SOCCER: Bears open season with three games; pick up win

Thu, 08/24/2017 - 11:11am — John Embry

Photos by David "Hawkeye" Hocker, Beech Tree News

The opening week for soccer in Kentucky saw the Butler County Bears scheduled for three games.

On Monday, August 14, the Bears traveled to Franklin-Simpson. The Wildcats are a prolific scoring team as they boast of having the 2016 scoring leader for the state returning for his senior year. Thus, the Wildcats opened up a 3 to 0 lead within the first 20 minutes of the first half. But the Bears clawed their way back with two goals of their own by Jose Sanchez and Omar Lopez. Then, Jose Sanchez tied the game up with a penalty kick after being fouled in the box. The first half ended with the score tied 3 to 3.

In the second half, the two teams fought for 20 minutes with no clear advantage to either team. During that time the Bears had two close scoring opportunities go amiss as Omar Lopez bounced one off the crossbar and Cole Maxfield sent a cross that rolled past an open goal. From that point on, multiple substitutions and fresher legs aided the Franklin-Simpson Wildcats to finish off the Bears by scoring 4 goals in the last 14 minutes to win 7 to 3. Goal keeper Austin Burden put in a stellar performance by posting 25 saves and 10 coming outs to keep the Bears competitive.

On Tuesday, August 15, the Bears hosted their first home game against Warren East. Last year the East Raiders beat the Bears twice by scores of 8 to 0 and 4 to 3. Even though there are many returning players from last year's team, this is not your last year Bears. After the Raiders got on the board first, the first half saw the Bears jump out to a 3 to 1 lead with two goals from Ernest Lee and a goal from Jose Sanchez.

The second half saw another goal from Ernest Lee and goal by Omar Lopez to finish off the Warren East Raiders 5 to 2.

On Thursday, the Bears traveled to Hart County. The Bears got off to a slow start spotting Hart County two goals in the first half. In the second half, the Bears finally woke up with goals from Ernest Lee and Alex Diaz, but the Bears defense also gave up two more goals. With the Bears pressing the last 20 minutes of the game with multiple shots on goal, they ran out of time as the game was stopped with about 7 minutes to go due to weather.

Season Overview:

The Butler County High School Boys Soccer program will start this year with a lot of experience. There are 8 returning seniors. Austin Burden, Neil Bewley, Jacoty Hope, Ernest Lee, Cortez Cook, Cole Maxfield, Ethan McCombs, and Kenyon Sutherland. Also back with soccer is Coach Patrick O'Driscoll and his new assistant Jehu Diaz.

They will play a full schedule this year of 20 games with the goal of being ready for the district tournament. Butler County will be hosting both the boys' and girls' district tournament this year.