Big Red defeats Brooke in OVAC Play-In contest | News, Sports, Jobs

Photo by Andrew Grimm Brooke’s Nick Sagan chases the ball in Monday’s OVAC tournament loss to Steubenville.

WELLSBURG – For Big Red, participating in the OVAC tournament just wasn’t enough. They wanted to take the chance to play in the conference tournament and get a win.

That’s exactly what Greg Bowers’ club did on Monday, passing Brooke 3-1 in an OVAC Class 5A quarterfinal on the grassy field of Brooke High School.

“That’s what we tried to explain to the kids – it’s a great mid-season tournament,” Big Red coach Bowers said. “Few teams have a league that has a mid-season tournament, so playing for something that means something at this point in the season is a great opportunity, and I told them to take it.”

They took advantage, as Big Red, the tournament’s No.5 seed, struck first, fired back after the No.4 seeded Bruins matched him and withstood pressure from the Bruins in second half-time.

“We did that in the last two games where we had a lead, and then we allowed a goal that we shouldn’t have had,” said Bowers. “Thanks to the kids for firing back and taking the two-goal lead.

“Our defense did a great job, I take my hat off to them. It’s two freshmen and a sophomore over there. They did a good job of locking things down and JP (Walsh) made big saves when he needed them. ”

Walsh made six saves in net, including a few dandies in the second half.

After a lightning 1:11 delay in the action that delayed things for about 40 minutes, Steubenville senior (4-4-3) Caleb Noble opened the scoring in the third minute with an assist from Anthony Shevlin for a 1-0 lead.

Less than a minute later, Theo Loot shot a header off the crossbar. Then, after Big Red’s nearly missed, Brooke’s Dylan Black fired a long shot at Walsh to tie the score in the seventh minute.

In the 19th minute, Anthony Vendetti stepped on a loose ball from up close and gave the advantage back to Big Red, then in the 23rd minute Matt Loot took a free kick into the net from a distance to make it a 3-1 Steubenville lead to the break.

“We made some mistakes from the youth,” said Brooke coach Joe Pepe. “We are starting two seniors, three juniors and the rest are all in second year. So we are going to make mistakes. If we could have put one in in the second half it would have been a whole different game, but that’s the way it is.

“Big Red has a good team, they passed us and beat us with the ball in the first half. It was the difference.

The Bruins (6-5-1) had several fine second-half appearances, perhaps the best coming with around 28 minutes left when a near-goal Bruin placed a header just over the top of the net. bar on a corner.

With about 10 minutes to go, Walsh saved a free kick, stopped another long-range shot with five minutes remaining, and made another nice save in the last minute.

“The whole second half we played the way we played,” said Pepe. “I am very proud of these children. It hurts, but the sun will rise tomorrow. These youngsters played hard in the second half, and if we play like that the rest of the season, we’re going to make a bit of a statement with this young team.

“I wish Greg and his crew the best of luck.”

FOLLOWING

Big Red: Progress in the OVAC tournament to meet Wheeling Park number 2 on Wednesday. The Patriots beat Steubenville, 2-1, last week.

Brooke: Scheduled to face Oak Glen next Tuesday.