Published: September 14, 2008 01:39 am      

Pirates win Berea Cup title in double overtime

BEREA — If Saturday’s Berea Cup championship game is any indication, Pirate seniors Silas Montgomery and Ryan Smith are finally on the same wavelength.

The duo hooked up for two of Berea’s goals — 16 seconds apart — during the second half as the Pirates clinched the title with a 3-2 double-overtime victory over Franklin County at Madison Southern.

“Silas has a great set-piece ball and corner kick or free kick up top and Ryan is our target,” Berea coach Casey Poynter said. “(Saturday night), Ryan dominated. No one could match him in the air tonight. I think that was obvious defensively and offensively. It showed, definitely. They’re on the same page and that’s what we’ve been needing.”

The first half of the game passed scoreless, but the second half was quickly competitive. Junior forward Max Leetz nearly had a breakaway goal just more than a minute after the start of the half. With about 30 minutes left in regulation, Flyer junior Bryce Burton had a shot that went wide. The next 10 minutes were relatively quiet, until Smith — who was the tournament MVP — and Montgomery — a member of the All-Cup team — had their say.

With 19:34 left, Montgomery threaded Smith the ball, who headed it in the goal. At the 19:18 mark, Montgomery was given a free kick after Franklin County junior Josh Bruning was issued a yellow card for a dangerous kick. Montgomery kicked the ball in position and Smith headed it into the goal again.

“Tonight, I felt really comfortable,” Poynter said. “I felt like we were pretty level with Franklin County. I had a Madison Southern fan the other day tell me that us and Franklin County would be a great game. Looking back on that, I think they were right. We’re a lot alike. We have speed and we’re strong in the same areas. It plays out in the end.”

With a 2-0 lead, Franklin County was given a penalty kick after a Berea player was called for handball in the penalty box with 18:33 left. Junior Zach Newman faked out Pirate senior goalkeeper Jay Callahan and put the ball past him into the left side of the goal.

“When you get a 2-0 lead like that, it should be all sealed up and done, but we got too relaxed and let them get back in the game,” Poynter said. “The penalty kick was a little questionable, I thought, but whether or not, the ref called it so you have to deal with it and adjust. It happened and that’s one of the things we have to tighten up on — not giving away goals when we get up in the score. Our defense is better than that.”

Franklin County was able to tie up the game with 4:56 left, when junior Oscar Urbina scored on a crossover goal to put the score at 2-2.

During the first overtime, Leetz had the best chance, getting off a shot that went wide right off of senior goalkeeper Steffan Krebbs’ fingertips. Leetz was finally able to connect with the goal, which ultimately proved to be the winner, with 6:10 left in the second overtime off of a corner kick.

“I knew Max was going to get one because he had a lot of opportunities and chances,” Poynter said. “He’s scored in every game and I knew if he got enough chances with the ball at his feet, things would happen. “

Emotions were running high during this game, with yellow cards being issued to Poynter and junior forward Chase Riddle and a red (yellows for dissent and high spikes) on senior midfielder Stephen Saylor. Getting carded for Franklin County were Bruning and senior Peter Reid.

“I think all of our guys are very classy and disciplined,” Poynter said. “If they mouth off to me or act like a fool, they know there will be consequences. It’s very out there in the open about respect and discipline and that’s one of our themes. We try to get them to focus on the game and forget their emotions.”

Following the game, the All-Berea Cup team was announced. Selected to the team from Madison Southern was sophomore Clay Wilburn and from Berea were Montgomery, Callahan and senior midfielder Riley Ambrose.

“I felt like we were underdogs going into the tournament,” Poynter said. “There were some pretty good teams in the field, at least on paper, that were better than us so we knew we had to rise our game to match that.”

This is the third tournament the Pirates have competed in this year. They went 1-1 in the All “A” Classic Aug. 19-21 before winning the Pulaski Cup the following week. Berea will return to action Tuesday when it will travel to Paris to take on Bourbon County

Berea girls rescheduled

Saturday’s matchup between Berea and Bellevue was postponed to 7 p.m. next Saturday, due to poor field conditions, Pirate coach Jerry Bingham said.

Because the Bellevue soccer field doubles as their football field, an official decision was made following heavy rains Friday night to postpone the game due to heavy damage to the field.

The Berea girls will face off against Madison Southern at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Duerson Field.