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South Patriots edge Yellowjackets, 2-1

Parkersburg South's Bradley Stump battles Williamstown's Boston Caruthers for the ball during prep boys soccer action Thursday at Erickson All Sports Facility. The Patriots won 2-1. Photo by Ron Johnston.

PARKERSBURG – Parkersburg South High bounced back in more ways than one.

The Patriots got some measure of revenge by downing Williamstown, 2-1, in prep boys’ soccer action at The Erickson All-Sports Facility Thursday night. Last year, PSHS dropped a 7-1 decision to the Yellowjackets on the maroon and gold’s pitch.

South (6-9-0) also re-grouped from Tuesday evening’s 4-1 setback at Capital High.

“We didn’t have such a good last game,” said second-year Parkersburg South head coach Eric Stump. “But this game, they came out with the intensity that they lacked the last game – and they got the win today.

“It was teamwork. It was not one or two guys. It was everyone firing on all cylinders. And, that’s what we like.”

Julio Lemus and Evan Rose each had a goal for the winners, while senior tri-captain Ethan Nedeff got an assist on Rose’s score.

Williamstown (7-10-0) had a three-game winning streak snapped. Grant Bobbitt scored the Jackets’ lone goal with Boston Caruthers assisting late in the match.

“We had a lot of chances to score goals,” said WHS boss Telma Poole. “But we were unable to put it in the net. That hurt us a little bit.

“We’re just building for the end of the season. We played hard and wanted to win the game. I believe so much in this team.”

South got on the scoreboard during the second minute of play when Lemus put a ball into an open net. On the play, Williamstown keeper Joseph James was out of position.

“That was a bad (defensive) mistake,” Poole said.

Stump believed that Lemus’ goal “got the momentum going.”

“The kids were pumped up, and we put the pressure on,” the Patriot coach said. “We continued to attack. It’s hard to score if you’re not attacking.”

Patriot tri-cap and sweeper Bradley Stump (coach’s son) agreed, and added, “That just picked our intensity up even more. We played with more heart after that. We wanted to get more.”

At the intermission, South led, 1-0.

Early in the second half, Nedeff crossed the ball from the right wing, and Rose beat the keeper with a header, making it 2-0.

“That was a tough angle, and the freshman put it away,” Eric Stump said. “But I never get comfortable with a one- or two-goal lead.”

The South coach had good reason not to relax, especially after one of his players was red-carded with 31:25 left in the contest.

But Williamstown was not able to capitalize on the man-advantage. In fact, it, too, had a player red-carded a few minutes later. The match ended with 10 versus 10 on the pitch.

With 5:46 remaining, Caruthers delivered a long pass from the right side to Bobbitt on the left. After controlling the ball, Bobbitt blasted it past Patriot keeper Chase Hawkins to reduce the deficit to one.

“It was a good shot by him,” Bradley Stump said. “I’ll give him props for that.

Down the stretch, South’s defense kept Williamstown at bay, and helped seal the victory.

South is scheduled to host Ripley Tuesday at 6 p.m., while Williamstown is slated to play at Winfield Saturday at 3 p.m.

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