Photos and Story
By Mike Maddock
Mike@TheColumbiaStar.com

A.C. Flora's Whit Floyd (l) drives past Seneca's Scott Burden. Floyd scored the first three of the Falcons' six goals giving A.C. Flora a 3- 1 lead ten minutes into the second half.

The A.C. Flora Falcons' opening round boys class 3A state playoff match Tuesday, May 1 with the visiting Seneca Bobcats looked like it might just be a bit of a snoozer for about 76 minutes.

Whit Floyd's third goal 85 seconds into the second half gave the Falcons a seemingly insurmountable 3- 1 lead. Goalkeeper Cory McCue's eight saves, half of which were diving, frustrated the Bobcat attack until the 76th minute of the match. That's when Seneca's Josh Soler broke away from the A.C. Flora defense and drilled a left footer to the back left corner of the net. Barely two minutes later Soler grabbed a floating pass and launched another left footer past McCue for his third goal of the match knotting the score at 3- 3.

The Seneca defense had not allowed the Falcons a shot for 21 minutes of the second half and only allowed them three more to close the match. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, all three of those shots resulted in Falcon scores.

A.C. Flora's Blake Jernigan attempts to head the ball towards the Seneca goal. Jernigan put the Falcons back on top 4- 3 with a goal a minute after the Bobcats had tied the score with two quick goals of their own. With the clock showing two minutes remaining, Blake Jernigan gave the Falcons the lead again at 4- 3 with a shot from the center of the field. Seconds later, Steven Osmanski broke loose and walked in another score. Chapman Fairey provided the icing on the cake with a final score from the right side to give the Falcons the 6- 3 victory and the opportunity to advance in the playoffs. They host fourth- ranked Eastside May 3.

Seneca: Goals: Josh Soler (3); Shots: 16; Saves: Orry Oglesby (4).

A.C. Flora: Goals: Whit Floyd (3), Blake Jernigan, Steven Osmanski, Chapman Fairey; Shots: 15; Saves: Corey McCue (8).

A.C. Flora goalkeeper Corey McCue goes up high to deflect the ball from a Seneca player. McCue four diving saves and eight total.