Highlands Christian’s championship hopes stymied in boys’ soccer state semifinal

Braden Francis was inconsolable.

The clock had just hit all zeroes and he laid flat on his back on the field. Teammates and coaches came over to him to try and get him off the ground.

He didn’t want to move.

Even though his Pompano Beach Highlands Christian boys’ soccer team entered Wednesday afternoon’s 1A state semifinal as a decided underdog against top-seeded Hobe Sound Pine School, Francis paid no attention to any of that.

He and his Knights teammates were on a first-ever journey to the state final four and came in clearly expecting to win, not wanting their magical journey to end. But Pine School, state champions in 2022 and 2023, had no intention of even allowing Highlands to consider the idea of a an upset as they dominated the contest from the opening whistle, cruising to a 3-0 victory at Spec Martin Stadium.

Pine School improved to 17-1 and will go after its third state title in the last four seasons on Saturday at 10 a.m. when they take on St. Augustine St. Joseph Academy for the championship.

“I’m just so disappointed, not necessarily in my team, I love our guys, it’s just that they’re (Pine) a good team but not that much better that we couldn’t have come in here and won this game today,” said Francis after he eventually managed to get up off the ground. “We played our hearts out. Maybe it was a little bit of nerves early on with it being the first time being up here at state, a few reckless fouls a lack of discipline and composure. It wound up costing us.”

Highlands Christian (16-7-2) struggled right out of the gate to get any kind of rhythm going on offense as Pine School managed to dominate possessing the ball. The Knights recorded just a single shot on goal in the first half and would finish with only four for the game. Pine School jumped out to a 1-0 lead 12 minutes into the game when they were awarded a free kick from close range, just 15 yards out from the net. Joao Azevedo took the shot and fired a perfect ball that hooked left past the four-man Highlands wall and past diving goalkeeper Rony Exavier into the top left corner of the net.

With 8:58 left in the first half, the whistle blew when Pine School’s Joao Pedro De Brito put a move along the baseline on Highland Christian’s Will Harris and was fouled by Harris inside the penalty box. Azevedo stepped up to take the penalty kick and drilled it home to make it 2-0.

“From the get-go it was tough,” Highlands Christian coach Davidson Loriston said. “Our plan going in was to try for the first punch and score to get the lead, get them back on their heels and maybe get them out of their game plan but unfortunately it turned out the opposite. A great team like that, you can’t give them any early opportunities to jump out in front and that’s exactly what they did to us. Once they get you out of position, you’re in big trouble.”

The Knights came out in the second half determined to try and get back in it but continued to struggle offensively. Still down two, they finally got what would be their best chance of the day. Just after the second half water break, forward Achilles Arruda beat two Pine School defenders down the right side, got the corner turned and was one-on-one with goalkeeper Hunter Harrington. But in a shot he probably would’ve like to have had back, Arruda fired it right at him and Harrington made the easy save.

“The journey here was still awesome,” Loriston said. “We’ve been putting this thing together over the last five years, finally got over the hump and got a taste of the final four. We’re young so most of these boys will be coming back. We’ll get back at it in the offseason.”

The only positive Francis took away from Wednesday is that he’s only a junior and will have one more chance to get back up to state next season.

“We had a great season getting to the final four and I’ve got one more year to try and get back up here again,” he said. “You don’t get any trophies for making it to the final four, you only get one for winning a state title and that’s our plan. To get back up here and finish things off.”