In a wild District 5-4A soccer encounter at Gordon Wood Stadium Friday night, the Brownwood Lions jumped out to a two-goal advantage, witnessed the Stephenville Yellow Jackets snatch the lead in the second half, rallied to tie the match in the final two minutes, but eventually succumbed to their rivals in an extra time shootout.
Following a 3-3 deadlock after 80 minutes of intermission, the Lions scored three goals in the shootout but gave up four, which allowed Stephenville to escape with the victory.
“Now that the game is completed I’m very, very proud of how we just didn’t give up fighting,” said Lions head coach Michael Westerman. “We put ourselves in a bit of adversity that second half, but to be able to respond so late in the game because we weren’t willing to give up, that’s special.”
In the shootout, Wyatt Jackson recorded two saves while Caleb Clawson, Caden Carnes and Aidan Pena scored goals, but Stephenville was able to tally one more successful shot, despite the shootout being pushed to a sixth kicker for both teams.
“That was the first time we’ve participated in a shootout,” Westerman said. “We practice PKs often in practice but it’s different in a game situation when you have to pick guys and trust them and have their teammates trust them and support them when the spotlight’s on them. That was new to us but we stepped up and handled it well. Wyatt in goal came up with two big saves to keep that shootout going. That was good for us and it’ll help us continue to grow and we’ll learn from it.”
The Lions raced out to a 2-0 lead as Eli Valenciano scored on a penalty kick just 1:20 into the contest, and added a second goal with 27:56 remaining before intermission.
“It was huge, especially coming off the China Spring game where we found a lot of difficulty finding the back of the net despite several opportunities,” Westerman said of the fast start. “Coming out in this game and going up 2-0 pretty early is a huge confidence boost for us.”
Stephenville scored on a 50-yard free kick, due to a mistimed jump at the goal, with 45 seconds left in the first half. The Yellow Jackets then carried that momentum into the second half and pulled even 4:03 after the break, and seized the advantage on a header with 20:14 to go.
“We had a phenomenal first half but conceding the goal in the last minute was difficult and gave them a lot of momentum,” Westerman said. “2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer. It’s just enough to feel a little comfortable but when the opponent puts one in the back of the net they get the momentum. That’s what happened, we were caught on our heels going into the second half and they were able to take advantage of that. We had to find a way to respond through that adversity and luckily we were able to.”
With 91 seconds left, Raven Prado drew a foul in the box and Colton McMillian eventually delivered on the penalty kick to knot the score and force the shootout.
“Raven’s a kid that gives us everything’s he got the entirety of the time he’s on the field, and we were able to find him in a 1v1 situation, he immediately dribbled toward the goal and when his gears get going he’s a tough guy to stop,” Westerman said. “We was able to draw a penalty in the box and our senior captain Colton McMillian stepped up and took on that responsibility. It was blocked the first time but the keeper stepped off his line prior to the shot so it was violation. We were able to redo the penalty kick and he was able to bury it in the back of the net.”
The Lions (3-6-1, 1-3) will attempt to end their three-game losing streak at 7 p.m. Tuesday when they venture to Gatesville.
