American Heritage boys’ soccer team’s turnaround season ends in heartbreak
What turned out to be a season of redemption didn’t quite have the storybook ending the Plantation American Heritage boys soccer team wanted.
Following one of the worst seasons in program history a year ago, in which the Patriots went 3-7-7, they spent the 2025-26 campaign repairing and restoring a wounded prideful program.
They did just that, navigating their way all the way to the Class 4A state championship game on Saturday afternoon.
But their turnaround season ended in heartbreak.
After watching their girls win state title No. 15 a few hours earlier, the Patriots boys came up short of what would have been their ninth all-time following a 2-0 overtime loss to Orlando Bishop Moore at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand, Fla.
It would’ve marked the fourth time ever that Heritage’s boys and girls won state titles in the same year, matching the feat in 2005, 2019 and 2023.
But, in a well-played game by both sides, Heritage came up short.
After 80 minutes of intense and well-played soccer by both sides, Bishop Moore broke through two minutes into the first overtime when Cooper Ball dribbled one down the right side and managed to get the corner turned. He then fired a perfect centering pass that Winston Weibel got to and knocked past Heritage keeper Alex Vanhaeren.
It marked only the second runner-up finish for the Patriots in the last 22 years, having put together an 8-1 record in championship games since 2004 before Saturday’s loss.
On the flip side, the win ended a string of frustrating runner-up finishes for the Hornets including three in a row to Miami-Dade County teams (St. Brendan and Gulliver twice) from 2022-2024 and marked the program’s fifth state title but first since 2000.
“A well-played game between two terrific teams and hats off to Bishop Moore for making a few more plays than we did,” Heritage head coach Todd Goodman said. “I thought we had the better of it in the first half but then they came out and switched the momentum for large periods of the second half and overtime. Unfortunately for us, we weren’t able to capitalize on our opportunities and they eventually found the back of the net on one of theirs and captured the moment.”
The only good news for the Patriots when they fell behind on Weibel’s goal was that they still had 18 minutes of overtime left to get the equalizer. But Bishop Moore, which had been pretty solid on defense all game long, never gave them much of an opening. Goodman knew that once his team fell behind, he was going to have to get aggressive.
“Once they got that first one in, we had no choice and went three in the back and pushed people forward,” Goodman said. “At that point it doesn’t matter if you lose two or three zero, you have to give yourself an opportunity to equalize the game.”
As often happens in that situation, teams then leave themselves vulnerable on the defensive end. Sure enough Bishop Moore (23-2-6) scored a big insurance goal with 7:02 left in the second overtime and the big noisy Hornets crowd that made the short drive up from Orlando began an early celebration.
“This just hurts so much that it’s all over,” said sobbing senior captain Clayton Boone, voice barely audible. “It’s such an empty feeling right now that I’ll never get to play with these guys again. I love this team, I love these guys. We fought so hard all game long, left everything out there, and then it all fell apart in overtime. They were better today and deserved to win but this just stinks right now.”
Boone was then asked if he will look back at this season’s redemption comeback as a source of pride.
“Absolutely, I’m really proud of what we got done this season which is a testament to the character of each and every player on this team,” Boone said. “What we did this year is a great lesson in life going forward. No matter who gets called upon, you have to step up and rise to the challenge. Falling down and getting back up is part of life. It’s going to happen my whole life moving forward, and I’m ready for the next chapter whatever that brings me.”
Goodman echoed the same sentiments and couldn’t gush about the character of his players enough.
“While today ended in disappointment, I’m still proud of the boys for what they accomplished this year and I credit that with our senior leadership,” Goodman said. “All year long we’ve held each other accountable, taken ownership of what took place last year and stayed on an even keel. We were justly rewarded in getting to the stage of a championship game and unfortunately today things just didn’t go our way.”