Another chapter in a long-standing rivalry was logged with a Crawfordsville 2-1 boys soccer win over Southmont.
It was close, always good for a rivalry.
It featured some good individual play, some good team moments.
And plenty of trash talking.
Five yellow cards and two ejections were not a highlight necessarily, but it is the stuff that memories and rivalries are made of.
In the end, it was a penalty kick in the second half that was the scoring difference, as the Athenians move to 2-1 on the season and 2-0 in the Sagamore Conference, while the Mounties lost their first match of the season to fall to 2-1-1 overall and 0-1 in the league.
“It was a hard, physical match,” Crawfordsville coach Roger Azar said. “Our boys played together and well enough to win, but I also want to give kudos to Southmont. Their boys had real speed and tenacity.”
The match had extra meaning for Azar, who was the Southmont girls coach the past two seasons and coaches several of the South team members in club soccer.
“I’m proud of all the guys,” Azar said. “The Southmont guys and our guys. We got the win tonight, and South has progressed a long way in a short time. I’m looking forward to this rivalry for a long time.”
A newcomer to the county battles, Mounties coach Ben Raza saw good things from his squad.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” he said. “They played really well. It was a physical game, and we played with a lot of heart.”
Razo also got a taste of the intensity that was highlighted by plenty of verbal sparring and plenty of noise from the stands.
He even got a taste of rivalry battles on the road.
An apparent South goal with 6:43 left in the first half was disallowed that fueled the rivalry fires.
“I’m not sure about that call,” he noted.
There was plenty of physical action too.
South goalkeeper Paul Hazlett took a cleat in the ankle and had to come out. There were plenty of elbows and bumps.
The Athenians got the first goal fairly quickly when David Munoz took a pass from Jayden Callejas and found the net at the 33:26 mark of the first half.
The Mounties replied exactly a minute later with an unassisted goal by Hunter Gray.
But that was all the scoring for the first half.
Jaziel Gil-Herrera scored on the penalty kick with 16:21 left in the match. It is Gil-Herrera’s fifth goal of the season and offset a couple earlier misses on another PK along with a header that hit an upright.
Interestingly enough, that PK had nothing to do with all the yellow and red cards handed out.
“We had some guys come off the bench and play well, and overall, I’m really happy with the effort tonight,” Razo said. “We continue to work and blend together as a team.”
“It was a county and conference win,” Azar said. “We will always take that. I also want to mention Dio Freeze and give him a big thumbs-up. He had a great second half. He owned up to a mistake, played hard and smart, and really exemplified what we want to do as a team.”
The Mounties have a home match Saturday against Covington and will play North Montgomery on Tuesday in the second match of the girls/boys’ doubleheader.
The Athenians are back in action Tuesday with a home match against Covington. Counting the South contest, four of their next five matches are conference meetings.
