Late goal breaks gridlock as Devils down Bulldogs

Oct. 11—ST. PAULS — A game began under the blue skies of an early Monday evening. The skies turned into an autumn sunset, which eventually faded away into the St. Pauls night. And all the while, no one scored a goal.

The host Bulldogs and the visitors from Red Springs ran all over the soccer field of G.S. Kinlaw Stadium for seemingly forever, seeking a single payoff.

Finally, after 69 minutes and 36 seconds, a ball found the back of the net.

Red Springs' Marco Tellez scored late in Monday's match, then the Red Devils held off St. Pauls over the final 10 minutes to earn a 1-0 Southeastern Athletic Conference victory.

Tellez goal came after a failed back pass by St. Pauls (9-6-2, 4-2 Southeastern) about 25 yards from the goal, which Tellez recovered and hit inside the left edge.

"Whenever the defender messed up, I got the ball, I looked up, I had a chance to shoot, so why not at least try," Tellez said. "I did, and look what happened; it was a goal."

Tellez has been "playing hurt" for about the last three weeks, Red Springs coach William Judd said, giving the goal even more meaning.

"We had a five day rest so he came out, I'm not going to say fresh, but he's better than he was last week," Judd said. "I went with my gut and I wanted to put him in the game, and we got the results."

The goal came after a game that was not only scoreless, but didn't see too many good scoring opportunities for either side. Red Springs (4-4, 3-2 Southeastern) missed a free kick 11 minutes into the match, and a couple of shots on goal by the Bulldogs were saved by Red Devils goalkeeper Jesus Camara.

"We told them instead of our left and right back pushing up, we told them to stay and let the game come to us, we're not going to be too aggressive with our defenders today because I know how much St. Pauls likes to counterattack, so we told our defense to stay relaxed, just play your position and don't worry about pushing up," Judd said. "That made a big difference."

Chances were even less frequent in the second half before Tellez connected for the game's lone goal.

"Soccer is a game of fine, fine margins," St. Pauls coach Brent Martin said. "Tonight I think the team that wanted it more won, I have to be honest. They outran us, they outworked us, they outhustled us. They outplayed us. I think we're a better team overall, but they were the better team tonight, and that's really all you have to be."

After Tellez' goal, St. Pauls played more aggressively offensively — added a third striker to the formation for the first time all night after playing one in the first half and two in the second half — but the Bulldogs were unable to find the equalizer.

"It wasn't until we got scored on to where I threw three (strikers) up top, that we were actually getting into their attacking third ... and started to create some things. It still wasn't enough," Martin said. "We probably would've needed five, six, seven, eight more chances to get one of them to go in."

Camara had a clean sheet for Red Springs as part of the Red Devils' strong defensive performance, their first shutout of the season.

"I thought the defense played pretty well," Camara said. "Not many shots on target; I think there was like three, and I saved all of them. I say the whole team played pretty well, not just the defense."

"If I had a game ball I'd give it to (Antonio) Bello, because he controlled the defense and talked to every new player, telling them where they need to be," Judd said. "I love that man, he's a general out there."

The teams split the season series after St. Pauls' 3-1 win Sept. 14 in Red Springs.

"We had this game marked on our calendar," Judd said. "When we played them it was our second game and their 10th, and I said it would be a different ballgame this time — and look at the outcome."

Both teams play their next match against Midway; Red Springs hosts the Raiders Wednesday, while St. Pauls travels to Newton Grove Monday.

Lumberton dominates Gray's Creek

The Lumberton boys soccer team earned a 10-0 win Monday at Gray's Creek.

The game was ended by rule at halftime due to the lopsided margin. Lumberton (16-2, 11-0 United-8 Conference) scored five goals in the game's first 12 minutes.

Luis Izeta scored a hat trick for the Pirates. Hoslerson Joseph and Korbyn Walton had two goals each, with Walton adding an assist. Angel Robles, Alexis Lopez and Luis Aguilar also scored goals; Evan Blackley had two assists and Mark Ramirez, Cayden Hammonds, Brandon Rodriguez, Lopez and Robles each tallying one.

Gray's Creek is 4-8-1 overall and 4-6-1 in the United-8.

Lumberton hosts Douglas Byrd on Wednesday.

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.