The Brookland-Cayce Bearcats knocked off the Blythewood Bengals 0-0 (3-2 in PKs) Monday, April 24.
“It’s great to get this right before the playoffs,” Brookland-Cayce head coach Matt Drapeau said. “We’ve talked all year about how we want to be a hard team to score on. We wanted to bounce back after the Dreher game. We still have more that we want to do. Tonight was a chance to refocus on what we want to do and what we fill we’re good at. With that you get PKs sometimes and the guys put them away.”
While goals were hard to come by, scoring opportunities were not. For much of the match, Blythewood controlled the ball. The Bengals finished with 22 shots on goal.
The barrage of offensive opportunities began in the first half. Blythewood’s Shawn Davis took the first shot of the game, but it missed wide of the net. Then it was Christian Stewart’s turn. He had two shots sail over the goal and one stopped by Brookland Cayce keeper Iker Alonzo Cruz, who also stopped a header from Ryan Hart and a penalty kick from Christian Foster in the first half.
“How about Iker? Two big saves. How about him?” Drapeau said. “We want to be tough to break down. We want to be organized tracking runners and communicating with the midfield. They did what we asked them to do. When you do those things and you’re organized defensively, you’re going to have a chance to win any game. I’m really proud of those guys. John Allen (Mower), Iker, they stepped up. Jackson Davis has been stepping up for us recently. Jared and Jordan played outside back. That back four played the entire game. This was really big for them.”
The Bengals kept the pressure on in the second half. Foster had a pair of attempts early in the half, one went wide of the net and Cruz stopped the other.
Then Brookland-Cayce finally countered with some offense. Brayan Vazquez-Raygoz had a look in the 49th minute, but it went over the goal. Kevin Martinez tried to put the Bearcats on the board in the 60th minute, but his shot was corralled by Blythewood keeper Minor Moran.
After two halves and two overtime periods, the game advanced to penalty kicks. Cruz stopped Foster’s penalty kick; while Jahir Mujica buried his attempt to put Brookland-Cayce in front. Stewart got the Bengals on the board by converting his attempt. Gared Aguirre Santos kept the Bearcats in front by connecting on his. Raygoza and the Bengals’ Donny Purcell each scored as Brookland-Cayce held a 3-2 edge. After each team missed during the next round, Blythewood’s final kick sailed over the net, preserving the win for Brookland-Cayce.
The Bearcats improve to 14-7 overall.
“It’s good. We have some stuff to look at,” Drapeau said. “With the loss to Dreher, if we do what we need to do in the first round, then we’ll be on the road for the rest of the time with the way the bracket is set up. Getting a road win is a big one. Still got to get the job done on Monday. Hopefully we can carry this momentum on the road with us.”
Blythewood falls to 12-7-1 overall.
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