St. Brendan secures historic first-ever state championship in boys’ soccer

When the clock hit all zeroes and the final whistle blew, the first thing they all did was run straight for the stands.

Members of the St. Brendan’s boys soccer team knew just how big a moment this was for their school and the student body and wanted to make sure they all celebrated together.

A huge Sabres crowd, all decked out in their green colors, made the four-hour trip north hoping to witness a little history for their school. And they got exactly that.

The Sabres (17-1-3) made an Alex Rodriguez goal in the game’s 49th minute stand up as they edged Orlando Bishop Moore 1-0 in the Class 4A state championship game at Spec Martin Stadium.

And with that, a school, comprised mostly of girls (3-to-1 ratio) that had not seen any team in a major sport advance to a state title game in nearly 40 years, has its first state championship banner in a boys’ sport in nearly four decades.

“What an unbelievable moment for all of these kids our school,” said euphoric St. Brendan coach Davide Favaro. “Here we are a school of 1,200 people and just 300 boys and shouldn’t even be in 4A. We should be in 2A but we fought it, made it and found a way to close this thing out today. What an unbelievable season.”

St. Brendan has become a powerhouse in competitive cheerleading in recent years, winning state titles each of the past seven seasons. But the school had not won a boys state title since its baseball team defeated Auburndale in the 1983 state title game in Ocala. Before that, only girls volleyball had a state title at St. Brendan, winning it in 1976.

Rodriguez’s goal was set up by a perfect pass down the middle of the field by Gustavo Matheus. Rodriguez then found himself alone but 35 yards out from the goal. When Bishop Moore keeper Matthew McCall closed in on him, Rodriguez turned on a dime and caught a perfect left foot on the ball and curved it just inside the top left corner of the net.

“Gustavo sent me a nice ball up the middle and I took kind of a bad touch but I recovered,” Rodriguez said. “I saw I had space and had a shot. When I let it go, I knew I had caught it solid and it curved in there perfectly into the top left. What a moment when that ball went in, the greatest feeling in the world. I’m glad we made all of our fans proud.”

Now down a goal, Bishop Moore, which was looking for its fifth state title but first since 2000, pressed hard on offense and peppered St. Brendan goalkeeper Pipe Rodriguez with a flurry of shots over the final 10 minutes. But Rodriguez was equal to the task as he made quality save after quality save to preserve the lead.

The last one came with just over 30 seconds left when Bishop Moore’s Omar Rivera came open down in front of the net. He let go of a shot that was headed toward the right side of the net and on goal. Until Rodriguez reached out with his left hand and deflected it away.

“I guess my stress meter way up there,” Rodriguez quipped. “They (Bishop Moore) were really bringing it at the end but I knew they would so I just had to fly around and make a few plays. This was so huge for our school, we played all season with empty stands and it means a lot for them to all drive up here four hours to be with us and support us.”

Favaro added: “Pipe was huge out there today. He’s a senior, what a way for him to go out.”