Less than a minute into Thursday night’s FHSAA Class 6A-Region 1 Semifinal at Citizens Field, there was cause for concern for the Buchholz boys soccer team.

South Lake (Groveland) sophomore Melvin Rivera scored off a deflection to give the visiting Eagles a 1-0 lead with 39:10 remaining in the first half.

Although the No. 5 seed Bobcats tied it in the second half, two late goals sealed their fate in No. 8 seed South Lake’s 3-1 win.

“They are a great team,” said Buchholz’s first-year coach, Todd Rousseau. “They’re a Cinderella story right now. They are on fire. They went up to (No. 1 seed) Niceville and won the game up there, came back and scored three goals, I think in the last 20 minutes. They know they can win, and they believe in themselves right now, and they’re not afraid to shoot, not afraid to score, and everything is going their way right now.”

Although Rivera’s goal wasn’t the difference, it certainly gave South Lake (12-5-4) the momentum early.

“They caught us sleeping,” Rousseau said. “We preach to our team all the time, be ready, they’re going to come at you hard, but there’s only so much you can say, and they were ready. They shot from outside and they scored. That was a great shot.”

Buchholz (16-2-1) nearly tied it late, but senior midfielder Dylan Fitzpatrick’s header hit off the crossbar with just over 10 seconds left in the first half.

“It’s one of those things,” Rousseau said. “Some games it goes your way, and some it doesn’t. It bounces in, it bounces out. Some of the games we had this year went in for us. This game right here, it did not go in. And it’s a game of inches. We tell the boys you have to finish when you get chances. You’re going to get five chances a game to finish, and we’ve got to make three of those.”

The Bobcats got another chance 14 minutes into the second half, but junior forward Christian McDaniel’s shot in the middle of the field from 30 yards out sailed over the net.

However, four minutes later, Buchholz tied it.

Junior Timmy Ortiz had a long two-handed throw-in from the left sideline that ended up right in front of the net and got deflected into the net for his only goal of the season.

“Timmy is like a quarterback on our team,” Rousseau said. “We throw a back post and it’s just unbelievable how far he can throw it. He trains. He picks up medicine balls and does it. It’s a weapon for us. I was talking to their coach, and it was funny, they actually studied it and were worried about it.”

It remained tied until junior David Bustamante gave the Eagles the lead for good, using a header to pass the ball to himself before firing it from the left side inside the box and into the right side of the net with 9:16 remaining.

They added insurance just under two minutes later on a goal by sophomore Renzo Candioto.

It was a great year for Rousseau and the Bobcats, who went undefeated during the regular season along with the JV team.

“I tell the boys it has to end at some time,” Rousseau said. “I mean, we’re in the sweet 16 right now. This is a great run for our seniors, our juniors coming up. This is a great chance for them to see what it’s like to be here, and I told them next year we’ll be here…unbelievable season. We played some talented teams this year, Montverde Academy, Bartram Trail. The teams we played were talented, and we wish them the best of luck. This South Lake team right here is on fire. I mean, it’s unbelievable. It’s great.”