BHS fights off Ridge View

Published Wed, May 7, 2008 12:00 AM

By BUDDY HUGHES
bhughes@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5533

The talent is plenty for the Beaufort High School boys soccer team, but consistency has been the Eagles' biggest problem all season.

Story Tools

Font Size: A A A

Comment

tool goes here

Also in this section

Local Sports

Some nights talent is all you need, and Tuesday was that night.

Beaufort got past Ridge View High School 3-1 in the first round of the Class AAAA playoffs Tuesday thanks to goals by Nash Brace, Adam Smunk and Javier Rojas, but still didn't display the 80-minute game coach Jon Greenlee wants from his squad.

"They got enough talent (and) skill that when they don't play their best, they can still get results," Greenlee said. "I've said it a dozen times during this season, we just got to be more consistent. They got to start from the (first minute) instead of waiting for the second half to start playing."

Nash Brace headed a corner kick from Jonathon Parker past Ridge View goalkeeper Justen Braddock for the only goal of the first half.

Beaufort got good looks but Braddock made the saves until Brace's header soared just out of his reach.

"There are about three or four guys on our team who are really good in the air and Nash is one of them," Greenlee said. "Nash has a knack for headers."

Adam Smunk made it a 2-0 game in the second half, finding the back of the net with a header that somehow made it through the clogged box.

But it was what happened after Smunk's score that got all the attention.

In the mass of humanity that was charging at the ball, Braddock and Beaufort's Ashby West got tangled up and fell down. Both players responded by throwing punches, earning red cards and ejections from the game for both.

Each coach had a different perspective on what happened.

"The guy from Beaufort pulled on my keeper's shirt and pulled him down on top of him," Ridge View coach John Donahue said. "It looked intentional. I think he might have been going down and pulled the keeper down with him."

Greenlee saw an accident that got out of control.

"I saw the ball go into the net and it looked like Ashby got tangled up with their keeper and may have landed on their keeper," Greenlee said. "The next thing I know, people are throwing punches at Ashby and there's three guys are on him. I was real surprised that there was only one person that got a card from their team."

Barring an appeal, Beaufort will have to play Thursday's second-round game against either South Florence or Stratford without Ashby because of the card.

Both teams played a man down for the rest of the game. The Blazers had to turn to a cold goalkeeper, P.J. Barney.

Barney made some tough saves as the fight seem to give Ridge View a second wind.

"It did (fire us up)," Donahue said. "Sometimes you got to get that technical foul."

Jordan Stovall took advantage of a defensive lapse by the Eagles and climbed the ladder to beat Erik Mozzo, making it a 2-1 game.

That's as close as the Blazers would get though, as Javier Rojas made sure of that.

After playing a two-man game with Rojas, Andrew Settlemire crossed the ball toward the net. The ball was headed back toward Rojas, who volleyed it past Barney to secure the win.

"I do all sorts of things with Javier," Greenlee said. "I make him play all sorts of positions and he says 'Yes sir" every time and goes out and does it."

Having been bounced by Beaufort in the second round last year 6-2, including four goals by Erik Jaramillo, Ridge View set up its defense to take away Beaufort's speedy forward.

The Blazers accomplished the goal, but it wasn't enough to garner them the win.

Beaufort will host Stratford at 7 p.m. Thursday.

BHS fights off Ridge View