Heathwood Hall’s Naylin Judge sends the ball upfield as Hammond’s Ford Nunn goes for the slide tackle. Photos by Mike Maddock
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The visiting Hammond Skyhawks got a goal from Ford Nunn in the 17th minute and hung on for a 1-nil win over the Heathwood Hall Highlanders in SCISA Region I-4A soccer action Tuesday, April 23.
“I have to admit we did not execute what we trained, what we put an emphasis on,” Hammond head coach Adrian Pinasco said. “There were some areas where we did excellent. Defensively we did a fantastic job. We struggled against Heathwood Hall the first time we played them. They were able to put five, six, seven, eight balls behind us, and it gave us a little trouble.
“We know they are dangerous. They are fast, strong. They look for that ball. It’s a game that is hard to play against because it is relentless. You have to pay attention and stay awake the whole time. We didn’t do a good job with that the first time we played them. We struggled with that. Today, I felt the defense played a phenomenal game. We may have had one or two balls that were behind us that the keeper had to come out and save it.
Hammond’s Matthew Bellon tries to get through Heathwood Hall’s Henry Hudson and Asher Madden.
“Offensively, we couldn’t execute what we work on. We were trying to pass the ball, move it, connect, and keep it and use the wings a little bit more to penetrate. We couldn’t do that. I’ll take the win. This game was huge for us. The same for Heathwood Hall. It was a huge game because basically this game defined the No. 2 position in the playoffs. Both teams were playing for that. It was an emotional game. It was stressful. It was hard fought. It was clean. I’m glad both teams fought cleanly. I’m happy that we won.”
While Heathwood Hall controlled the action for most of the first ten minutes, the Highlanders were unable to get any shots on goal. Neither team had many shot attempts until the 17th minute of play. Heathwood Hall was attempting to clear the ball when it deflected off Nunn, sailed into the air and just under the crossbar for a 1-nil lead.
The Skyhawks had other opportunities. Nunn had a look in the 22nd minute, only for it to be stopped by Highlanders’ keeper Liam Edwards.
Later in the half, Hammond’s Matthew Bellon had an attempt, but his shot sailed over the goal as the Skyhawks held the one goal lead at halftime.
Heathwood Hall got some pressure on the Hammond backline in the opening minutes of the second half. In the 54th minute, Bailey Padgett took a shot on goal, but it was stopped by Skyhawk keeper Cal McQueen. A minute later, Spencer Thomas took his chances, only for McQueen to turn him away as well.
Both Bellon and Danil Petrov had opportunities to extend Hammond’s lead in the waning minutes of the game, but both shots sailed wide as the Skyhawks came away victorious.
With the win, Hammond secures the No. 2 seed in the region, Heathwood Hall gets the No. 3 seed.
“As it stands right now, Cardinal Newman is No. 1,” Pinasco said. “Ben Lippen is No. 4. That is not going to change. By winning the game tonight, we secured the No. 2 position. At this point the region is already seeded. The games that are still to be played are absolutely meaningless. This game was huge. My goal for tonight, being optimistic, was to win this game and then start the preparation for the playoffs. If we had lost tonight, then the preparation wouldn’t be for the playoffs, it would have been to try to beat Cardinal Newman and try to beat Ben Lippen, which is a ton of stress. This game had tremendous, very important implications for the players. Both teams knew that, and they played really hard.”
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