By Zach Gregory
BELLBROOK – When Bellbrook boys soccer coach Kevin Terrell saw his team was going up against a Greater Catholic League opponent, Saturday, at Bellbrook High School, he knew that they were in for a physical fight.
The Golden Eagles fought and beat the visiting Chaminade Julienne Eagles in a tightly contested game, 2-0.
“We played hard. It’s taken us some time to put the right pieces in the right places, but it’s slowly coming together. We could have executed a little better in our final third, but overall we fought,” said Terrell. “It was a challenge. The GCL teams are always tough. They’re always physical. I thought we did a good job of challenging tonight.”
Bellbrook (6-1) hasn’t shown much physicality this year, according to Terrell, but the team was forced to show it on Saturday. The referees were letting the boys play aggressively and the Golden Eagles responded.
“I hadn’t seen that out of them this year, so I was a little concerned coming into the game. It was nice to see,” said Terrell.
The Bellbrook defense did a good job of containing the Eagles. And an early goal put the pressure on CJ.
With 28:37 remaining in the first half, Josh Lawson got out on the break for the Golden Eagles and put the ball in the net. The 1-0 score stood until halftime.
The Bellbrook defense continued to play tight in the second half. They limited CJ to just five shots in the entire game.
“Defensively, I thought we kept our shape. We stayed composed for most of the night. We limited their opportunities, which was our goal,” said Terrell. “We’ve been working hard with them, rotating them to figure out the right combination and I think we finally found it. They’re starting to get what we want out of them and where we want to be when October rolls around.”
The Golden Eagles unofficially had 15 shots in the game. Terrell thought the team missed some opportunities to score, but he was happy with the overall effort. Brandon Druffner had a penalty kick early in the second half that went high, but Brady Tincher made a nice crossing pass to Drew Klepacz with just over 11 minutes left in the game for the insurance goal.
Bellbrook has a week off before its next game. The Golden Eagles play at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 22 when they’ll host Oakwood.
The Bellbrook girls also moved to 6-1, defeating Chaminade Julienne 3-1 before the boys game. They next play Kettering Alter at 1:45 p.m. Saturday in Kettering.
Reach Zach Gregory at (937) 372-4444, Ext. 2124.
