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SPORTS

American Heritage Delray routs CSN to advance to Class 1A State Championship game

Alex Martin
Naples Daily News

American Heritage scored three goals in the first 90 seconds as the Stallions cruised to a 20-5 win over Community School of Naples in one of the two state semifinal contests on Friday in Kissimmee at the Austin-Tindall Sports Complex. 

It was a dominating performance by the Stallions, who controlled nine of the first 11 draws and converted most of those into easy goals in building a 9-1 lead.  CSN scored back-to-back goals to cut the gap to 9-3 midway in the period, but Heritage dominated the remainder of the half with four more goals to take a 13-3 lead into the half. 

Amelia Byerly and Emma Smith had two goals apiece for the Seahawks, while Ruby Smith added one. Byerly and Victoria Rankin had one assist each.

Heritage was led by junior midfielder Payton Wainman, who scored five goals, sophomore attack Payton Bezjak scored four times and senior midfielder Ainsley Huizenga added three scores. Wainman, who scored the first two goals of the game, now has 37 on the season. 

About the only thing that went wrong for Heritage in the first half was when senior defenseman Sophia Caffrey fell awkwardly after stepping in a hole and injuring her ankle and shoulder in the fall.  She left the game and did not return.

The injury resulted in coaches meeting with game officials at the half, and the decision was reached to move the second half to an adjoining field.  “I’m not going to say anything about it except the officials made the right decision to move the game off that field,” Heritage Head Coach John McClain said. 

CSN closes their season with a 21-2 record, having reached the state final four for the first time in school history. American Heritage (15-1) will advance to the state championship game against Ponte Vedra or Lake Highland Prep.

Follow The News-Press and Naples Daily News Sports Writer Alex Martin on Twitter: @NP_AlexMartin. For the best sports coverage in Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.