ELIZABETHTOWN –East Bladen junior Malcolm Bolden fired in a ‘Hat Trick’ of 3 goals Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough as Red Springs rallied for 5 2nd half goals to post a 5-4 Southeastern Athletic Conference boys’ soccer victory.
Eagle senior Joel Johnson opened the Eagle scoring in the 3rd minute by converting a long throw-in into a goal.
Defense ruled the next 33 minutes. “Lee Barnes made 2 diving saves in the 1st half and had an unbelievable game in net,” said Eagle Coach Jay Raynor. “We did a great job of forcing them to take deep shots and not giving up any close looks.”
Bolden knocked in his 1st goal 3:42 before halftime. “We were able to put him in behind with great service from the midfield,” noted Raynor. “Ishmael Arteaga was doing a great job of jumping passes. Omarion Atkinson, Tyreon Graham, and Chace Butler did an amazing job of pressuring them and forcing them into turnovers that led to us counter attacking.
“We had all the momentum going into and coming out of halftime,” stated Raynor. “However, they stole all of that literally seconds into the second half.”
Red Springs scored 44 seconds into the 2nd half then1:35 later the Red Devils converted a penalty kick for a handball in the box to tie the game.
“They leveled the game and took our momentum,” said Raynor. “They didn’t break our spirit and we continued to attack.”
In the 67th minute Bolden took a pass from Arteaga and scored his 2nd goal to push East in front 3-2. “Malcolm finished beautifully past their keeper,” said Raynor. “We had them on the ropes and that took the wind out of their sails.”
Bolden made another run a minute later and beat the Red Devil keeper to push the Eagle lead to 4-2. “That should’ve been the blow that did them in,” stated Raynor. “We continued to pressure but a bad ankle injury to Ishmael with 20 minutes to play changed the game.”
“Ishmael was locked on to their left winger and made things difficult for them,” continued Raynor. “Losing him was a big loss and it showed. We didn’t seem the same after he went out and started dropping too deep as well as giving up runs on the left side.”
Red Springs scored a goal with 18:01 left then tied the game with 13:34 to play. “We had some more runs but couldn’t seem to make much of them,” said Raynor. Red Springs scored the game-winning goal with 1:53 remaining.
“I hate it for the guys,” added Raynor. “With performances like what Chase Starkloff, Jacob Nixon, Ishmael, Lee and Malcolm had…. you should be on the winning side of things.“
“We played an amazing game tonight and everyone did their part and adhered to the game plan,” concluded Raynor. “I got the game plan right but I didn’t do a good enough job at halftime emphasizing the need to continue to work. We weren’t switched on and they made us pay for it. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
The Eagles, now 3-3 in league play and 7-5 overall, will host West Brunswick Monday at 4:30.
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