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Published in the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1983 By RUI FARIAS This year should have been a rebuilding year for Keswick Christian's soccer team. After losing 10 seniors from last year's squad, coach Steve Short was expecting an uphill battle in 1983. But sometime during the season he forgot to inform his players of these thoughts. The Crusaders defeated Fort Lauderdale University School 2-0 Saturday at Walter Fuller Recreation Center in St. Petersburg to win the boys fall state high school invitational. Keswick ended their championship year with a 20-2-1 record that included 16 shutouts by the Crusader defense. University fell to 21-4. THE CRUSADERS became the third Pinellas County high school in three years to win a state soccer championship. Seminole took the Class 4A title in 1981-1982 and Clearwater Central Catholic won the Class 3A title in 1982-83. "I didn't think we'd
have much of a chance in the beginning of the
season, but we never put it (state championship)
out of our minds," Short said.
"We just have a fantastic bunch of guys to
work with. Assistant coach Mike Raday agreed. "We had a much stronger team last year," coach Raday said. "But this year's guys played together and played as a team more than any other team I've been associated with." KESWICK TOOK control early in the match, scoring both goals in the first half. Forward Mike Johnson picked up a rebound from a Matt Schmidt shot in front of the goal and blasted the ball past Fort Lauderdale goalkeeper Wayland Brodman to open the scoring. Co-captains Dave Raday and Schmidt should both receive credit for Keswick's final goal of the game and season even though it was Raday who placed the ball in the right corner of the net. After receiving the ball at the top of the penalty area, Raday suddenly looked up and saw only the goalkeeper before him. University had at least two defenders marking Schmidt the entire game. On Raday's run, the Crusaders' leading scorer sprinted to the right, taking three defenders with him and leaving Raday all by himself 15 yards from the goal. "WHEN I GOT the ball, Matt told me to hold it," Raday said. "I was going to give it to him, but when Matt turned, they followed him while anticipating the pass. I just took 6 few steps and shot." Although Fort Lauderdale had only two fewer shots than Keswick, the only close scoring opportunity for the Suns came in the second half when a long shot sailed over Crusader goalkeeper Dan Harrington's head and skimmed the crossbar. Harrington had to make only two saves on 10 shots, but Brodman was forced to make six on 12 Keswick shots. "After the Maclay shutout (Keswick de-feated Maclay 5-0 Friday in the semifinals), we figured we would have the edge in today's game" Schmidt said. "We played strongly today and our defense was awesome. We were watching their wingers, we knew they had fast wingers, but our defense was a little faster." Speed wasn't the only factor that held Fort Lauderdale back Saturday. Keswick frequently dropped a player back from the front line into the-midfield, a strategy which appeared to con-fuse the Suns' forwards as well as contain them. "We already have a strong midfield," coach Raday said. "But the fourth man shuts down the other team's forwards and usually confuses the opposing defenses when we attack." ----------------------- |
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State
soccer champions 1983 | Pre-season stories | Post-season stories | State final stories | A little about Keswick | Team photo and autographs | Directory of Related Links |
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