FORT WALTON BEACH — After Monday’s 4-2 loss to crosstown rival Choctawhatchee, the Fort Walton Beach boys soccer program fell to a middling 6-4-2 this season.
But Mario Rodriguez’s crew has been here before. Well, (minor edit), just in a different capacity.
Last season, the Vikings sat 7-4-1 after a 2-2 draw on Jan. 9 with the Big Green, who they’d finish 0-1-1 against. With a chip on their shoulder summing up a program that hadn’t won a regional title since 1984, the Vikings would win seven of their next nine and outscore regional foes 10-0 en route to the program’s first Final 4 trip in four decades.
A year later, after falling to 0-2 against their rivals, the chip on their shoulder no longer belies the plight of an underdog, but instead a seasoned program with a target on its back.
So far, Rodriguez said, the weight of the expectations hasn’t brought out the best in his young men.
“Inconsistency, that’s just been the issue of the season. It’s just little bits of mistakes that have killed us,” Rodriguez said. “Other than that, our team would be undefeated. I think this team, the expectations of returning to the Final 4 because they made it last year and need to make it again, that’s been tough. But I tell the guys, ‘It’s one game at a time.’ It’s the most important time of the year right now because we’re heading into districts here in about three weeks. So from here on out, it’s one game at a time and it starts with consistency.
“This loss isn’t going to define who we are as a team, right? I know last year around this time, as well, we were struggling a bit. We were able to turn it on. When we do that, we’re good to go. We gotta keep working.”
It’s tough to repeat Final 4 runs for any powerhouse, and even tougher when you graduate a senior class that includes D’Angelo Sanchez, Esteban Mendes, Jason Reyes, Brian Chadwell and keeper Elijah Lacey. But the Vikings possess depth in the attacking corps in sophomores Wilmar Munoz and Yuliesti Herrera, juniors Isaac Holbrook, Brody Bently, Oscar Gallardo and Yuma Branham, and seniors Juanma Cotes and Liam Ackerman. And the back line is anchored by a trio of upperclassman in Christopher Reyes, Isaiah Esparza and Brandon Rodriguez, who were integral to three shutouts in regionals last year.
“I told them, those big shoes you have to step into, you’ve filled those before,” Rodriguez said. “It’s your team, it’s your destiny. Control what you have to do this year, right? And that is winning and staying consistent and wanting it, wanting it more than the other team does.”
Choctaw wanted it more in the first half when Jamaarie Alcide and Kameron Kestner beat Wesley Markoch inside the right post for a 2-0 halftime lead. The Vikings wanted it more when they scored two unanswered, capped by a Holbrook penalty kick in the 59th munute, to knot things up. But Kestner scored the game winner minutes later and Alcide tacked on an insurance goal late.
Things don’t get any easier for the Vikings, who close with Columbia, Maclay, West Florida, Mosley and defending 5A champion Arnold as the final tuneup before District 1-4A tournament play. No district team, though, faces the level of 5A and 6A programs (Arnold, Choctaw, Gulf Breeze, Niceville) like the Vikings do.
“Being 4A, we have no business playing some teams like this,” Rodriguez said. “But I told the guys, ‘These teams make us stronger. Once we make it to the Final 4, we’ll play teams like this.’ If I really wanted to, I could schedule just 4A teams and have a great record, but for what? It’s not preparing us to make a postseason run. And that’s the whole point.”
And for Rodriguez, the postseason run will come when the Vikings can put together two consistent halves.
“When they’re having fun and playing for each other, we’ve seen what they can do,” Rodriguez said. “And whenever they’re not firing on all cylinders, everyone wants to play for themselves. So it’s about buying in and realizing how fun this is. Do that and we’re on fire.”
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: FWB boys soccer hurt by inconsistency, but ready to defend region crown
Reporting by Seth Stringer, Northwest Florida Daily News / Northwest Florida Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
