Bartlett, Cordova tie 2-2 in boys soccer
For the first half Thursday night, Bartlett didn’t look like the area’s undefeated soccer team. But fortunately for the Panthers, there was a second half.
Devin Malone and David Erazo scored after intermission to cancel out a pair of first-half goals from Cesar Ramirez as the host Panthers, ranked fifth in The Commercial Appeal’s Super Six, escaped with a 2-2 draw against Cordova.
Bartlett is 8- 0-3 heading into Tuesday’s game against Sheffield.
“Lesson learned. We have to play for the full 80 minutes,” said Panthers coach Robby Midyett. “At halftime, I told them ‘just play.’ We started off slow and this is a rivalry. Everyone wants to be the one to hand us our first loss.”
Ramirez struck in the 16th and 21st minutes as Cordova attacked constantly in the opening minutes. The Wolves (2- 4-3) could have gotten a third on a couple of occasions, most notably when Marlo Tejada’s 40-yard free kick missed by inches.
Bartlett responded quickly after the break as John Nesbit’s perfect through ball hit Malone in stride for the first goal three minutes in. Erazo tied it in the 64th minute.
Both teams had excellent chances to win in the final moments. Four minutes from the end, Joseph Henry forced a great save from Cordova keeper Javier Rivera on a well-taken free kick. And seconds from the end, Ramirez found himself unmarked in the box but shot over the bar from close range.
“The ball dropped right at his feet, but he couldn’t turn around all the way in time,” said Wolves coach Jarrett Smith. “He was going for the hat trick.
“Basically it was a lot of hustle and determination (from Cordova). We played together and I think we matched their physicality in the second half. They had us on our heels and we had some lax defense, but we stuck with it.”
OTHER SOCCER GAMES
Noah Destefano and Jackson Bentley scored as Collierville (9-1-3, ranked second in the Super Six) tuned up for Tuesday’s showdown against topranked archrival Houston with a 2-1 victory over No. 4 ECS (7-2- 0). ... Manuel Sauceda scored two goals as Kingsbury improved to 5-2- 4 with a 4- 0 victory over Raleigh-Egypt. ... Keegan Jones’ first-half goal gave MUS (4-3- 0) a 1- 0 victory over Arlington (2-7-2).
IN OTHER EVENTS
Collierville’s softball team improved to 25-5-1 and got revenge for Tuesday’s one-run loss to Houston by defeating the Mustangs, 12-1. Bailey Wisher hit her 11th home run of the season and Shelby Crocker also homered for the Dragons, ranked second in the Super Six. ... Freshman Taylor Manley struck out 16 of 18 batters and allowed just two hits to lead Arlington (13-11) to a 10-0 victory over Millington.
In baseball, Weston Harville got the win and Conner Ferguson picked up his fourth save of the season as Arlington, No. 2 in the Dandy Dozen, improved to 22-2 with a 4-3 win over University School of Jackson. ... Jared Schmidt had two homers and drove in eight runs to lead sixth-ranked Houston (19- 6) to a 20- 4 run-rule victory over Ooltewah (Tenn.). ... Mason Ince ran his record to 6-0 and seventh-ranked Briarcrest improved to 18-1 with a 14-3 victory over Olive Branch. ... No. 9 Harding (17- 6) swept a doubleheader from Northpoint, getting strong pitching performances by Jake Criswell and Austin Stewart to win 2-0 and 2-1.