CALEDONIA — For much of Caledonia High School boys soccer team”s playoff match against New Albany on Saturday, the offsides trap worked to perfection.
New Albany failed to finish the handful of times it beat the trap.
In the 62nd minute, Carlos Zaragoza got on the end of a Gabriel Fernandez lead pass and had only goalkeeper Matt Gresham to beat. Gresham slid to gather the ball but failed to clear it, leaving Zaragoza with an open net for the game”s only goal.
With the 1-0 win, New Albany earned the right to play host to Amory, which defeated Pontotoc on Saturday, on Tuesday in the Class 4A North State title game.
Caledonia lost by one goal to New Albany for the second time this season and finished the season 15-5.
“Unfortunately, the referee let the offsides go and they got the goal,” Caledonia High coach Kevin Kugel said. “I”ve tried to teach the kids all year that you got to go to the whistle. That seems to be the way balls have rolled for us this year. We haven”t been able to catch that break.”
New Albany coach Taylor Nichols felt fortunate to see his team break through following a string of chances in Caledonia”s box.
n Midfielder Read Robbins saw a low cross pass the face of goal but came up empty in the ninth minute.
n Zaragoza played a perfect cross to forward Moses Kingsley in the 25th minute, but the 6-foot-6 striker pushed his point-blank shot wide of the back post.
n New Albany had back-to-back corner kicks cleared in the 15th.
“Give credit to (Caledonia), they”re a good team,” Nicholas said. “They shut us down a lot of times and were real aggressive. They put a body on (Kingsley) and took away some of his opportunities.
“They”re real aggressive, and they were winning a lot of stuff. We kept chipping away and knew something was gonna have to go in our favor.”
Nichols said the goal came after repeatedly attacking the right wing. With a heavily sloped field, through passes were traveling faster and he felt there would be opportunities to unlock the defense.
The work on defense by Nick May and Nick Ferrebee saved the Confederates several times. Ferrebee used a lunging tackle to win a ball from Gabriel Fernandez in the Caledonia box in the 32nd.
Ferrebee”s tackle was just a glimpse of what would come in the second half, as an emotional, physical contest led to four cards being issued.
Ferrebee received a yellow card, and the New Albany bench earned a yellow for excessive celebration following Zaragoza”s goal.
In the 78th, Robbins bumped Caledonia”s Josh Kugel after the latter dragged a leg late through a challenge. Both players received red cards and were ejected. Robbins will miss the North State championship game.
“I had no qualms about the way the game was played,” coach Kugel said. “I tell my boys, ”You give what you get until the referee says back off and you take a time out.”
“I didn”t necessarily agree with his call up there, but that”s the way the ball rolls.”
Nichols said he didn”t have a problem with the aggressiveness in the match, as his side expected a physical contest. However, he believes the officials could have done a better job policing the action earlier in the game.
“It wasn”t, and that”s unfortunate for the kids,” Nichols said. “It didn”t get stopped, and that”s how it goes sometimes.
“We might not have muscled up to Caledonia as well and our bodies might not have been as big, but we held our own.”
Caledonia saw its best chance come 10 minutes from the final whistle when Evan Wester took a quick throw-in to Brandon Webber, who had a step on his defender but mistimed his header.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.