By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
The most heated battle of local high school boys soccer teams over the last few years is the Bossier-Loyola game. It has become the one to go see, the biggest rivalry in town.
This year’s matchup was Monday night, and the showdown was not disappointing.
In the last minute, Loyola’s Bishop Doege knocked in a rebound on a Flyers corner, which broke a scoreless tie, bringing jubilation for the Flyers fans, and disappointment on the Bearkats side.
The weather was perfect for the players, but a bit nippy for the fans, with temps in the 40s and no wind to influence the game.
Bossier came out with possession in mind, and they had it most of the half, running a 60/40 advantage with the ball and creating opportunities at goal, but could not punch one in. The play was generally clean, but started to get chippy, with a yellow card shown to a player on each side.
The second half saw a spike in number of fouls and yellow cards being shown, with Loyola getting four more and Bossier three, for a total of nine yellow cards shown.
The adjustments the Flyers made at halftime changed the flow of the game. Loyola gained the higher percentage of possession and opportunities at goal. This advantage became more pronounced in the last five minutes, when three of the Flyers’ shots on goal happened, including the game-winner by Doege.
It was an evenly-fought clash of the two top-rated teams in the area. The win will give the Flyers the inside track on the Division III, District I title.
There were a couple other key contests last week. The most impactful was the Benton Tigers’ 1-1 tie with Byrd last Saturday. This gives Benton ties against three of the Shreveport-Bossier Journal coaches poll’s top five, providing the Tigers a legitimate argument to move up on the list.
Captain Shreve’s Gators took care of a trap game last Wednesday, dodging an upset bid from Northwood, winning 3-1. In other action Monday night, Byrd topped Airline 4-2.
The headline game remaining this week is Thursday at Lee Hedges, when the Benton Tigers come in to fight for the top spot in the district against host Captain Shreve.
Loyola has a trio of tough games still left this week, as they face Calvary tonight, Airline on Thursday and finally Byrd on Saturday.
With these results there could be a shakeup in next week’s coaches poll, after this week’s voting (done before Monday night’s games) saw spots 2-6 tighten. There is a three-way tie for fourth place.
The Week 8 SBJ boys’ soccer poll listing school (W-L-T record) points (first place votes):
1, Loyola (7-5-2), 25 (5)
2, Bossier (7-7-2), 13
3, Caddo Magnet (10-4-3), 11
T4, Benton (6-6-3), 9
T4, Byrd (7-5-6), 9
T4, Captain Shreve (8-8-2), 9
Contact David at dersoff@bellsouth.net