GALENA – Bedford North Lawrence battled to a 3-3 deadlock with Floyd Central during boys high school soccer action on Saturday.
The Stars (8-6-2 overall, 1–3-2 in the Hoosier Hills Conference) never trailed, but the Highlanders (7-6-3, 4-0-2 in the league) scored a goal in the final minute to salvage a tie in the regular-season finale.
“Giving up the final goal was tough, but our guys were dead tired,” BNL coach Ryan Otis said. “We’re still very happy with the result. Very proud of the boys. It’s a very good result and we were missing several with injuries. Several gutted it out to get guys a few minutes of a break. We had JV guys step up and provide some rotations.”
BNL got on the board first when Adriano Sullivan got control of a loose ball and broke away for a shot into the bottom left corner at 23:45. The Highlanders responded two minutes later with a goal by Jacob Cromwell, but the Stars answered back as Noah Childers converted a J.D. Miskuf drive and pass at 20:07.
Floyd countered with an equalizer by Max Vanderhoof with 26 seconds left in the first half.
The Stars again worked in front. With 15:25 left, Sullivan won a scrum in the box and found freshman Weston Holtz for the go-ahead goal. That held up until the Highlanders saved the stalemate with another Cromwell goal with 50 seconds left.
“We were under pressure for most of the game but contained them,” Otis said. “Our plan was to sit back, absorb their pressure and counter them. That’s what we did. Hiram (Mullis), Braydon (Patterson) and Manuel (Morales) played the whole game (on defense). They, and the midfield, were very solid. Adriano put in a lot of good defensive work in addition to his offense.”
BNL will now face a rematch with Jeffersonville in the first round of the IHSAA sectional on Monday at Jennings County. Floyd Central, the defending sectional champion, will face Jennings in the opener, and those winners will collide in the semifinal. New Albany will battle Seymour in the other semifinal.
“It’s a quick turnaround,” Otis said. “We are banged up and need to recover. We have shown this season we can play with anyone in our sectional.”
