Brentwood senior Kenny Ra and Centennial junior Clayton Martin (7) go up for a header. Ra scored two goals and assisted on the Bruins' third in the victory.

Raptors' comeback sets up doubles-sport showdown with Bruins at RHS

By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
It took Ravenwood's soccer team 103 minutes and a one-man advantage to outlast Franklin in nearly 90% humidity in the district semifinals Wednesday, coming back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2 in a third overtime period.

Raptors sophomore midfielder Eduardo Magallanes, the player who was stepped on that sent Rebels goalkeeper Blair Moore out with a red card in the second half, ended up drilling the winning goal -- his first of the season. It came with 1:58 left in a 5-minute "golden goal" sudden-death period, following two scoreless 10-minute timed OT halves.

It'll now be two Battles of the Woods in district action at Ravenwood's athletic complex Thursday as the Raptors face top-seeded Brentwood for the District 11-AAA soccer title at 7 p.m. The No. 1 seeded Lady Raptors and Lady Bruins play in a 5 p.m. winners' bracket game at RHS for a spot in Friday's district softball final.

Ravenwood came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in sudden death over Franklin and stay alive in postseason. (Photos by Peg Fredi)

"It's a good feeling," Margallanes said. "... I saw the defense hit it out, I went to the ball and I just striked it."

In the earlier boys soccer semifinal, Kenny Ra scored two goals and Alex Blanton earned the shutout as top-seeded Brentwood defeated Centennial 3-0. Both Ravenwood and Brentwood also qualified for next Tuesday's regionals by making the district final.

When RHS and BHS met last week, Ravenwood not only ended up losing 5-0 but also saw District 11-AAA MVP Wil Linder go down with a sprained knee and one of the team's two goalkeepers red-carded. The only action Linder, a Memphis signee, saw Wednesday night was three coin tosses as a captain.

"When Wil goes down, somebody else has to step up," Margallanes said.

Grant Lowder tied the game 2-2 with a penalty kick in the 55th minute after Moore was red-carded for apparently intentionally stomping on Margallanes while he was down in the goal. Parker Lamb went in at keeper for Franklin and the Rebels had to play a man down in the field the other 48 minutes.

"I was on the ground, he looked at me and just stepped on me," Margallanes said.

Ravenwood had just scored its first goal in the 54th minute on Gabe Laurence's shot on a direct kick from the corner of the box to close within 2-1.

The Raptors and Rebels battled for 103 minutes in near-90% humidity.

After a scoreless first half, Franklin scored quickly in the 45th and 47th minutes. Omar Djabi's direct kick caromed off the top bar and Austin Pickford sent the rebound back into the right side of the net. Jacob Smith broke free for the 2-0 lead.

"Does (Thursday) night's game mean anything? It does to these boys, any game," Raptors Coach Ken White said. "My philosophy has been very simple, one game at a time, play your hearts out, believe in what you can do. We took two losses at the end of the season -- nothing wrong with that."

White, quoting a headline that 'Brentwood routs Ravenwood," said his team actually didn't get routed --"we got drubbed."  "I'm happy for the boys. We play Brentwood and we've got a chance to see what happens," the new coach said.

Franklin had a shot with 40 seconds left in the second OT half that hit RHS goalie Brian Vermeulen in the gut but was briefly bobbled.  Another Rebels' shot hit the left post in the first 30 seconds of the "golden goal" period.

White said Eduardo "has loads of talent, but he plays that laid-back Mexican style which I like. I knew he can crack one. Obviously he got the opportunity and he can hit it. ... I've wanted him to step up for weeks. Maybe tonight will take him out of his shell a little."

Linder's return is uncertain, but White hopes the team can make a postseason run long enough to perhaps get him back.

Brentwood remains undefeated on season

The Bruins (14-0-3) will be playing for their eighth district championship in nine years after dethroning Centennial, who tied BHS 2-2 two weeks ago and beat BHS twice last season. The Cougars stopped the BHS streak at seven straight last year and made the state finals with a strong senior class including a 6-foot-7 keeper.

"We're trying to get back on track and establish a new streak," BHS Coach Mike Purcell said.

Ra, a senior striker who signed with DePaul in Chicago, scored the first goal in the 35th minute on an assist by sophomore Will Jones. CHS keeper Spencer Jones came out of the goal on Jones' header, and Ra was able to shuffle the loose ball past him.

BHS senior Daniel McLaughlin manuevers as Tommy Kuttenkuller lends support against Centennial.

"I knew (Will) was going to get the header because he's like 6-5," said Ra, who has a career-high 18 goals this season. "I knew he was going to head it on the goalie. I just chased the goalie -- it was basically a hustle goal."

Ra nearly scored again just seconds later after crisp passing by the Bruins. In the second half, Ra put the Bruins up 2-0 in the 57th minute on a penalty kick to the left.

Dan McLaughlin added an insurance goal on a run in the 61st minute, after a pass by Ra. Blanton, a Southern Methodist signee and the district's outstanding defensive player, recorded his 12th shutout of the season and the Bruins' third in a row.

"It was a must-win game today, so we played pretty good but (Thursday) is another big game," Ra said. "We just want to stay undefeated."

Ra said the Raptors "won't be the same team we played." Purcell also called that regular-season game an "anomaly."

"We could play that game 100 times and we wouldn't win 5-0 again," the Bruins coach said. "We just caught them on a night when they were a little bit down, and we'll have to play real well."

All-district teams, awards announced

Ravenwood's Linder took the District 11-AAA Most Valuable Player award for the season, and BHS goalkeeper Blanton was Defensive Player of the Year. BHS also had four other all-district selections with seniors McLaughlin and Ra and juniors Alec Leaman and L.C. McNiel. Senior Ben Semeraro, junior Sam Stevenson and freshman Josh Keller also made all-district for RHS.