Gallery: Late goals and stingy defense lead Forest to win in district tournament quarterfinal

Forest’s Jaime Price (14) jumps for a header with South Lake’s Alex Dieguez (14) as he heads the ball downfield during a soccer match at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla. on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. Forest won the match 2-0. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

Overtime goals by Jadiel Rodriguez and Brantley Wigginton carried the Forest Wildcats (14-0-6) to a 2-0 victory over the South Lake Eagles in the Class 6A District 4 tournament quarterfinal on Thursday night.

“It’s always a good feeling to win a playoff game. Hate to see it come down to extra time, but we came through. This was the first check mark, I thought we dominated throughout the game and we just need to work on being more creative towards getting goals, getting more shots on goals and testing the keeper,” Forest assistant coach Shawn Hardy said.

The game was a defensive dog-fight from the beginning as both teams showed frenetic energy towards taking the ball away from the opposing offense. Forest took the first shot on goal in the eighth minute as Yari Vanegas Acosta nailed the kick from 20 yards out but South Lake goalie Manuel Juarez made a fantastic diving save.

Forest had another opportunity moments later on a corner kick but the header from Brandon Droese was just inches too high.

South Lake applied pressure twice in the span of 10 minutes, but Forest goalie Garrett Smith was able to notch a pair of saves. Juarez made another spectacular diving save with his left hand in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

The defensive efforts from both teams led the game into overtime. In the first 10-minute period of overtime, Forest got on the board after a free kick by Wigginton was deflected by Jaurez and Rodriguez would scorch the back of the net from five yards out.

“I was nervous as I was running up to the ball because I knew it was a great opportunity and I had to hit it in to send us to the next round,” Rodriguez said.

The goal by Rodriguez kick-started the Forest offense and Wigginton would take the ball down the left side for a goal to put Forest up 2-0.

“If they can put that first 10 minutes of overtime into the first 80 minutes of the game, we can compete with anybody in the state. They’ve got to believe and it’s their choice to have that mindset,” Forest head coach Jason Wigginton said.

The two goals gave Forest all the momentum they needed as South Lake had no answer for the relentless defense effort from the Wildcats. Wigginton and Hardy both said that the defense set the tone for the game and was a huge part of the win.

“Something I always tell them is you can’t lose if you don’t get scored on. So, if we can keep a clean sheet, we can almost guarantee a tie every night. That’s been a mindset every night for the boys and our focus is keeping Garrett bored back there and showing dominance on the ball defensively,” Hardy said.

For South Lake, a season-ending overtime loss on the road is a tough pill to swallow. Head coach Kyle Rogers was optimistic after the game and shared excitement for next season with a big group of players returning.

“It’s one of the most complete games we played all season. We brought our best tonight, the boys gave everything they had and unfortunately we weren’t able to pull it out. There’s not much to say after a loss like this in the district tournament.,” Rogers said.

He added: “We put a couple of JV players on late in the game to get experience. We have a great class coming in and we are excited,” South Lake finishes the season at 7-5-1.

As for Forest, an even bigger matchup looms at Buchholz (7-3-3) on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Forest beat Buchholz 3-1 a few weeks ago and will be looking for a win to send them to the district championship game.

“Has to start with defense and continuing not to allow goals in open play. We’ve only had two goals on us all year in open play and the boys are locked in on that. We need a strong start because Buchholz is very good, physical team,” Wigginton said.