The Bishop Brossart boys and girls soccer teams got revenge from regular season losses to Campbell County, the boys team winning its fourth straight district title while the girls team denied a three-peat for the Camels.
Here’s how it went down Thursday night in Claryville:
BOYS
Bishop Brossart 3, Campbell County 2 (4-2 in Penalty Kicks)
Down a man and facing a 2-1 deficit with less than 15 minutes to play after Alex Runge picked up his second yellow card, the Mustangs had to dig deep to find the equalizer and extend the game.
They did so when Brennan Callahan sent a ball on net and deflected off a Camels defender for an own goal to tie the game at two with 6:33 to play in the game.
Neither could find the game winner from there in the final six minutes or the two five minute overtime periods, the Mustangs eventually coming out a winner 4-2 in the penalty kick shootout.
“We’re equally matched with these guys. We trade back and forth a lot. They played really well,” Mustangs coach Ron Dunlevy said. “Just so proud of these guys for putting in that extra effort to get us level and eventually win in the shootout.”
The Camels were the aggressors to begin, firing six shots and three of them on net in the game’s first 20 minutes. It resulted in an early goal when Blake Minor found the back of the net in the 12th minute.
“We had a freshman score and had to find out if he was ready and get that confidence up,” Camels coach Kyle Newman said. “It kind of exuded through the whole team with that first half and obviously taking a lead is nice, but credit Brossart coming back tonight.”
Brossart responded from the program’s all-time leading scorer, Tyler Smith scoring a goal in the 22nd minute to even things up at one. Smith became the program’s all-time leading scorer with his four-goal performance in the semifinals against Calvary Christian.
“We’ve been working for this since July. It means a lot that we can get through a 90-minute game with everyone giving full effort to get to PK’s and have the brainpower to be smart enough, to be calm enough to finish and win the game,” Smith said.
Kaden Rose made it 2-1 Camels in the 27th minute off a penalty kick when the Mustangs were whistled for a handball in the box. The two would go into halftime from there.
Despite the Mustangs controlling things for the majority of the second half, they were unable to put the ball in net, Brycen Faulkner with a diving save on Smith from about 30 yards out on a free kick with under 17 minutes to play.
Runge’s second yellow came with 14:51 remaining. Despite the man down, Brossart made it look like they were the team with the advantage from there over the next 10 minutes.
“The 10 we had on the field played like 12,” Dunlevy said.
They were able to finally find the equalizer on Callahan’s shot into the box.
“Brennan swung his foot and just played it into a dangerous area and something happened. You just have to create a chance to be in that position,” Dunlevy said. “We had to change the way we played there down the end to give our guys success.”
The Camels had one last ditch effort for a game-winner, Mustangs keeper and tournament MVP Michael Cooney with a couple of diving saves to keep the game tied in the closing minutes.
Not much threatened either way in the two overtime periods, sending the game to kicks from the mark.
The Mustangs started things off as Callahan’s shot was successful to the bottom left, Cooney made a diving save on Noah Rittinger to give them the early edge.
“It’s an incredible experience going to PKs,” Cooney said. “Making that first save really lifted my spirits and got me going for the next kicks. Personally I can tell where they’re going and have in mind where I’m going to go and try to force them to go that way when they step up there.”
Landon Guidugli missed one high for the Mustangs, Carlos Marquez making his try mid-left to knot things up at 1-1 after two rounds.
Austin Twehues hit his try bottom left, Camels Kaden Rose keeping things level with a successful kick to the bottom left to make it 2-2 after three rounds.
Smith hit his kick bottom right, Cooney making a diving save on Tate Glass bottom right to set up a 3-2 edge for the Mustangs after four rounds.
All Luke Alwell needed to do was make his kick for a four-peat, the junior doing so mid-right, sending the Mustangs in a frenzy for the title. The 10 seniors on the Mustangs roster can now claim district supremacy throughout their high school careers.
“We have an absolutely special senior class. They’ve been playing together for a very long time. Every single one of them has put in the work. A lot of them have been with me for six years and they’ve all been building to this this moment,” Dunlevy said. “Hoping to get a couple more weeks with them because I don’t want it to end.”
Both teams will head to the 10th Region tournament next week, which will be played at Bishop Brossart. Both teams have an opportunity at a first round bye.
Campbell County finished with eight shots on goal to the Mustangs six. It was a physical game with 26 fouls combined between the two. Cooney made six saves, Faulkner with four.
“Our boys fell short, but fortunately we’ve got another life,” Newman said. “We’d love to see these guys again and play them in the region championship. We have a lot of respect for each other.”
GIRLS
Bishop Brossart 4, Campbell County 0
A three-goal flurry in the second half finally broke the game open for the Mustangs as they won their first district title since 2020.
Kiersten Key broke the ice with a goal in the 56th minute on a pass from Zoey Woosley, Avery Schaeffer scoring twice over the next five minutes from there to give Brossart a commanding 3-0 lead.
“Once you break the seal you can kind of get things going,” Mustangs coach Andy Smith said. “Even in the first half when we didn’t score a goal I still felt pretty sure we were going to pull this one out.”
Larah Callahan added a goal in the closing seconds for good measure.
The first half was played to a stalemate, a total of eight shots combined between the two, but none of them really threatened either keeper.
Brossart started to take control in the second half, Key’s goal coming as she was in front of the net and collected a pass from Woosley deep towards the end line.
“We put the right people in the right spots and we were working for that goal for nearly 60 minutes. We found a gap in the midfield and I took a good touch and put it in,” Key said. “It was a perfect ball by Zoey, I didn’t have to do much work.”
Schaeffer’s first goal came on a penalty kick after a foul in the box with 23:51 to play, the next one with 19:51 to play on an assist from Abby Lloyd. Lloyd, Woosley, Rachel Shewmaker and Hadley Eviston had assists in the contest. Madeline Broering had four saves.
“That first goal boosted our morale and we kept going from there,” Schaeffer said, who was named the tournament MVP. “We had to come out stronger in the midfield and win every 50-50 ball tonight and felt like we were able to do that.”
The shutout was their ninth of the season as they head to the 10th Region tournament looking to repeat as region champs.
“Where we changed the tide on them was that we controlled the midfield. Just felt there was more determination by my group tonight,” Smith said. “I try to learn from our mistakes and we spend a lot of time off the field for games like this to put our team in position to win.”
Campbell County will look to get the 10th Region title back after winning it in 2021.