Columbus’ Benjamin Ochoa fires from the right side and scores the Explorers’ second goal of the game two minutes into the second half of Tuesday's Class 7A state semifinal at SpecMartin Stadium in DeLand, Fla.
mchirino photograhpy
Maria Chirino
Benjamin Ochoa of the Columbus boys’ soccer team is the Miami Herald Athlete of the Week for Week 24.
The senior had two assists as the Explorers edged Palm Harbor University 3-2 to win the FHSAA Class 7A boys’ soccer state championship. In the state semifinal, he scored in a 4-1 win over Windermere.
Other nominees were: Nicole Lee, Lourdes soccer; Sela Travieso, Carrollton basketball; Stephanie Vega, Doral Academy basketball; Emma Torres, American Heritage soccer; Victoria Sifuentes, South Dade wrestling; Aimee Colson, St. Thomas Aquinas soccer; Jordan Corbitt, Miami Country Day basketball; Cayden Daughtry, Calvary Christian basketball; and Mateo Vasquez, Pembroke Pines Charter soccer.
To be considered for a nomination (Broward and Miami-Dade high school varsity athletes only), email hssports@miamiherald.com.
Jim Varsallone writes a high school sports column twice a week, featuring top performers in all varsity sports (boys and girls) in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. He also covers pro wrestling, something he’s done since his college days in the late 1980s. Now in his fifth decade of coverage, he currently follows WWE (Raw, SmackDown and NXT), AEW, Ring of Honor, TNA Impact Wrestling, MLW, WOW, NWA, and the South Florida indies, mainly CCW. He writes MMA, too -- mostly profile stories and video interviews with American Top Team and Sanford MMA fighters in South Florida. As for pro wrestling, he writes feature stories and profile pieces, updates upcoming show schedules in South Florida, photographs the action and interviews talent (audio and video) -- sharing the content here and via social media on his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channel: jim varsallone (jimmyv3 channel).Support my work with a digital subscription
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