There weren’t many cracks in the crevice on Tuesday night in Claryville when Campbell County and Bishop Brossart met in a 37th District rivalry soccer match.
Two teams very familiar with one another showed for nearly the game’s first hour of play.
With minimal chances on a soggy night, Camels’ Tate Glass broke through. He collected a ball in the box and found the back of the net to get the game’s first goal in the 58th minute, Noah Rittinger adding another late in Campbell County’s 2-0 victory.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak to the Mustangs, their first victory in the rivalry since 2019.
“We use that term over the hump. We’ve been so close. It’s perfect for tonight,” Camels coach Kyle Newman said. “If you followed us early in the year, the results weren’t happening and a lot of it was just second half mistakes. We’ve built their belief at halftime and they’ve gone out and trusted each other and finished.”
The Camels (7-5-1) have shaken off a 1-5-1 start to the season to win six straight. Tuesday was the fourth clean sheet out of the six.
“Clean sheets are easy to sleep in, right?,” Newman said. “That’s been our goal each and every game. Hard to lose games if you don’t concede. They held up their end of the bargain and happy the attack got a couple, too.”
Much like their counterparts for the game’s first 60 minutes, the Mustangs (9-3-3) struggled to find scoring chances. They finished with six shots, but only one of them was on goal for a team that came in averaging just over four goals a game.
Their best chances came in the 46th and 72nd minutes, but both shots went just wide of the post.
“The old cliché is it’s a game of inches, and that’s what it was for us tonight. They were six inches on one side of the post and we were six inches on the other side of the post,” Mustangs coach Mustangs coach Ron Dunlevy said.
The Camels put up 11 shots, five of them on target saved by the Mustangs Michael Cooney. But the story was the back line of defense with Brycen Faulkner in net for their fifth shutout of the season.
“The whole back line. Blake, Ethan, Dom, Brock, everybody played amazing. It’s not just me, it’s the whole back line,” Faulkner said.
Glass’ goal was his third of the season, seemingly finding himself at the right place at the right time. It was the senior’s first win in his high school career over their district nemesis. Glass had put in some individual time with Newman the day prior with a lot of focus on finishing. He was laser focused when he got his chance.
“I was looking down and didn’t even realized I scored until everyone was going crazy and it was one of the best feelings ever,” Glass said.
Rittinger’s goal was a team-high 10th on the season that came in the 76th minute. His strike came on a 1-on-1, beating the defender off the dribble and firing into the net.
“There’s 10 other guys on the field and produce with me. I just got put up top. I’m doing my job. They do their job. They let me do my thing. They do their thing. We’ve just been rolling,” Rittinger said. “Roll humps.”
The matchup has the potential for the first of three meetings this season. The two are at the top of the 37th District, the Camels clinching the one seed, Brossart locked in at the two. If they both win their first round matchup in the district tournament, the championship would be the second meeting. A win or two from each in the region tournament depending on the draw equals a potential third matchup in the 10th Region final.
“That’s our goal and I think that’s what their goal is too. We’d like to keep all the action in our neck of the woods,” Dunlevy said.