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Early exit

Hopewell ends Cougars’ year

John M Setzler Jr.

Alexander Central's Wuk Lee drives the ball under pressure from Hopewell's Santiago Patino.

By Paul Fogleman

Record Sports Correspondent

Published: November 5, 2009

TAYLORSVILLE - The visit to the dance ended abruptly for the Alexander Central High boys soccer team Wednesday night.

Two goals in a seven-minute span after a scoreless first half placed the Cougars in a hole it couldn't climb out of, and Hopewell held off Alexander Central for a 2-0 opening-round, 4A playoff victory at Alexander Central.

The Titans improve to 9-9-1 and the wild-card entry out of the I-Meck 4A next meets A.C. Reynolds (18-3-1) in a second-round contest Saturday. The Cougars, the No. 1 4A seed out of the Northwestern 3A-4A Conference, finish 13-10-1.

The culprit for Alexander Central's early exit was a demon it had been battling all year, said head coach Steve Morgan.

"We haven't been a great offensive team, but we have a bunch of blue-collar workers who played hard," Morgan said. "The problem, though, was we put a bunch of balls inside (six yards) of the goal, but we never put any in the frame.

"That's been our story all year."

While the match was a source of disappointment for the Cougars and their coach, it provided vindication for a Hopewell team that a week ago was sweating out its postseason invite.

"We knew we were one of six or seven teams up for three (wild-card) spots," said Titans head coach Charlie Smith. "But right now I think the I-Meck might be one of the strongest conferences in the western part of the state.

"There are probably a couple or three teams that think we shouldn't have gotten a wild card, but we're going to just enjoy it while we're here. We hope to stay a while, but it's one game at a time."

Hopewell doubled up the Cougars in shot attempts (18-9) and broke through less than three minutes out of the intermission when Marvin Brindis pushed a pass from the left side through a group of Alexander Central defenders to a sliding Tyler Roberts, who punched a shot into the right side of the Cougars goal for a 1-0 lead.

Less than seven minutes later, the Titans made it 2-0 when Roberts flipped a pass to Zach Derrick who maneuvered past a Cougars defender before blasting a shot into the upper right corner of the Alexander Central net.

The two quick scores put the Cougars in comeback mode, something Morgan said his team isn't built to do.

"Our offense is predicated on crash plays, throw-ins and corner kicks," said Morgan. "We can compete in terms of hustle, but we don't have the ability to pick teams apart."

Alexander Central's best chance at a score came early when Jeremy Whisnant's shot in the fifth minute looked to slide under the Hopewell crossbar, but keeper Ryan Santee (five saves) poked the ball over the bar, keeping the match scoreless.