The Christian County boys’ soccer team hosted the Colonel Showcase on Saturday, facing Franklin-Simpson in the morning and Logan County in the nightcap. The Colonels came out on the wrong end of a 5-0 result against the 6-5 Franklin-Simpson Wildcats, before twice losing the lead and falling 3-2 to the 5-6-1 Logan County Cougars to close tournament play.
After the disappointing shutout loss to the Wildcats earlier in the day, the Colonels came out ready to play in the evening match with Logan County. Sophomores Elber Macario and Benito Rubio controlled the midfield for the Colonels, keeping the Cougars pinned in their own end, reduced to looking for long balls to senior midfielder Garrett Wilhelm on the counter attack. With 15 minutes left in the first half, the Colonels made their dominance count with a goal from junior Ben Settle off an assist from Marcario. Christian County took a 1-0 lead into halftime, appearing to be in total control of the contest.
However, the Cougars came out in the second half with renewed purpose, pushing the Colonels back into their own end and neutralizing the Colonels’ hold on the midfield. Ten minutes into the half the Cougars forced a big save from Colonel sophomore goalkeeper McKay Dunn on a header from a cross. A short time later, the pressure would pay off when senior striker Dylan Borders poked home a loose ball, tying the match at one.
The midfield passing that had given the Colonels the edge in the first half had all but disappeared and they were now just clearing balls and sitting deep in their own end. Regardless, Christian County would again take the lead when junior Zach Holmes hit a perfect, long, searching ball into the Cougars’ 18 yard box from just inside the half line, with senior Luis Macario getting on the end of it and rolling a shot into the far corner of the goal with only 17 minutes remaining in the contest.
Only 2 minutes later the Colonels would once again let the lead slip, when Cougar midfielder Garrett Wilhelm, who had been dangerous throughout, scored on a sliding shot from the right of the Colonel goal into the far side netting. With 14 minutes left, Ben Settle would pick up a yellow card and come out of the game, depriving the Colonels of one of their main scoring threats. Logan County kept the pressure on, with Wilhelm hitting the post on a breakaway with just over 10 minutes left. The Cougars seemed to be the fresher team at this point, with Christian County reduced to long balls out of the back, their midfield dominance a distant memory.
With the Colonels on their heels, their defense allowed a long ball to bounce in front of them and Logan County took advantage. A Cougar player ran through the ball and nodded it into the path of Wilhelm, who rolled in his second goal of the night to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead with only 4 minutes remaining. The Colonels looked for the equalizer, but couldn’t get anything going as time ran out.
The two losses drop the Colonels to 4-9-3 on the season and they return to action when they host the 7-6 Lyon County Lyons on Tuesday.