Milbratz brace powers Rams over Trojans
Lakeside and Hot Springs went into Friday night’s match at Chick Austin Field battling for a superior seed in the Class 5A state tournament, and a second-half brace from Karl Milbratz powered the Rams past the Trojans 2-0 to secure the No. 2 seed from the 5A-south conference.
Lakeside, Hot Springs and Lake Hamilton all finished the season with a 10-2-2 league record, the Wolves securing the No. 1 seed and the Trojans the No. 3 spot. El Dorado rounded out the conference’s state tournament seeding from the 5A-south.
The matches between the three Garland County teams this season have been hard-fought battles, and Hot Springs head coach Geoffrey Hedrick said his team loves to play Lakeside. Rams head coach Craig Moses highlighted the wealth of talent in the area.
“One thing, we all have junior high soccer programs,” Moses said. “We battle each other in those. All these guys, some off my team, some off Hot Springs and some off Lake Hamilton all play with each other through the classic program at Spa City. They play with each other in the summer and fall, and then battle each other in the spring. It just shows the depth we have here in
Garland County when it comes to soccer.”
Both teams created plenty of chances in the first half, but neither squad could break the deadlock in a tense, cross-town matchup.
After a quick start to the second half, it took just under eight minutes for the Rams to find the breakthrough. Brock Garner unselfishly found Milbratz with a pass on the left side of the 18-yard box, and he made no mistake with a low hard finish.
“He’s big; he’s big every night,” Moses said about Milbratz. “Those three up top, Karl, Imanol (Barragan) and Brock, that’s a tough group right there. Any of those can score at any given time. It just happened to be Karl tonight.”
With nine minutes left to play, Milbratz sealed the win when he was played through on goal and sent his left-footed strike along the ground before wheeling away in celebration.
While never finding the back of the net, the Trojans created plenty of chances throughout the contest.
Hot Springs whipped a cross into the box in the first half that found Kevin Dubon, and he sent powerful header toward goal, but Lakeside goalkeeper Cademon Cramer tipped the attempt over the crossbar.
Dubon almost broke the deadlock just before halftime when he flicked a cross toward the near post. However, Cramer came up big for Rams again when he reacted quickly to keep the ball out of the net.
The Rams gifted Hot Springs a golden opportunity to tie the match at 1-1 just six minutes before Milbratz’s second goal of the contest.
Juan Leos plucked the ball away from a Ram defender in the Trojans’ attacking third and sprinted toward the box. Finding himself one-on-one with Cramer and with a large portion of the goal open, Leos hit his attempt just wide left before falling to the ground and holding his head in disbelief.
“We’ve had issues finishing all year,” Hedrick said. “Most of the matches we’ve dominated in, we just couldn’t put the ball in the net. We certainly had way more chances tonight. We’ve got to cure the illness.”
Hedrick said he felt like his team dominated many aspects of the game, but the Trojans lost focus in just a select few moments, and that cost them the match.
“I felt like our defense was pretty good with the exception of a few moments in the game,” Hedrick said. “I thought we moved the ball really well. There were sometimes we were trying to force instead of settling the ball and resetting, but that’s how kids play.”
Hot Springs will take on the No. 2 seed from the 5A-east at 11 a.m. on May 12 in the state tournament at El Dorado. Lakeside will play the No. 3 seed from the East at 3 p.m. on the same day.
“Being that 2 seed is huge,” Moses said. “It’s a lot better than being a 3 seed when you look at who you’re matched up with and things like that. So it’s huge. It means a lot to the program. A big win like that going into the state playoffs is huge for your confidence and the team morale.”