Rams upend Lackey, move on in 1A South playoffs
Score four unanswered goals to end Chargers’ season
The McDonough Rams boys soccer team traveled to Lackey to face the Chargers in a Class 1A South Region Section II semifinal game on Tuesday night.
After an early Lackey goal, McDonough responded with four straight of its own en route to a 5-2 win.
The Rams (4-8 overall), the third seed in the section, is slated to play in the section final at 3:30 p.m. today against top-seeded International School-Largo.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Rams head coach Mike Deeds said. “It is a rivalry between the two schools and it is always played tight. I thought Lackey played a really good hard-fought game.”
Lackey (5-8), the section’s second seed, grabbed an early advantage when senior Robert McBain scored on a header that dribbled past sophomore McDonough goalkeeper Emmanuel Grant about eight minutes into the contest.
Both teams traded scoring chances early on with up-and-down play that excited the crowd with every attack.
The Rams were able to respond about eight minutes after falling behind an early goal when junior Nick Saoud found the back of the net by sophomore Chargers goalkeeper Eric Bunn to even up the score.
“I was proud of both how our boys connected through the midfield and I thought they played well as a team,” Deeds said.
McDonough scored two more goals in a matter of minutes to grab a lead it would never relinquish for the rest of the game.
Senior Ethan Brown-Myrda gave the Rams their first lead of the game at 2-1 with about 21 minutes left in the opening half.
“A long ball was sent to me and I just beat the last defender,” Brown-Myrda
said. “I hit it with my left foot and it just went in.”
Roughly a minute later, junior Zac Wagner scored to push the McDonough lead to a two-goal advantage at 3-1 which they carried into halftime.
“We played our hearts out. We came in thinking that we could lose, but we also came in thinking that we wanted to win,” Brown-Myrda said.
The second half began with McDonough senior Robert Morales curving in a corner kick for a goal to give the Rams a 4-1
lead roughly five minutes into the second half making the comeback for Lackey that much harder with trailing by three goals.
“I feel like my team and I did really good today,” Grant said. “The defense was good and the offense came through and scored for us.”
The Chargers were able to cut into the McDonough lead when senior Evan Young found the back of the net with roughly 31 minutes left to play.
Lackey continued attacks generated a corner kick a few minutes after Young’s goal, but Grant stood tall in goal and made the necessary saves for the Rams to stay in front.
“I was on my toes today and I did better than my usual games. Today, I just felt the need to come through and do something big for my team,” Grant said. “I am definitely ready for the next round.”
Wagner added his second goal of the game for
McDonough with about 22 minutes left to play which proved to be the final ball to reach the back of the net for either team.
“It was a tough game obviously, but we got the ‘W,’” Rams junior Frank Porovne said. “We worked hard for it.”
Lackey head coach Jon Juracko looks forward to next season for his team and reflected on another season that ended with a home playoff game.
“Today was a tough pill to swallow. You want to come out and make a statement, especially against a rival. But, the game ended the way it did and they won,” Juracko said. “So when we go back to work in December, this is going to be the motivation because you hate to lose at home to rivals. Realistically, I am lucky I had a really good group of seniors this year to lead this team to where we got. It’s been great to have three straight years of a home playoff game, so we will see what we can do next year.”