BY DANIEL SCHMIDT FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Senior night. For those soon to graduate and embark on their next stage of life, it can be a bittersweet opportunity to celebrate their achievements and strive for one last home victory.
Both of Opelika High School’s soccer teams sent their eldest players out on a high note as Bailey Ward and the Lady Bulldogs swatted down the Lady Hornets 9-0 and David Cruz and the Bulldogs surged late to secure a 5-2 victory over the Hornets.
The Lady Bulldogs improve to 6-12-2 while the Lady Hornets fall to 3-12-1. The Bulldogs also strengthened their record to 6-12-2, and the Hornets must regroup with a 6-10 record.
Despite ending as a blowout victory, the girls’ game began fairly evenly matched through the first 15 minutes as both teams created scoring opportunities but could not land a shot.
However, chances started rapidly materializing for OHS with 24 minutes left before halftime, and it felt inevitable that the Lady Bulldogs would score the game’s first goal.
It took less than six minutes from there for Avery Kemp to break the scoreless deadlock after Kam McDaniel received a quick throw-in that allowed her to get behind the BHS defense to play a short pass across the face of goal. From there, Kemp slotted it in with a low tap-in just past the goalkeeper at the back post with 18:18 left in the first half.
After providing the assist, it was McDaniel’s turn to get on the scorer’s sheet three minutes later. Following a failed cross from Karly Phatsadavong that the Lady Hornet’s goalkeeper palmed away into the box, McDaniel opportunistically pounced on the ball for a point-blank goal mere feet from the goal line.
With OHS already up 2-0, things quickly went from bad to worse for BHS after Phatsadavong played a cross ricocheted into the box from the left wing. Despite nobody making clean contact with the ball, an unfortunate BHS defender provided just enough force to steer the ball into the net for an own goal with 10:34 left before halftime.
From there, the Lady Bulldogs would add one more goal with 6:20 left before halftime after Shayla Alcantara managed to slot home a goal through a mass of bodies following a failed corner.
As the halftime buzzer sounded, the two teams jogged to their respective benches with OHS comfortably ahead 4-0.
Following the break, there was little the Lady Hornets could do to stem the Lady Bulldogs’ momentum.
Just three minutes after play resumed, Bailey Ward received the ball in the OHS third of the field, galloped down the right wing and played McDaniel through with a perfectly weighted through ball. McDaniel did the rest of the work from there by finishing the run with a cool finish across the BHS goalkeeper’s face and into the side netting.
The scoring onslaught continued from there as Ward cut through the Lady Hornets’ defense with nimble footwork and excellent ball control and wrong-footed the BHS goalkeeper to slot the ball just past her to the left.
As OHS went up 6-0 with 33:35 left in the game, Ward was just getting started.
Seven minutes later, Ward added her second goal of the game with a rocketing a shot from near the edge of the box, and recorded her hat trick with 11:10 left to play after emphatically thumping a flat, rocketing shot just inside the left post.
The Lady Bulldogs finally ended the scoring with 1:54 left in the game as Phatsadavong etched her name on the scorer’s sheet with a gorgeous left-footed curling shot near the edge of the box.
While the girls’ game was characterized by complete dominance from the Lady Bulldogs, the boys’ game came down to a battle of wills in the closing minutes.
Despite the Hornets beginning the match with the ball, it was the Bulldogs who built momentum in the opening 10 minutes.
Following several squandered scoring opportunities from OHS, it was BHS who notched the game’s first goal.
The deadlock was broken with 19:26 left before halftime as Jacob Hawkins lofted a through ball high over the OHS back line that put Jaxson Gaither one-on-one with the Bulldogs’ goalkeeper. While the goal slightly went against the run of play, it was well deserved.
However, OHS came roaring back less than a minute later after David Cruz tucked a curling right-footed shot into the top right corner from just outside the box that bamboozled the BHS goalkeeper.
The Bulldogs extended their advantage with 16:51 left in the first half after Zavier Dowdell atoned for two bad misses earlier in the game. That second goal came after Zyon Henderson refused to give up on a long ball and played a pass to Dowdell, whose fancy footwork allowed him to calmly slot the ball past a bamboozled BHS goalkeeper.
As OHS started the second half with the ball, the pace of play became much more physical and both teams created opportunities neither could capitalize on.
However, Ison McAnally turned the match upside down on its head with a thundering header from a corner kick that tied the game at two with 22:07 left to play.
After the equalizer, the Bulldogs poured everything they had into restoring their lead. While a series of corners led to decent chances, OHS just could not reacquaint the ball with the back of the Hornets’ net.
Then, Cruz finally made the Bulldogs’ hard work pay off after a failed corner bounced around in the box and he was the first to get solid contact on the ball. The point-blank range goal restored OHS’ lead with 7:42 left in the game.
It would take less than three minutes for the Bulldogs to put the game out of reach after the head referee made a questionable and controversial penalty call with five minutes on the clock. Angel David Cruz then coolly placed the ball in the top left corner, effectively sealing the game with OHS up 4-2
Following the penalty kick goal, Cruz put the cherry on top mere seconds before the game ended with an exquisite right-footed shot that skimmed off the turf past the confused BHS goalkeeper’s outstretched feet.
With that, he secured his hat trick as the speaker blared Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to send the seniors out in style.
