On the night of Friday, March 23, the varsity boys’ soccer team fought against the Cedar Ridge Raiders in their last district game of the season before heading off to playoffs, ending the night with a tie 2-2. Even though the outcome wasn’t what the team had hoped for, the boys still gave everything they had until the very end.

“We could have done better but I’m pretty happy that we pulled through at the end. We were down for a decent amount of second half, and that can really be demoralizing once your up. I think that it shows a lot of character that we were able to pull through at the end,” Caden Popps ‘18 said.

Before the start of the game, the Warriors took time to honor their seniors, recognizing their past achievements and noting future ambitions they hope to accomplish, along with their families who joined them to mark the special occasion before the start of the first half.

Numerous defensive strategies were made towards the Raiders’ offense, as Anthony Brocato ‘18 and Nico Goff ‘18 both executed blocks of Raider kicks, before Evan Moreno ‘18 successfully stole the ball from a Raider offender, preventing any chance the Raiders had of scoring a goal within the first few minutes of the game. As the Warriors continued to push through a goal was made by Popps with just 26:38 left in the first half, giving the Warriors a one-point advantage over the Raiders. As the first half was coming to an end, the Warriors continued to show determination, as Oliver Harris ‘18 and Philip Richardson ‘20 both fought to keep the ball in the Warriors possession, with the help of West Bevins ‘20 who quickly slid in to block an attempted kick at the goal by a Raider offender just minutes before the end of the first half. Although neither team was able to add a point, the half ended at 1-0, with the Warriors ahead of the Raiders.

Into the second half of the game, the Warriors brought skill to the field as Harris made several plays to defend the ball from opposing players to prevent the Raiders from scoring a goal. Just minutes into the second half, a surprising kick was made by a Raider offender, that brought the score to a tie of 1-1 against the Warriors. This made the Warriors push harder as Avi Kacker ‘19 and Popps both executed effective runs at the ball, before Richardson came close to scoring the second goal of the night for the Warriors, but was unsuccessful due to a Raider goalie’s block. With the second half coming to an end, several tense moments played out in the last 10:00 minutes of the game. When Sam Helwig ‘19 and Felipe Centeno ‘19 both attempted goals, the Raiders managed to add another point to the score with minutes until the end, giving them a one-point advantage over the Warriors. With only 2:35 left in the game, Harris gave the Warriors their second goal of the night, bringing the score to a 2-2 tie against the Raiders, sealing the game with a final score of 2-2 tying with Cedar Ridge.

“After tonight, I’m really happy that we are going to playoffs. We haven’t been in four years. Tonight we were ahead and got behind by one goal, and then we came back. I’m happy with that we tied which is not the result we really wanted, but we are still in playoffs. We came back to tie them and I’m happy about it,” Skylar Cupit ‘18 said.

Catch the varsity boys’ at the Warrior Bowl on Thursday, March 29, at 8 p.m. when they begin their journey in playoffs, facing off against the Anderson Trojans.