley instills his philosophy and game strategy on the fly.

On the girls’ side, the team is 0-5-0 and has yet to score a goal, though the Lady Sharks have gotten strong play in goal from Cody Clark (playing the majority of minutes she sports a 3.25 goals against average with 38 saves) and Erin Kennedy (2.0 and six).

The girls maybe winless, but the team, a young one having graduated some of the nucleus that was there when the program started just a few years ago, has not shied from competition.

They have lost to Tallahassee Rickards (5-0), South Walton (3-0), Springfield Rutherford (5-0), Bozeman (2-0) and Florida High (1-0), every school either in a larger classification or with more established soccer programs.

And the Lady Sharks can take solace that only Bozeman is a district opponent.

The boys, meanwhile, have a district win sprinkled into a similarly difficult schedule that has left them 1-4-1 entering the Thanksgiving holiday.

The boys, also young due to graduation from last year’s team, have shown they remain difficult to beat at home. The only two shutouts the Sharks have suffered this season have come on the road at Rickards (4-0) and Rutherford (4-0).

On their home pitch, however, the Sharks have been tough. They fell 2-1 to South Walton and 3-1 to Wakulla, another well-established soccer program, while beating shutting out Bozeman 2-0 in their lone district tilt to date and forging a 3-3 tie with Florida High.

J. Mason Ray leads Port St. Joe with four goals and one assist for nine point. Reis Nelson has two goals and four points, Chase Watford has a goal and assist for three points and Witt Shoaf has an assist and one point.

Austin Howze has logged the majority of minutes in goals and sports a 2.67 goals against average with 60 saves.

Watford has 10 minutes in goal and one save and Russell Miller has five minutes in goal with no saves. Watford and Miller have not been scored upon.

Soccer resumes today as both squads host Franklin County, the girls at 5 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m.