PHOTOS: Winter Park brings home district title with dominating 3-0 win over Timber Creek | Observer Preps

For the first time since 2009, the Wildcats are coming home to Winter Park with a district title — thanks to a solid 3-0 win over Timber Creek in the district final on Friday night.

The match was a literal tale of two halves, as the Wildcats (14-3-1, 8-1) and Wolves (12-3-2, 6-2-1) went end-to-end throughout the first half of play.

Play was incredibly fluid for both sides, and each had chances on goal, but neither could put anything through the back of the net.

Despite the 0-0 scoreline at the half, things would get crazy fast in the second. 

The Wildcats would kick off the fireworks right away, when just 43 seconds into the half a ball would fly into the box and land perfectly for a waiting David Cohen — who headed the ball in with a fury to put the 'Cats up 1-0.

"We talked to the players about just being braver — getting on the ball a little bit more in the midfield, because we felt that when we did those things, we were able to connect passes up top and find some rhythm," said Coach Tom Traxler. "So first thing we did — we get on it, got a ball wide and got it crossed in, and David Cohen with an absolutely fantastic header to start the scoring and it just kind of snowballed from there."

And snowballed the game did, as about nine-minutes later Khadim Thiam found himself in a close-range, one-on-one situation with the Wolves' goalie, which Thiam would take full advantage of as he put the ball into the net to make it 2-0 Wildcats.

The game was seemingly out of hand, as the Wildcats also started taking control of possession time — which meant the game's pace was now going the Wildcats' way.

Then, with just over 26-minutes left, Lance Robinson put the finishing touches as he easily netted himself an easy goal — making it 3-0 and collectively sealing up the win.

"I think it sends you with good momentum into the playoffs," said Traxler about what the win means moving forward. "The season is full of hard work and our district is incredibly tough... just loads of good teams. We haven't won a district title since 2009 and we haven't won a conference district title for the boy's soccer program since 1991, so it's not very easy."

The Wildcats will now focus their attention to their upcoming first round state playoff game against Plant City (14-1, 5-0) on Feb. 7th.