Boys high school soccer: Bell tops Oak Hall to clinch first district title in over a decade

On the final day of boys district soccer play around the state, the Bell Bulldogs and the Oak Hall Eagles looked to settle their regular-season saga. The teams split, setting up the District 2-2A championship as the rubber match.

Playing at St. Francis Catholic School on Thursday night, the Bulldogs triumphed over the Eagles 2-1, winning the program its first district title in over a decade and advancing to next week's regionals.

Though the Bulldogs (12-2-1) had experienced a 2-1 loss and 4-1 win against the Eagles (10-5-0) in their two meetings, Bell head coach Douglas Beard made it clear that Thursday night’s matchup was a whole new ball game.

“We almost had to throw both of those matches out the window, because this was a completely different match," Beard said. "The last time we played them they weren’t 100%, and obviously tonight we saw what they could do. It was very different from the first match, so we had to adjust on the fly.”

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And adjust they did. Here’s a closer look at Bell’s hard-fought win against Oak Hall.

Bulldogs’ offense strikes with power and precision 

Bell’s attacking chances against the Eagles could be described in a similar manner to yearly tourist encounters with hungry lions: infrequent, but lethal.

Despite Oak Hall controlling possession for much of the first half, the Bulldogs stood strong and made their shots count. Their first chance of the game came with 11:04 to play in the first half on an incisive through ball from captain Jamie Delapaz-Valencia, which put sophomore Edward Martinez in prime position to nudge the ball past the keeper for a 1-0 lead.

“Tactically, we were prepared to find our spaces, and we knew where we could find our pockets,” said Beard of the goal.

One of these pockets opened up again with 10:43 left in the game when a mishandled Bell cross landed at the laces of 8th grader Ivan “Pepino” Trejo, who sent a glancing shot off the back post and in to score the game-winning goal.

Physicality from both sides causes tensions to brew

When considering what was at stake for each team, it was no surprise that the game got a little chippy.

The first half was marked by belligerence from both sides, with aggressive fouls from the Eagles and the Bulldogs forcing the head official to speak with a handful of players individually.

Emotions continued to run high in the second half.

With 19 minutes left in the game, a controversial penalty call left Bell fans and players in outrage. The penalty kick was drawn by Oak Hall’s leading goalscorer, Thomas Cummings, and was calmly converted by freshman Thomas Gibson.

Just minutes later, a shoving match ensued following an especially hard challenge from a Bell player. After teammates and coaches rushed in to break up the quarrel, both players were swiftly given yellow cards and sent to their respective benches.

“I told them, ‘let’s play our game.’,” Beard said. “You can’t control the refs, you can’t control the other players, you can only control the ball and your emotions. We believe in our game. I just told them to calm down, make sure we play for the crest, and go out there and do what we do.”

Bell keeper continues to shine when it matters most

This season, getting scored on has been a largely foreign experience to Bulldog keeper Denis Serrano.

Bell’s defense has kept its opponent’s score to one goal or less an impressive thirteen times out of its fifteen games played, conceding just 0.4 goals per game on average.

This trend continued on Thursday, where, despite Oak Hall’s best efforts, they couldn’t seem to get it past Serrano. In the first quarter alone he came up with three saves, two of which thwarted clear goal-scoring opportunities.

“We’ve had a lot of clean sheets this season, a lot of games where we coasted home and let up a goal where we maybe shouldn’t have, but Denis has been phenomenal all season,” said Beard. “He’s come up with super clutch saves, I can think of a couple games where he was the difference maker, where we lose those games without him.”

His heroics continued into the game’s dying minutes when he rushed out to nearly half-field to make a play on the ball, stopping a potentially game-tying breakaway and putting the final nail in the coffin of Oak Hall’s district champion dreams.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Boys soccer: Bell claims district crown after gritty win over Oak Hall