Someone needed to break through.
Henry Clay’s leading goal scorer delivered.
Braden Cundiff received a through ball from Shukuru Hamisi and scored the game-winning goal in the 70th minute as the Blue Devils took down Covington Catholic 2-1 in the first round of the KHSAA boys state soccer tournament on Tuesday in Park Hills.
It was Cundiff’s team-leading 24th goal of the season.
“It feels amazing,” Cundiff said. “We’re on to the next round and I’m just happy to play another game with my brothers.”
The 70 minutes leading to Cundiff’s goal and the 10 minutes after had everyone on edge, from the players, coaches and staffs, Colonel Crazies and their faithful to the Blue Devil contingent that made the trip up from Lexington.
The game was filled with momentum boosts, the Colonels striking first before the Blue Devils settled in and dominated possession for a while.
Cole Bishop drew first blood, his goal in the 25th minute off a Henry Clay miscue in their back half making it a 1-0 game in the Colonels favor.
“I told our guys just fight and I think they put up a really good fight tonight,” Colonels coach Jeremy Robertson said. “I’m proud of our guys for fighting tonight and we lost to a really good team. They’ll go far.”
The Blue Devils responded eight minutes later, Connor Taylor sending a free kick into the box and Curtis Blanche getting a foot on it into the back of the net. The Blue Devils size differential gave them an advantage on set pieces, evidenced by Blanche’s goal.
Henry Clay kept presenting themselves chances, but struggled to put shots on target, the goal from Blanche the lone one on frame in the game’s first 40 minutes.
Photo slideshow below, provided by Charles Bolton:
Looking to continue with possession and momentum, it was the Colonels who started to shift things their way in the second half, presenting themselves with a few opportunities as time trickled down, but were unable to threaten in the box.
Cundiff took the through ball, getting behind the defense and found the near side of the goal with 10 minutes and change remaining.
“This is a game of moments,” Blue Devils coach Jason Behler said. “You look at either side and a moment goes right for you or goes wrong for you, ball bounces your way and you’ve got to be ready to pounce on the moment and luckily Braden was there.”
Behler is a 1999 Covington Catholic grad and was an assistant on the Blue Devils 2015 staff when the Colonels defeated them in the state championship.
“I cheer for CovCath in every game but this one,” Behler said. “I’m still a Colonel, except tonight. Hats off to coach J-Rob and his team, they’re a phenomenal group that has some special players.”
Moments after Cundiff’s goal, a Colonels shot from near midfield kept sailing in the air and hit the crossbar, nearly giving them he equalizer with less than 10 minutes remaining.
“Had a free kick that went off the post, could have went either way,” Robertson said. “Unfortunately just how this happens sometimes. We had a good season, any top five team in the state we played against we were competitive with. That’s all I can ask of these guys and they did that tonight.”
Henry Clay moves on to face Campbell County in the quarterfinals. The game is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, but with the Camels boys and girls teams both making the quarterfinals, one of the two will either have to switch venues or hold the game on another night.
