OAKWOOD — Lucas Anderson had one final chance to make a season goal come true.
The Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin senior was just looking for a goal in his final year and Thursday was good time to get it.
In the penalty kick round, Anderson was able to score the winning goal to give the Blue Devils the win over Oakwood/Salt Fork and the Vermilion Valley Conference regular season boys soccer championship.
“It was good. I was just glad I made it,” Anderson said. “I was nervous because it was for conference. I practice for it all the time and I was happy to get that PK in.”
“They are a great group of kids and I am happy for them,” BHRA coach Justin Hall said. “Lucas is a defender and he never put one in his career. He said earlier this season, it was the only thing he wanted it and it was a good time for it.”
The penalty kick ended a game which had a scoreless regulation before the first overtime period. In that period, BHRA scored first on a goal by Madix Davis on an assist by Noah Rice but OSF would tie it on a goal by Mason Swartz.
“I was really happy with how we played,” OSF coach Eric Fenton said. “It wasn’t our prettiest game and we lost three starters earlier this week. One came back and we lost him during the game. I was really proud how we fought through the whole thing. They took the lead and we tied it back up. We went into penalties and we missed a shot by a few inches.”
Both teams were scoreless again in the second overtime before the penalty kick round, where BHRA won 4-3.
The win not only gave the Blue Devils the title, a 15-3-1 overall record and a 11-1 mark in the VVC, it finished a turnaround from a 4-17 mark two years ago.
“It has been great this year,” Hall said. “I had no seniors on my team last year, so the seniors that are here now had to be leaders last season and they weren’t ready for it. They have really stepped up this year and its been amazing to see how they have grown.”
“We started talking more and we got the passing down,” Anderson said. “In the beginning of the season, we struggled with grass fields, but we worked with that, we didn’t get frustrated and we kept our heads up when teams scored and that is what led us to winning more.”
The Comets are 16-7 and 9-3 in the VVC and has used leadership from seniors Connor Taflinger, Trevor McCall and Layne Holycross to make what could have been a rebuilding year to a contending year which included a 3-2 win at BHRA earlier in the season.
“We had 13 seniors last year and we were supposed to take a step back,” Fenton said. “The three seniors who were here through three VVC titles and a couple of regional championships, knew how things were supposed to be done and they were on their teammates and taught the younger guys how to win at this level. There were only four players with experience when the season started and our top scorers are two sophomores and a freshman, so as young as we were, we met our expectations.
“If we hadn’t lost some silly matches in conference, we would have still been tied with them, so we kinda gave them the championship by not playing our best in a few games but these two games were two back and forth battles.”
Hall said the battles this season had made them stronger.
“That was the big thing for us. We lost a lot to them but we can play them now,” Hall said. “Last time, we were up 2-0 with 25 minutes left in the game and they scored three and it was a big letdown. So it was good to see that they didn’t fold when it might have been easy to do.”
“They have been young for the past few years and they have been coming on,” Fenton said. “So I figured that they would be the team to beat in the conference. We were hoping to be in that next group of teams. When we beat them at their place, we had a chance, but we could not pull it off.”
The playoffs are on the horizon with the regionals taking place at Bismarck. If both the Blue Devils and the Comets win their semifinal games, they will face each other again for the regional championship.
“It will be at our home field. Hopefully, we can get a lot of practice and do what we couldn’t do against them earlier this season and get the win,” Anderson said. “We just have to beat Fisher first and hopefully we will see them.”
“It would be a heck of a game,” Hall said. “They had some people hurt and we had someone hurt on our side and in a week and a half, both teams should be at full strength and go back at it.”
“Hopefully all three of our players will be back by then,” Fenton said. “They are not going to play any softer and we are not either, so it should be a good game.”