Destin Rockets fall in overtime in Battle of the Beach

The Destin Rockets U-15 team fell short 5-4 in overtime in the “Battle of the Beach” tournament last weekend in Gautier, Miss.  The tournament attracted teams from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.  

Destin played their final game of the tournament against Brother Martin from Louisiana.

The game started with Destin’s Tyler Kersanac and Lucas Gauch taking the ball down the field passing off to Nathan Sheppard for the first goal. Sawyer Henderson took the face off with Gavin Tolbert taking a ground ball from the Brother Martin.  Gavin scored after running down the field about 60 yards for Destin. 

Brother Martin had several attempts at the goal but Collin Kaufman from Destin continued to block the shots with the help from his defenders, Riley Martine, Cameron Vallin and Rhett Robinson.  Kaufman blocked a shot in the shoulder and had to be pulled out of the game. He was replaced at goalie by Paxton Fell.  

Brother Martin began target practice at the goalie. Fell blocked several hard driven shots but Brother Martin finished the first half with two goals. 

The second half started off with Lucas Gauch playing goalie with assistance from his defense players Ryan Tuper and Bailey Mollega. Gavin Tolbert took off and scored for Destin but the Brother’s retaliated and came back with a goal.  Kersanac scored with an assist from Sailor Anderson. Nicholas Parker had an attempt at goal down the center. The second half ended in a 4-4 tie.   

The one minute tie breaker began with Tolbert at the face off for Destin. The Bother Martin’s team snagged a ground ball near the crease to score the winning goal.