After a week-long hiatus, the Arnold boys’ soccer team returned to action last Friday, hitting the road to face Bay High at Tommy Oliver Stadium.
The defending state champions showed no sign of rust as they reached the back of the net five times in the first half and cruised to an 8-0 victory.
On Monday, however, the Marlins (4-0-2), ranked No. 31 in the state via MaxPreps, faced a big test in Maclay (11-0-1), ranked No. 23. The matchup was intense and competitive for 71 minutes, and then the game was decided in a matter of moments.
Bay County FootballMosley football’s Tommy Joe Whiddon declines Lincoln job, will lead Dolphins in 2025
AOW PollVote: Pick the News Herald Athlete of the Week for Dec. 9-14
An Arnold defender made a hard challenge on a Maclay attacker, which was ruled as denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO). The defender received a controversial red card. Three minutes later, Marlins’ attacker Thomas Galicia received his second yellow card, reducing the Marlins to nine players.
Maclay would go on one final attack, and junior forward Zach Ghazvini would find the back of the net, handing Arnold its first loss since Jan. 31 of last season.
“We wanted to get this game in and the only referees we could get was from Tallahassee and it is frustrating because some of the same fouls were being called but they (Maclay) were not getting cards,” Arnold boys soccer head coach Jonah Hammond said.
“We don’t have enough officials and overall we have poor officiating in this area,” Hammond added. ” I had a ref tell me that they had their FHSAA officials meeting at the beginning of the year and out of 200 referees only 40 attended…they are just collecting a paycheck so that is my frustration.”
The Marlins were not originally scheduled to face Maclay, but because of weather cancellations and travel difficulties, Hammond decided to schedule the Marauders after seeing their impressive start.
Despite the loss, Hammond said tough matches, especially this early in the schedule, are important if the Marlins have any chance of repeating the successes of last season’s state championship-winning season. “We needed a challenge and I don’t shy away from these games, other than some mistakes by our guys we dominated the second half up until the red card and then the second red card completely changed the game,” Hammond said.
Arnold (4-1-2) returns to action at home Friday night against Florida High (6-1-2).
Banji Bamidele is a sports reporter for the Panama City News Herald. He can be reached at abamidele@gannett.com or through X, formerly known as Twitter, @AdebanjiBamide1.
