THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230538
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 53 lines
Kellam and Kempsville, who met in the Beach District boys soccer title game, will square off again in the Eastern Region final.
Both teams won region semifinals Wednesday night at Tallwood.
Kempsville opened the Beach bash with a 3-1 victory over Gloucester. Kellam followed with a 4-1 decision over Deep Creek.
The final is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Salem. The teams also earned berths in Tuesday's Group AAA state quarterfinals.
In both semifinals, the Beach teams simply wore down their opponents after falling behind 1-0 - proving they are both in top form for the rest of the playoffs.
The comebacks cranked up momentum for Friday, and that will be critical as the right to stay home Tuesday is at stake. The loser travels to face the Northern Region champion. The winner hosts the Northern runner-up.
In Wednesday's opener, the Chiefs (15-2-1) were controlling the action and were ahead on shots 10-3 when the Dukes took a short-lived lead on a fantastic goal by Mike Babcock. The junior took a nice header pass from Alan Moore and beat Brian Richards with 7:40 left.
But Kempsville tied things with less than two minutes in the half when Joe Buccholz headed in a long crossing pass from Thomas Langeneggar.
At the half, Gloucester (12-3) was behind on shots 13-4 and should have considered itself luck to be tied.
Kempsville crushed the luck factor in the second half when Philip Robillard took a crossing pass from Carter Burgess with 20 minutes left. Burgess finished things off eight minutes later when he blasted a pass from Langeneggar off the right post for the final tally.
Kellam (14-3-1) fell behind when Hornets forward Guy Auguste managed to get a ball past Mike Pekera on a pass from Joe Verdi 14 minutes into play.
But the Knights followed Kempsville's lead and tied it 10 minutes later when Ed Stockunas crossed to Dustin Keesee, who beat Nick Shockley.
Kellam turned up the heat in the second half, building a 12-4 shot advantage before Stockunas and Keesee teamed on a play much like the first one - with Keesee beating Shockley after a nice crossing pass nine minutes into the period to take a 2-1 lead.
Stockunas got into the scoring act with 16 minutes left when he took a pass from Peter Andersen.
Knights coach Don Hart then inserted much of his bench, including speedster Kendrick Jacobs, who raced past three defenders with six minutes left to finish the scoring.
Kellam, which advances to the state tournament for the first time, beat Kempsville in the Beach title game 2-1.
Kempsville is a state tournament veteran, having won titles in 1991 and 1992. by CNB