Hometown Sports
Don't Miss

Juniata boys outlast Big Springs

MIFFLINTOWN – It took two overtimes, but eventually the Juniata Indians overcame the Big Spring Bulldogs in a 3-2 boys soccer game.
It was well over 20 minutes into the match before a goal was able to be scored. And it was Big Spring who struck first as Lance Perdue blasted off a deep pass that was over the heads of the Juniata defensive line and Cace Oburn came flying past them and drove it home to put the Bulldogs up 1-0.
However, Juniata did not allow that to slow down with the intensity as a minute later in the half, the Indians found themselves in a penalty kick situation after a holding call inside the Big Spring box.
The PK was tasked to Ben Wagner who went up against Big Spring keeper Camden Shoemaker and managed to get the back past him to even the game at one apiece.
The Indians had a major opportunity to score a goal in the second half as Will Saner had two straight chances to give Juniata the lead.
The first attempt was a shot that was stopped by Shoemaker only to have the ball go right back to Saner who then tried his second attempt to score a goal. But once again, Shoemaker stood up and smacked the ball away, preventing another goal.
But the pressure became too much for Big Spring and Juniata was able to put the back into the back of the net as Henry Rivas found teammate Jelvin Cardenas who fired a shot that just got past the outreached hand of Shoemaker to put Juniata ahead 2-1.
Unfortunately though, the Juniata defense got caught with another big time pass from the Bulldogs. This time it was goalkeeper Shoemaker who launched a deep punt from one end of the field to the other and much like the last pass, Oburn came charging by the Juniata defense and got the ball past Juniata keeper Nick Dressler to make it a 2-2 ballgame.
After the first overtime couldn’t determine a winner, the stage was set for the second overtime. Juniata continued to put the pressure on the Bulldogs, keeping them pinned down on their side of the field for the majority of the second overtime.
But despite that, the Indians still struggled to find that opening to put in the game winner. Juniata though refused to give up and eventually the hard work paid off. A pile up inside the Big Spring box where the ball fell to Kenny Melara put the final nail in the coffin and scored the game winner for Juniata with only 35 seconds left of double overtime.
Good luck to the Juniata Indians as they prepare for the District 6 Class 2A playoffs next week.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.