Parkersburg South boys fall to Warren, 4-1

Parkersburg South’s Braxton Byrd, right, knocks the ball off Warren’s Kyle Anthony as it goes out of play during the visiting Warriors’ 4-1 victory Thursday evening at Erickson All-Sports Facility.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Warren keeper Hayden Wells lost his shutout bid with 61 seconds remaining here Thursday night when Parkersburg South’s Shawn Cross scored on a penalty kick, but the visiting Warriors left town with a 4-1 triumph inside Erickson All-Sports Facility.

In a battle of first-year head coaches, the Patriots of Rick George were unable to muster much on the offensive attack against the Warriors of Ben Atkinson.

“Warren’s a really good team,” admitted coach George, who received a pair of saves apiece from Austin Cross and Keigan Mattern. “I’d really hoped we could compete a little bit better against them and at times in this game we did. We really did for eight to 10 minutes stretches. We played really tough. We had some decent possession. We’ve got some stuff to clean up.

“For some reason we tend to shut off every now and again and when you play good teams and you shut down for a minute then they punish you, and that’s kind of what’s happened. We’ve got a relatively young team when you look at the roster. We’ve got some work to do and these guys have been putting in some work this season. We’ll continue.”

Tave Earley’s cross in the sixth minute found teammate Bailey Bowers, who proceeded to earn an assist on Kyle Anthony’s goal.

Parkersburg South’s David Gil Iglesias keeps the ball away from Warren’s Bailey Bowers during the Patriots’ 4-1 setback Thursday evening inside Erickson All-Sports Facility.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The score remained 1-0 until there were just four ticks left in the 39th minute. Warren managed to gain control of the ball following a goal kick as Reme Fairbanks assisted on Rishi Singh’s tally.

“I thought we dominated in every aspect,” said coach Atkinson, whose 7-1-1 program returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday when Alexander invades. “The field definitely doesn’t help.

“A lot of bounciness. It’s hard to play on a field that is really torn up. I never want to concede goals and I really can’t be hard on the team because we won and there’s no harm in winning.”

The Patriots, who dropped to 3-5-1 and play host at 11:30 a.m. Saturday to Weir, had a pair of corner kicks in the opening half. The second by Connor Roberts was headed wide by Zachary Farnsworth.

Parkersburg South’s Cayson Posey also made a run late in the first half, but after getting the ball ahead to Brady Marshall the Warrior defense stymied the potential threat.

Warren’s Tave Earley maneuvers the ball past Parkersburg South’s Braxton Byrd during the
visiting Warriors’ 4-1 victory Thursday evening at Erickson All-Sports Facility.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Patriot Rigoberto Amezquita had a steal to open the second half and soon thereafter had a deep throw-in, but it was headed wide.

Coach George’s squad also had a ball played from Aiden Garrett to Amezquita, but there was no one in the middle of the field after he crossed it.

Warren nearly went ahead 3-0 during the 48th minute when Fairbanks’ cross was sent toward the keeper Mattern by Ian Gardner, but the ball skimmed the top of the crossbar.

Following a Patriot foul outside of the box, Sam Perdue found the back of the net on a free kick to extend the advantage in the 61st minute.

The Warriors tacked on their final goal with 15 seconds left in the 67th minute when the Patriots failed to clear a corner kick by Jackson Perdue. The ball eventually ended up at the feet of Bowers, who converted for the 4-0 lead.

Warren’s Kyle Anthony shoots and scores in the sixth minute of the visiting Warriors’ 4-1
victory Thursday evening at Erickson All-Sports Facility as Parkersburg South’s Bransen Ayers attempts to block the shot.
(Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Terrible way to concede a goal. Just a terrible penalty that should never have been given away after they had nothing the entire game,” coach Atkinson said of giving up the PK, on which Wells made a valiant diving effort to his right but couldn’t reach it. “We shut them down very well. Could’ve easily had a lot more, but that doesn’t matter. They stuck to their plan and defended well.

“They just wanted to hit us on a counter and that’s fine. That’s just how they play. We continued to move the ball. It’s hard to move the ball on this field. They played pretty physical. I wasn’t expecting them to play as physical as they were. Overall, I can’t be disappointed, but you can’t be satisfied with the performance that you think you can definitely perform way better on.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com