Braves send JC back to .500 (09/15/05)

Bellmont’s goals came 15 minutes apart. But only because of the halftime break.

The Bellmont Braves scored late in the first half and early in the second for a 2-1 victory over the Jay County boys soccer team Wednesday.

It marked the second straight game in which the Braves have notched a goal in the final two minutes of the opening half.

“It’s good morale booster going into halftime, definitely,” said Bellmont coach Spencer Folkerts, who also tallied a late first-half goal against Carroll Monday. “Guys kind of have their heads picked up. We needed to get that one, otherwise it could have been a totally different game.”

Jay County (4-4) had a 1-0 lead with the intermission approaching, but the Braves were able to take advantage of a corner kick with 1:31 remaining.

Jacob Briede sent the ball in from the left side and the Patriots were unable to clear it. As goalie Derek Mills tried to recover and get to the ball, Sergio Guillen came flying in from the left to redirect it into the net for the score and a 1-1 tie.

Bellmont (4-6) struck again just 1:10 into the second half when Taylor Terveer got control just outside the 18-yard box. He unloaded a hard shot, which Mills tracked down, but the ball squirted through the junior goalie’s arms and into the net for what turned out to be the winning score.

Terveer had two of the Braves six shots on goal. Guillen, Briede, Jared Friedt and Corey Schwartz each had one.

“Neither side really wanted to get anything involved to much in the passing game (in the first half),” said Folkerts. “But we got behind the defense there and stuck one in.

“In the second half the guys came out and slowed it down, got the passing game going, looked for some short passes.

“The first half we were content to stay back whereas the second half we pushed up and made our last stand a little bit further out. They didn’t get as many shots. There were more head balls, more challenges in the air as opposed to balls that were landing on the ground.”

The Patriots got one final opportunity to tie the game after a Bellmont defender stumbled as he was running down the ball. He landed on top of it right at the edge of the 18-yard box and was called for a hand ball.

The JCHS bench thought the foul occurred inside the box, which would have resulted in a penalty kick, but it was instead called just outside the box and the Patriots were awarded an indirect kick. They didn’t manage to get a shot on goal off the opportunity as Vlady Bjelica’s kick went flying over the crossbar and out of bounds.

“He was trying to score instead for trying to put the ball where we could get a head on it,” said Jay County coach Alan Bailey. “We definitely wasted a lot of opportunities.”

“I guess it wasn’t meant to be. The kids all played hard, the effort was there. You’ve just got to finish, and we’re not finishing.”

The Patriots’ only score of the game came 15 minutes into the contest when Mason Shreve chipped a beautiful pass up the middle of the field to Scott “Scooter” Bruggeman. Bruggeman outran the defense and beat goalie Tyler Rash to the ball, drilling a shot just inside the left post.

Jay County totaled 13 shots in all — eight on goal — but could not get any others to go in the net. Luke McClung, Vlady Bjelica and Dustin Fox each had two shots on goal.

Mills finished with four saves.

“I don’t know if we get antsy when we get a chance to score,” said Bailey. “There are times when we should be shooting the ball hard we try to chip and times when we should be chipping it we shoot it hard ... It was one of those games. Hopefully we learn something from it.”[[In-content Ad]]