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Columbia’s Bergen Cobb (13) dribbles into the box against Fort White’s Jared Hopkins and Colt Patterson during Thursday’s game. (MORGAN MCMULLEN/Lake City Reporter)
FORT WHITE — For about 50 minutes of game time, Columbia had every chance to break out in front of Fort White. And for 27 minutes after that, the same trend continued with the two sides all square.
The two minutes in between those points saw each side net a goal before senior Bergen Cobb clinched the match for the Tigers with a game-winning goal in a frantic final minute of Thursday’s 2-1 win at Arrowhead Stadium.
Still, not satisfied with Columbia (4-3-4) maintaining a decisive edge in possession, head coach Ed Turner said he felt the Indians were more than a challenge for his squad.
“It was a good matchup,” Turner said. “Fort White’s a good team. I think we could’ve done a whole lot better as far as our players are concerned. We played very sloppy at times, and we didn’t decide to pick it up until probably the third quarter.”
Fort White (4-6), meanwhile continues its six-game streak of alternating wins and losses, a stretch that reaches back to a 2-0 loss to Taylor County on Nov. 30. Indians head coach Steven Lopez said he was disappointed with the result yet proud of the way his defense held up throughout the night.
“This match was pretty amazing,” Lopez said. “The rivalry between us and them, we’ve all played together, doing travel (ball), doing school. Me and coach Eddie, we’re close… For us to come together to have a great match, it’s wonderful.”
While both goaltenders kept clean sheets throughout the first half, it was Fort White’s Colt Patterson who wound up making save after save in the second half, both getting up high to knock shots over the crossbar while also making plays outside the goalie box and diving on balls on the ground.
The clean sheet was made even more impressive, Lopez said, due to the fact that several of his defenders were either sick or injured and held out of the match.
“We had our main two defenders in the back, and they pretty much — between them two and the goalie — we pretty much just tried to hold our own as much as we could,” Lopez said.
After the scoreless first half, it was Gavin Heaton who, after receiving a yellow card for a hard tackle on a CHS midfielder, cracked the Tigers’ defense, hitting a shot that got no air before scuttling to the right of Columbia goalie Augustus Mock for a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute. The goal gives Heaton six on the season in six games to lead his team.
However, not long after the Indians celebrated getting in front of their rivals, Columbia roared back to life. Nathan Mastubara broke through the back line of the Fort White defense before taking Patterson on one-on-one, slipping past the keeper and slotting in the tying goal through a small wave of pursuing defenders.
“I think they finally got punched in the mouth and decided to wake up,” Turner said.
From there, the Tigers pressed their luck. Jonathan Pineda had a shot hit off the crossbar before Patterson made yet another diving save on Cody Bass’s follow-up attempt four minutes after Mastubara’s score.
However, even after those chances and more against the Fort White goalie, the game remained even heading into the final minute of play. That’s when the Tigers earned a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. When the initial shot failed, Cobb managed to corral it before sneaking into the top of the box and drilling a shot past Patterson’s outstretched arms with 34.4 seconds remaining.
While the win is nice to bolster a Tigers squad back to its winning ways after not dropping a match since Nov. 17, Turner said he wished it wouldn’t take something drastic for his team to react.
“It kind of took them that long into the game and for that to happen for them to actually figure out, ‘Oh crap, we could possibly drop this game,’” Turner said. “Even though we see it from the sidelines, unfortunately, players have their own mind. They think they have it all taken care of… Sometimes it takes a goal by the other team to get up on you for guys to really wake up.”
The Tigers have the rest of 2023 off before hosting another rivalry game set against Suwannee on Jan. 6 at 4 p.m. The Indians will have to wait even longer for their next shot when they travel to Baker County for a 7 p.m. showdown on Jan 8.