Bulldogs have season ended by Bay High

By: By SHELIA MADER | Jackson County Floridan
Published: January 26, 2012
Updated: January 26, 2012 - 7:21 PM

For the first 36 minutes of the Marianna High Bulldogs boys soccer district playoff game, it looked as though they would repeat last year’s upset over Arnold with an upset over Bay.

However, that was not the case this year, as the Bulldogs’ season came to an end with a 4-1 loss to the Bay High Tornadoes in the second round of district play at Walton High School on Wednesday evening.

Marianna coach Garyn Waller went with senior Michael Mader in goal, with veterans David White, JT Meadows, and Seth Gilley defending, Nic Helms, Zac Davis, Jae Elliott, and Marquelle Comer in the midfield, and Cody Barfield, Lyle Phelps, and John Metzler up front.

Mader recorded 17 saves in 20 attempts before the first goal was scored.

At the half, it was 2-0 Bay.

Minutes after the water break in the second half, Bay added another goal, and with eight minutes to go in the game, it was again Bay scoring to put the Tornadoes up 4-0.

Marianna avoided the shutout when senior Jesse McGowan took advantage of a ball that bounced out and notched it in to make it a 4-1 game.

On the night, Mader recorded 45 saves on 56 attempts with four goals scored and seven missed shots.

Davis in relief had two saves on six attempts.

Following the game, Waller had nothing but praise for both teams.

“I thought we played about as good as we could play,” he said. “Bay is just a very good soccer team. Defensively, we were very sharp and Michael (Mader) had another good performance in the postseason.

“Offensively, we did a good job as well in keeping some pressure on them. You can tune into (the news) the next couple of weeks and still see them playing. They are that good. Our guys have nothing to be ashamed of. They busted it for 80 minutes.

“It’s always tough to lose the last one you play, especially for the seniors. But we have had a good year and have things to build on for next year. We lose a very good group of seniors but we have a good amount of talent returning as well.”

The Bulldogs finished 10-10 on the season.