from Tallahassee Democrat

Sure it's been four-straight years that the Maclay girls' soccer team has claimed the District 2-2A championship, but it was plenty sweet for the Marauders.

With a 4-1 win over John Paul II in the books on Friday night, junior midfielder Amanda Hunter waved her hands above her head and bopped to the sound of another district title.

"We play JPII in district finals just about every year," Hunter said. "It's a huge game. They're big rivals, and we always get really excited. It's a huge win for us."

This was the fourth year the two teams have played for the district championship.

The victory earns Maclay (15-4-2) the right to play host to District 1-2A runner-up Panama City Bozeman in a Region 1-2A quarterfinal next Thursday.

As the district runner-up, the Panthers (10-11) also extend their season, but JPII will travel to Niceville on Thursday to play Rocky Bayou Christian, the District 1-2A champion.

About 170 people witnessed Friday night's Maclay-JPII rematch at Shaw Field, and it took about three minutes for Maclay to give the home crowd something to cheer.

"Before the game, we just decided that we were going to go out and go strong and hit them hard," Hunter said. "We wanted to score early and score fast, and that's what we did."

The first score came from Marauder junior Jennifer Fischer. Off a Reanna Leoni pass, Fischer knocked in a goal to give the Marauders a 1-0 lead.

"I thought we started a bit slowly possession-wise," Maclay head coach Paul Dickson said. "And then I think our first time across midfield we scored a goal. Obviously that relaxes everybody and gets them to settle down and play better soccer when you can score a quick goal like that."

About seven minutes later eighth grader Jenna Peck broke away from defenders to punch a score under the arms of JPII goalie Sydney Brewton.

In the second half, Hunter and Hannah Ciupalo added two goals before the Panthers' Adrianna Echeverrie kicked in a goal at the end of the game.

Throughout the 40-minute game, JPII struggled to generate offensive opportunities. That was nothing new for the Panthers, who only managed one goal against Maclay in two previous matches.

"I think all in all our defense played well for the strike Maclay was bringing," JPII head coach Matt Olesnevich said. "It was tough to get stuff going offensively. (Maclay's defenders) were quick to the ball."

"At 2-0, I felt like we could still fight and come back and hopefully win the game. It just didn't happen tonight."