Lead lapses late

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A couple of fortuitous bounces led to a pair of Patriot goals in the first half.

A late tally deflated the hard work they had done for nearly 80 minutes.

Jordan Fuelling buried a header off a corner kick with 72 seconds remaining Thursday to lift the Bellmont Braves to a 3-2 victory over the Jay County High School boys soccer team.

“The way we played, I’m super excited,” said JCHS coach Brad Horn, whose team dipped to 2-4-3 on the season and has one win in its last six games. “We had no reason to even be in that game to tell you the truth. They probably had possession 80 percent of the game.”

And it was one of the final times Bellmont (8-2-1) had the ball that helped it erase a two-goal deficit at halftime and escape with the win.

On its ninth corner attempt of the second half, Sean Werling kicked a looping pass toward the net from the left side of the Braves’ offensive zone. Fuelling, who had crashed the net from the top of the 18-yard box, one-timed a header at the far post that JCHS goalkeeper Seth Fugiett wasn’t able to get his hands on.

The go-ahead goal with 1:12 left was the dagger and completed the comeback.

“I don’t know,” Bellmont coach Jake Briede said of his thoughts when the ball hit the back of the net. “The stress level went down a lot. It was a great finish. Great cross by Sean. Great finish by Jordan Fuelling. Great way to end the game for us.”

"Defensively we have to get a head on that first," Horn said. "It went all the way across the box. For Seth, as a goalkeeper, one of the hardest balls to stop. Seth played a great game. They got three goals and that's because they are a very good team."

Angel Perez, a Jay County senior, put the home team on the board with 15:24 to play in the opening half as he scored on a free kick. Following a foul, Perez lined up the ball from about 25 yards out at the center of the field.

He lofted a direct kick toward BHS goalkeeper Dusty Loshe. The shot caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and bounced out, but not until after it crossed the goal line. Extreme spin after hitting the crossbar caused the ball to tail away from the net after bouncing, but the assistant referee awarded Perez the goal.

“He played a perfect ball,” Horn said. Perez had a handful of free kicks in the second half too, none of which were on frame. “The way these (goalposts) are, rounded, it’s going to drop down and angle down. You could tell the backspin brought it back out but it was for sure, definitely in the goal the way the spin had it.”

Later in the half, Jay County took a 2-0 lead when Derrian Riojas scored off a pass from Korbin Auker. The latter dribbled the ball up the right side of the field and sent a cross into the middle at Riojas. The ball bounced right to his foot, and he sent a shot past Loshe for the goal.

“We just made the switch with him,” Horn said. “I like to use him at the wing with his speed, but using him up top he’s going to win the ball. He’s going to battle up there. His speed is phenomenal up there for us.”

The second half, however, was all Bellmont.

The Braves’ rally began just 1:56 after the break as Werling scored on a cross pass from Andrew Morris. As Fugiett came out of his goalie box to play the ball, Werling beat him to it at the top of the penalty area and deflected Morris’ centering ball past the Patriot senior for the equalizer.

Nine minutes passed and the game was tied. Lucas Strickler slipped behind the JCHS defense after receiving a through pass from Werling and beat Fugiett to the lower left side of the net for the goal.

“He’s our senior up top,” Briede said. “He can finish for us whenever we need it.”

Even though the Patriots were less than 90 seconds away from their fourth draw in the last five games, Horn was not completely upset about walking away with the team’s fourth loss of the season.

“Our execution was phenomenal,” he said. “As a team we just aren’t better than them.”