The Ledger

Class 2A, Region 2

LAKELAND | The young Lakeland Christian Viking soccer team grew up in a 6-1 victory over Covenant Christian in the Class 2A Regional quarterfinals at Viking Stadium.

With the victory, the 14-5-1 Vikings will play at home on Tuesday night in the regional semifinals against Holy Trinity of Melbourne, which defeated Fort Meade, 3-1. The Lions end their season at 11-9.

The Vikings, who have only four seniors on the team, were led by ninth-grader Mike Emert, who tallied four goals and had a couple of good chances that just missed. Emert was moved up from defense for the contest because of injuries.

Emert scored the first of his goals 14 minutes in as he took a pass from Zach Cabrera and used his speed and quickness to get the ball past Lion goalie Charlie McCarthy. Cabrera had two assists on the evening

"I have a very special team coming up in the next couple of years," first-year Vikings coach Grandy Streets said.

One of the few times the visitors from Palm Bay got the ball on the Vikings' side of the field, they scored, as Luke Sikes knocked home a penalty kick six minutes after the Vikings' goal.

"We crossed midfield just a few times tonight,' Lions coach Ben Harris said.

Griffin, in addition to what he did defensively, had an assist on the night, as he lobbed a pass to Emert, who knocked a header into the goal five minutes into the second half to push the lead to 3-1.

Weston Rayborn and Anthony Sligh also scored for the Vikings.

Mike Akins

Ledger Correspondent