Oct 9, 2014 3 min read

After Thursday night’s Section 6-AA matchup, the boys soccer teams at Trinity and Ringgold high schools have played 220 minutes against each other. Despite two double-overtime contests, neither team can claim a victory.

Ringgold senior midfielder Nick Fowkes scored the tying goal in the 50th minute and the teams traded chances through two overtime periods before the match ended in a 1-1 draw at Hiller Field. It was the second draw between the playoff-bound teams.

The Rams (10-0-2, 12-2-2) clinched the section title last week and will likely be a top-four seed in the WPIAL playoffs, while the Hillers (8-1-3, 11-3-3) are preparing for the program’s first playoff appearance since 1986.

“I respect the type of team Ringgold is because they’re so well-conditioned,” Trinity head coach Ryan Julian said. “They taught us we need to work on that for the postseason. We treated this like a playoff game and I told our kids, we’d be in a penalty kick situation right now against a great team if this were the playoffs.”

The Hillers held every bit of momentum heading to halftime, but Ringgold’s offensive touch showed in the 50th minute when Fowkes sprinted toward the goal, took a pass from junior midfielder Brandon Perez, split two defenders and one-timed it past Trinity keeper Ben Johnson to tie the match, 1-1.

The Rams’ offensive strength was a bit of an unknown heading into the season. Jeremy Perez broke the school’s single-season scoring record last year but graduated and is now playing at California University.

Fowkes, the Rams’ leading scorer, has stepped in as the top offensive threat. He had several scoring chances in the second half, but his goal was enough to send the match to overtime.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better pass from Brandon,” Fowkes said. “It came right to me, I split the defenders and put it in. It’s very frustrating to play these guys for this long this season and not get a win, but they’re a great team.”

Trinity took an early 1-0 lead when junior forward Austin Armstrong sprinted down the far sideline and found sophomore midfielder Alec Belcastro sprinting toward the goal. Armstrong’s pass led Belcastro, who deflected it past Ringgold senior goalkeeper Josh Zakrzewski for the 1-0 lead.

Using its tremendous team speed, Trinity dominated the first half and Johnson kept Ringgold in check with 17 saves through 110 minutes. Ringgold head coach Frank Perez, who has led the Rams to three section titles in four years, has seen his inexperienced team falter early in games but pull away in the second half.

“I have to give it to Trinity. They played a heck of a game,” Perez said. “We have the tendency to get anxious in the first half, then we start playing our game to how we’re built. We get back to small soccer and it suits us.”

The Rams did that in the second half – finding players open in space before creating chances on corner kicks. Perez was tempted to push more players up top in the overtime periods, but with the stakes high and a team preparing for a playoff run, he stuck to his system.

“I thought about going for it, but I’m not going to do that in a playoff situation,” Perez said. “We want to continue to train in certain situations. We let in early goals usually and that proved to be the difference again.”