Krop’s Bourshira battles flu, leads his team to victory
When Benjamin Boushira woke up Thursday morning, it wasn’t good.
“I felt terrible and it only got worse during the day,” said Boushira. “By game time I had a 105 fever, chills, sore throat and dizzy spells. You name it, I had it.”
But what Boushira also had was a whole heck of a lot of heart and desire as he took the field anyway and scored the only goal of the game to lead his Krop boys soccer team to a big 1-0 victory over Western in a Region 4-5A quarterfinal contest Thursday night at Ives Estates Park.
With neither team having been to a regional semifinal in more than a decade, somebody was going to get the breakthrough win. It turned out to be the Lightning (13-2-2) as they will now host Cypress Bay in a Region 4-5A semifinal on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Ives Estates.
It marks Krop’s first semifinal appearance since 2007. Western, which finished 15-5, was looking for its first regional win since 2004.
The lone goal of the game came five minutes deep into the second half when Krop forward Luis Constantini sent a crossing pass in front of the net to Sonny Innocent who then one-touched it over to Boushira, who fired into the lower right side of the net just past Western keeper Alex Castellanos.
“The ball came off a cross and the defender missed it, I got a touch on my weak foot and saw an opening on first post and got it in there,” said Boushira. “Nothing was going to keep me out of this game. There was too much on the line and I had to be there for my teammates. Now I need to get better quick because we’ve got Cypress Bay in less than 48 hours. That’s going to be a big challenge but we’ll be ready.”
“Benji is the heart and soul of this team and you saw that out there tonight,” said Krop coach Tomas Gonzalez. “For four years since he was a freshman, he always had such strong character and what happens is that the rest of our kids see this kid sick as a dog and he’s out there grinding. That gets them to elevate their level as well. It becomes contagious. This is such a big win for this program and now we’re looking forward to the next challenge and I think we’re going to surprise everybody.”
GIRLS BASKETBALL
▪ District 14-9A semifinal: Miami High 71, Hialeah 29: MHS – Scott 14, Bucknor 12, Daniels 11, Whitley 10, Rachel 7, Colon 5, Valdes 4, Peterson 2 Lucas 2. HIA – Dominique 10, Bernard 10, Duveslus 5, Durote 4.
▪ District 14-9A semifinal: Krop 62, North Miami 29: KR – Weingard 16, Hornstein 16, Joseph 12, B. Knowles 9, Ali 4, Collins 3, Walker 2.
▪ District 15-5A semifinal: Gulliver Prep 77, LaSalle 18: GP – Kaplan 24, Ka. Sanders 23, Haymore 11, Doctor 10, Kr. Sanders 4, Berman 3, Joseph 2. GP: 19-6
▪ District semifinal: Carrollton 50, Ransom-Everglades 21: CAR – Mas 17, Benitez 14, Mendez 8, Rabassa 7, Paneque 4. CAR: 19-4
▪ District 7-4A semifinal: Florida Christian 44, Riviera Prep 30: FC – Marrero 16, Ledon 9, Milton 8, Diaz 5, Delgado 4, Hernandez 2.
BOYS BASKETBALL
▪ Ransom-Everglades 80, Terra 70: RE – Kodsi 23, Schiff 18, Thorpe 12, Ortiz 11, Peluso 5, Szomstein 5, FItzpatrick 3, Lampert 3.
▪ Krop 67, North Miami Beach 65: Joseph 25, Reid 14, Sterling 12. Rebounds: Reid 26
▪ St. Brendan 67, Riviera Prep 63: STB – Perez 18, Spina 13, Hernandez 13, Iglesias 12, Valenzuela 8, Saller 3. RP – Luleres 22, Yaron 14, Garcia 11, Ndor 9, Gayle 6, Alerte 2
▪ Braddock 77, TERRA 73: BRAD – Hernandez 15, C. Perez 12, E. Perez 11, Allen 11. TER – Santiago 29, Joseph 8. BRAD: 11-11.
This story was originally published February 7, 2019 at 9:21 PM.