Preps: Tampa Prep takes Class 2A Championship

It was a remarkable night for Tampa Prep's boys, and the massive crowd they brought with them to the University of Tampa's Pepin Stadium on Friday night.

For the third time in four years, and fourth time overall, the Terrapins earned the Class 2A State championship with a 2-1 victory against Delray Beach American Heritage.

Wes Sever's words just after charging around the Pepin Stadium field with the 2A trophy in the grasp exemplified the exhiliration the entire side appeared to be feeling.

"This is exhilarating. Amazing. Now I know what Matt Hebert, Sam Wiand the seniors my freshman year, and in my sophomore year Ryan Griffin, Brad Sienkiewicz, this is what it feels like to win your senior year. Never would I have thought we would have been back on this stage in front of our home crowd to beat a team like American Heritage tonight. It's absolutely exhilarating.

"I can't explain to you in words how much this means to me, how much this team means to me, how much the Tampa Prep community (means to me), and having all these fans here tonight, it's absolutely amazing. Words can't describe what I'm feeling right now, what I feel for these players, what I feel for these coaches, what I feel for the administration. Everyone in the school, I love it, they were behind 100 percent of the way. We brought our entire school out here, and for the semifinals, it's just absolutely amazing."

That gives two bay area teams state championships, with Seminole and Palm Harbor looking to add to the haul this afternoon and evening as they face Melbourne and Boca Raton respectively in the Class 5A and Class 6A finals.

Seminole earned its place in the final with a 1-0 victory against Tallahassee Lincoln, Shane Wixted scoring on a penalty in the final minute of the first half after Charles Lynch had been brought down in the area.

Palm Harbor will get a shot at a second straight state title, duplicating the accomplishment of their girls team last week, after a 2-1 victory against Miami Killian that turned on a brilliant save by Hurricanes goalkeeper Josh Paul and a brilliant solo goal by Ben Sweat, both coming with a span of about 80 seconds.

If you can't get to Pepin Stadium this afternoon or this evening, Seminole is schedule to kick off at 4:30 p.m., Palm Harbor at 7 p.m., you can follow live updates of both games via the TBSB twitter feed, which can be found at twitter.com/tbsoccerblog.