BAYFIELD – One of the latest penalties possible denied the Bayfield High School boy soccer team a positive result Friday.
A hand ball was called against the Wolverines in the penalty box in the 98th minute.
Montezuma-Cortez junior Manuel Martinez slotted the penalty kick high and to the right for the winner, as the Panthers prevailed 3-2 in Wolverine Country Stadium in double overtime.
Play still continued for the final three minutes after the goal was scored because the score resulted from a penalty kick rather than open play.
“They know that they played well. Soccer can be a cruel sport,” BHS head coach Dave Foster said. “Luckily they know they wanted to win the game and their heads are held high. They know they can compete.”
It looked like the Wolverines were going to win at one point.
BHS (0-2) took its first lead in a game since September of last season when Alex Knight chipped the Cortez keeper into the far corner in the 68th minute.
The goal came six minutes after the game resumed following a 40-minute lightning delay in the 62nd minute.
“I think it was slow, but I think both teams were slow, so it was even still,” said Cortez head coach Sean Fitzgerald. “That’s what happens when there’s that delay.”
The Wolverines also stuck before the lightning when Shea Marx converted from the penalty spot in the 52nd minute.
He buried a ball into the upper right corner that no keeper could have saved.
“Those goals were the things that we’ve been practicing,” Foster said. “It’s good for the boys to be rewarded for all that effort and know that they can score.”
Marx also played a large part in keeping the Panthers off the scoreboard.
He roamed Bayfield’s central defense wearing a cast on his left arm and foiled Cortez striker Andrew Laymon time and again, even though Laymond did finish with two goals.
“I try to get under them and get them off the ball,” said Marx, son of Jerad Marx and Michelle Seeman. “I saw them trying to play the through balls around us and try to dribble through to try and shoot and score, but we were there almost every time.”
Laymon scored one of his goals in the fourth minute on a counter, after which Bayfield significantly settled down.
His second goal tied the game at two in the 73rd minute.
He almost scored a game-winning hat trick in the 78th minute, but BHS sophomore keeper denied him with one hand at full extension to send the game to overtime.
“Especially in these conditions, to. It’s very difficult for a keeper to play in these conditions,” Foster said. “To see him recover – he was off his line a little bit, goes back and was able to punch that out. That kept us in the game.”
Keeping the game so competitive for so long is a testament to how far Bayfield’s program has progressed recently.
The Panthers beat BHS 10-0 in Foster’s first year in 2013 and outscored the Wolverines 6-1 and 4-1 last season.
Now Cortez (1-1) needed a last-gasp penalty to salvage a win.
“I think this year they have a solid team. Bayfield used to be that team where everyone thought they would get a win. I don’t think they’re there anymore,” Fitzgerald said. “I think they’re a team that can compete, which is awesome.”
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
