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Fort White’s Connor Bass is the LCR’s Boys Soccer Player of the Year. (COURTESY)
FORT WHITE — The top goal-scorer in the area among boys and girls doesn’t exactly act like it. Connor Bass, the Fort White striker who took that title this past season, is mild mannered off the field.
But on it? To hear Indians head coach Steve Lopez tell it, that’s a different story, saying a healthy mix of confidence and cockiness contributed to Fort White’s historic run.
“A little bit of both,” said Lopez, who also spent two years coaching Bass as part of the CYSA U-17 and U-18 teams. “More leaning toward cockiness. Connor is a very cocky person, but he can back up what he’s saying.”
That kind of tenacity led to an area-high 32 goals while taking his team to an 11-9-2 record. It also landed Bass his first nod as the Lake City Reporter Boys Soccer Player of the Year.
Bass kicked off the season with a bang in an 8-0 mercy-rule win over Interlachen, a game in which Bass tucked away his first two goals of the year to go along with the first of his three assists. The following day, Bass was brought back down to Earth a bit, suffering a 4-0 shutout at the hands of Williston.
As Lopez points out though, moments of adversity have shaped Bass into the goal scorer he has become.
“As a player, if we were down 1-0 and we needed somebody to step up, he’s the first one to step it up,” Lopez said. “Before his game, he sets goals and says, ‘Hey, I want to get this many goals today. I think that I’m going to get it.’ And he’ll do whatever it takes to get a goal. He’s very reliable.”
Bass took out any frustration he might’ve had two nights later in Branford, putting away four goals against the Bucs before showing out with a four-goal effort against Newberry in Fort White’s next match and another four in the team’s next win against Trenton.
While those were the only four-goal efforts on the year for Bass, the scores still came in bunches throughout the season. Bass put together multi-goal outings in 10 matches, netting hat tricks in seven contests. In fact, out of the 14 matches that the Indians scored at least one goal, Bass scored at least one of them on 13 occasions.
Even with those gaudy numbers attached to his name, Bass has his eyes set on bigger things for his upcoming senior season. Lopez said that in talking with his superstar, Bass thinks he can do a lot better.
“He wants to double what he had this year,” Lopez said. “Realistically, I can see him doing that. He wants to be the best in the area regardless of who we’re playing.”
While 64 goals in a season would be unprecedented, it wouldn’t hurt, especially going against what Bass sees as his and his team’s biggest hurdle to get over. After that 4-0 loss to Williston in the second game of the season, Fort White lost twice more to the Red Devils, including a 9-1 drubbing in early December. Then, in the District 4-3A semifinals, a single first-half goal was the difference in a 1-0 nail-biter that eventually led to a district title for WHS.
It’s that title that Bass wants the most of all.
“I just really want to win districts,” Bass said. “Fort White’s never done that before. The farthest we’ve made it was the second round, and that was last year. I just want to go farther.”
Still embracing what no other team in school history had done until that point, Bass reminisced on his team’s performance in the opening round of that tournament. After tying with Keystone Heights twice during the regular season, Bass wanted to prove a point. After KHHS scored an equalizer to tie the game at 1 apiece, Bass had to rally his teammates going into extra time.
“Everybody just put their head down,” Bass said, saying he won a penalty kick in the box for the opportunity to win.
Bass went left with his penalty kick. Of course, he scored, earning a district tournament win in doing so. His mindset in that moment could speak to his further endeavors on the pitch.
“They told me to take it… it was pretty clear in my mind where I was going to go,” Bass said. “In that situation, it’s just, ‘Don’t miss.’”
ALL-AREA TEAM
FW: Connor Bass
Fort White, junior
The LCR’s Boys Soccer Player of the Year had by far the most goals in the area, finding the back of the net a whopping 32 times. He also had three assists to help the Indians finish 11-9-2.
FW: AJ Brinson
Columbia, senior
Led the Tigers with seven goals and tied for the team lead with two assists to help them finish 8-8-2.
FW/MF: Colby Blake
Fort White, senior
Led the area with six assists and also scored five goals for the Indians.
MF: Joel De La Cruz
Suwannee, junior
Led the Bulldogs with seven goals and also had an assist to help them finish 7-8-3.
MF: Josh Jahuey
Suwannee, senior
Scored five goals and had four assists for the Bulldogs.
MF: Robert Shotwell
Columbia, sophomore
Scored three goals and had one assist as a defensive midfielder for the Tigers.
DEF: Mickey Lee Johnson
Columbia, senior
Played center back for a Tigers defense that allowed an area-low 26 goals in 18 matches.
DEF: Riley Stone
Columbia, senior
Scored two goals and helped anchor the Tigers’ defense as the team’s other center back.
DEF: Alex Beristain
Suwannee, senior
Helped a Bulldogs defense that allowed 37 goals in 18 matches.
DEF: Jared Hopkins
Fort White, junior
Anchored an Indians defense that allowed just 41 goals in 22 matches.
GK: Colt Patterson
Fort White, junior
Spent more than 1,600 minutes in the net, which was by far the most in the area. He finished the season with an area-best 209 saves and posted six shutouts.
Steven Lopez
Coach of the Year, Fort White
Lopez’s first season saw Fort White finish with an 11-9-2 record, the first time in at least a decade they’ve finished above .500. The Indians have never made the regional playoffs, but they took a step toward breaking that drought this season. Lopez’s squad took top-seeded Williston to the brink in the District 4-3A tournament, eventually falling 1-0 in the semifinals. It leaves the future bright for a program that looks to finally have the right coach leading it.