State Quarters vs. BV Southwest.

Game 19: 1 November at BV Southwest for State Quarters (0-1)

Well, there is no joy in Mudville as the mighty Casey has struck out. 

Southwest cashed a corner with about 1 minute left in the first half, and they made it stand. One of our flaws all year came in our inability to protect the scoring zones in soccer:  the first five and the last five minutes of halves. 

I will say this: BV Southwest brought some serious energy to the game tonight (way more than the first time we played them). And probably that contributed the most to keeping us off the scoreboard. 

We did have 2-3 great opportunities but that is all we had, and we did not cash any of those. 

We all hate to see this senior class who wanted success so badly to have to bow out early. But honestly, it was just a tight soccer match tonight where one deadball made the difference. Hats off to Coach Pendleton and the T-Wolves. 

Good luck to them at state. 

Stats. 

First Half:  

Saints: Shots. 5 (3). Corners. 3. (Gabriel. 2. Wirt)

TWolves. Shots. 2 (1) Corners. 3

1:00 Pendleton (2nd straight corner gets knocked down on the front post.) (BTW: The game-winning goal comes off a corner that should not have been a corner as the first corner is knocked out of bounds for what should have been a goal kick.)

Second Half:

Saints: Shots. 4. (1). Corners. 0. 

T-Wolves. Shots. 5 (3). Corners. 1

State bound! Luck bounces Blue Valley Southwest’s way against St. Thomas Aquinas

POSTED BY MIKE LAVIERI  · NOVEMBER 2, 2016 9:00 AM

Blue Valley Southwest sophomore forward Aidan Bates, right, heads a ball off a corner late in the first half. The ball, which would ricocheted off the post, fall to the feet of sophomore forward Nathan Pendleton, who scored the game’s only goal to send the Timberwolves to state.

A lucky break and a lucky bounce were all Blue Valley Southwest needed as it capitalized on a St. Thomas Aquinas miscue late in the first half to advance to the Class 5A state tournament with a 1-0 victory.

It looked as if the pressure from the Timberwolves was for naught as a corner kick was squandered because of miscommunication, but Aquinas cleared, the ball found its way back to the Aquinas end for a throw in and the ball was sent into the box.

It wasn’t a quality throw, however, BV Southwest caught its break.

Saints goalkeeper Sam Kimball, who 99 times out of 100 catches the ball, had it slip through his hands and out it went for another Timberwolves corner kick.

The first ball was low and kicked out for another corner.

This time, the ball into the box was much better as sophomore forward Aidan Bates was able to rise up above the defense and put a ball on goal.

BV Southwest caught its lucky bounce.

The ball kicked off the post past a diving Kimball leaving the goal wide open. Sophomore forward Nathan Pendleton was in the right place to corral the ball and pass it into the open net.

“When you see him go up you know he’s going to win it, so you have to get into a position to be successful (if there’s a rebound),” Pendleton said. “I was there and we were successful.”

The Timberwolves staved off a furious first 10-minutes rush from Aquinas to begin the second half to put the game back in balance.

They had two opportunities 13 minutes into the half as Pendleton couldn’t convert a 1-on-1 opportunity and another ball found the post, but Aquinas was able to clear.

The Saints were the better team for much of the first half, but couldn’t put their chances on goal or get a shot off when they needed to.

Aquinas coach Craig Ewing thought his team could have been up 2-0 after the first 30 minutes.

“If you don’t cash those early opportunities — like last time we played them we were up 2-0 after 15 minutes,” Ewing said. “This time it was 0-0 with two minutes to go and that makes a difference.

“I don’t think we had chances to finish. I don’t think we did a very good job of that. Defensively, I thought we played pretty well. They have a couple special players. I thought (sophomore midfielder Matt) Weaver had a great game against us.”

Craig Ewing was more than congratulatory for his friend and counterpart Jason Pendleton.

Ewing thinks Jason Pendleton’s team is very good and can win the whole thing in Emporia this weekend.

“To me, Jason is one of the best coaches in town,” Ewing said.

The game’s intensity picked up as the time dwindled. With 1:26 remaining Saints senior defender Aubrey Evans picked up a yellow card for a slide tackle and with 34 seconds left Kimball received a red card.

Kimball ran all the way up to midfield to try and win the ball and give Aquinas a few more chances to score, but as he made the tackle he also took out Bates.

Ewing immediately apologized on the sideline and Jason Pendleton knew there was no malicious intent.

“He was trying to win the ball as he was supposed to do,” Jason Pendleton said. “The only reason it’s a red card is everybody is (by our goal) and he’s the last defender. He did everything he’s supposed to do. Craig is a good friend of mine, he’s a class guy and he was super congratulatory afterwards.”

Ewing was worried about Bates because he knows BV Southwest will need him for this weekend, but Jason Pendleton said he should be fine.

As the seconds ticked down, the Timberwolves bench knew what was coming. As soon as the board read zeros, a mosh pit erupted in front of student section.

After Jason Pendleton talked to his team, the student section rushed the field chanting.

“Going into this game we thought we had a chance,” Jason Pendleton said. “Anytime you play Craig’s team, they’re going to compete incredibly hard. You’re playing against him and 20 years of history, trophies and whatnot. The most important part was getting our kids to believe they could win this game and then would they be willing to do the work necessary to put themselves in a position to be successful.

“Going back-to-back is really big. I don’t think a lot of people, at the beginning of the year, thought we put ourselves in a position to be back at state.”

BV Southwest will face Kapaun Mt. Carmel in its semifinal match on Friday at 7 p.m., at Emporia High. St. James and Bishop Carroll play in the other semifinal.