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Belpre celebrates Senior Night with a win

Photo by Ron Johnston Belpre seniors are left to right: Katherine Curfman, Tyler Roberts, Allen Frank, Kellar Windland, Jacob Davis and Alex Booth.

BELPRE — Belpre High had multiple scorers in its 5-2 triumph over Caldwell High at Ralph Holder Stadium Thursday night.

Alex Booth, Jordan Harrington, Kellar Windland, Tyce Church, and Wyatt Field each had a goal as the Golden Eagles improved their record to 9-7 overall.

“I am happy with the result,” said first-year BHS varsity soccer coach Trent Stanley said. “I would’ve liked to have had more.

“I’m very proud of my team tonight. With five different scorers, they worked the ball very well. Very unselfish play.”

Caldwell, which fell to Belpre, 3-1, in Noble County, earlier in the season, dropped to 5-8-1. Nathan Olivares scored both of the Redskin goals.

CHS was handicapped by the fact that it had only 11 players suited up and no substitutes.

“We were short-handed,” said first-year CHS boss Michael Ontko. “We came down to play them (Golden Eagles) so that they could have their Senior Night. We’re trying to prevent from getting injured, and we got one more player injured. It’s a little frustrating.”

“We played two games before today,” Ontko added. “The kids were tired and we’re trying to rest them. We wanted to cancel the game, because we have our tournament game Saturday.”

While the match was not cancelled, it was shortened by about 2-1/2 minutes when Ontko pulled his team off the pitch. According to the Caldwell coach, he had permission from the CHS athletic director to do so.

“This game was supposed to be like a tune-up (for Saturday),” Ontko said, “to come down and have a competitive, safe game. But it didn’t turn out that way. I wanted to prevent fighting and needed to protect them for Saturday.”

Stanley said that he was “caught off guard a little bit” by the Caldwell coach’s decision.

“I wasn’t ready for that at all,” Stanley said. “I was getting ready to send my seniors out so they could be recognized for their Senior Night. I have no idea why they did that. It’s not the way it should have ended.”

Belpre jumped on Caldwell with three quick goals early in the match. Booth got the first one with Fields assisting. Harrington followed with a direct kick past CHS keeper Skylar Roets to make to 2-0.

Windland then got a nice pass from senior Katherine Curfman and put the ball into the back of the net.

Caldwell cut it to 3-1 when Olivares beat BHS goalie Rawlin Barber with a hard shot.

At the break, BHS led 3-1. During the halftime festivities, Belpre’s six seniors were all honored and recognized. They were Tyler Roberts, Allen Frank, Jacob Davis, Booth, Curfman, and Windland.

Early in the second half, Golden Eagle freshman Tyce Church made a nifty move in the penalty box and beat Roets with a well-placed shot to make it 4-1.

Caldwell got that score back on a nice, individual surge on goal by Olivares to reduce the deficit to two.

Capping all the scoring, Fields scored on a breakaway with about 7:32 left in the contest.

Belpre is scheduled to host Southeastern in a sectional opener at noon Saturday, while Caldwell will be entertaining Sandy Valley in a sectional lid-lifter at 4 p.m. on the same day.

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