DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
FORT WAYNE – Tuesday night’s final result was a heartbreaker for the Bellmont Braves. Dominating the game for the first 60 minutes, and leading for more than half of that period, the Braves came out on the wrong end of the odd goal in seven and it was the Woodlan Warriors who advanced.
Having just played each other a week prior, the Braves were hungry to avenge their 1-0 loss, which came on a penalty kick. The Braves played with passion early and outhustled the Warriors.
On 27′, the Braves, playing in blue, won a free kick, which was taken by Carsten Hudson and launched into the box. The free kick found the foot of Taahir Ally (above), who set it on a platter for Romeo Antunes, putting the team in the lead.
The Braves defended that goal well, with Antunes dominating the midfield and the team’s back line handling all of the Woodlan challenges.
Disaster was narrowly averted later in the first half when a Woodlan forward barreled over Bellmont keeper Grayson Riehm, leaving his feet and taking the goalie out as the ball went over the end line. No card or foul was given in the incident, shown below.
The match had every indication of a classic, 1-0 defensive battle until the Bellmont defense relented on marking all-time Woodlan scorer Lucas Gramajo closely. He took the yard of space given to him and blasted it past keeper Grayson Riehm and just inside the far post for an abrupt equalizer. The goal was scored with the Braves having a man down, but no whistle was blown despite a head injury to August Fuelling, who left the field bloodied and did not return.
Sophomore August Fuelling was knocked out of the game with a head injury, missing the final 21 minutes for the Braves. (Photo by Tara Riehm)
Just five minutes later, Woodlan stunned the Braves with another goal, this time with Camden Koch poaching a very poor goal kick, taking more space from the defender and firing a knuckling shot that first went toward the diving Riehm and then away from him for a true golazo finish.
Bellmont’s passion increased in the following minutes and they won a corner in the 68th minute. Head coach Jake Briede made a tactical decision to move Emmett Lengerich from the back line into the box, asking midfielder Harry Gintrand to replace him. Jack Barton, who was present later in the evening when his sister, Kaitlyn, had the winning assist on a corner in the girls’ game against Leo, fired a beauty of a left-footed corner into the box. His main target, Malachi LaVine leapt but could not reach the ball with his head. Behind him stood Lengerich, who delivered one of the more memorable goals for the Bellmont program in the last decade with a stunning header that rifled into the net for 2-2.
Just two minutes later, the Bellmont back line broke down again and Gramajo took back the lead for the Warriors, but Romeo Antunes took the ensuing kickoff, nutmegged a Woodlan midfielder with a pass to LaVine, who then chipped it into the corner for Barton, who needed every bit of focus to fire in a left-footed cross before it crossed the end line. That cross went directly to freshman Isaac Pranger, who was right where he needed to be on a back post run. The ninth grader smashed it in and the Braves had answered the Woodlan goal in just 20 seconds.
The joy was short-lived, however, after the Bellmont keeper was yellow carded for a foul just outside the box. That required Riehm to leave the game and forced Malachi LaVine to throw on a pinny and strap on some gloves to defend a free kick in the D. A four-man wall deflected the ensuing free kick out of play for a corner, but in one of the most bizarre officiating decision of the year, the official ruled that a Woodlan player had committed an infraction in the box worthy of a yellow card. The player was sent to the bench and the Braves prepared to defend the corner kick, but the official was adamant that the free kick be taken again.
The Braves line up to defend a free kick just outside the box with Malachi LaVine in goal. (Photo by Tara Riehm)
Incredulously, Bellmont coach Jake Briede looked on with no recognizable method of recourse. The second attempt, of course, rattled around in the box and went into the back of the net as the Braves’ goalie stood at midfield, waiting to come back in.
Bellmont fought valiantly in the final eight minutes, but could not find a third equalizer, and their season ended with the 4-3 loss.
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