HAGERSTOWN – Some shots are so big, they have to be taken twice.
That was the situation the Cooper Byard and North Hagerstown boys soccer team found themselves in on Tuesday night.
It was two shots from close range about five seconds apart. And Byard had the honor – and the luck – to take them both.
In rapid-fire succession, Byard unloaded two shots, with the second one coming off a deflection of the first. The return effort slipped past Clear Spring goalie Jay McConnaughey for a goal in the 76th minute to lift the Hubs to a 1-0 victory over the stunned Blazers.
“It’s pretty big,” said Byard. “I’ve never scored a goal that late before in a high school game. It’s a cool feeling.”
The shot and its timing were momentous. Every Hub – both on the field and on the bench – rushed to the left corner kick area to greet, congratulate and celebrate Byard’s accomplishment.
He marched to the side with his hands balled into fists and give a celebratory yell as his teammates approached. Somewhere in the middle of the hoard was coach Uriel Galvan.
“He got me excited … and I don’t get excited often,” Galvin said. “(The goal) was a pressure release. After the loss we had against Williamsport, kids were kind of down We really needed this.
“But we knew Clear Spring was going to come out and try to take it. That’s a really good team.”
The lone score was an exclamation point on a match that was played from end to end on North’s Callas Stadium field. North and Clear Spring got shots, but most were from the 20-yard range and wide of the goal.
Add to it varying degrees of interment rain – mostly heavy in the second half – and it was script befitting for a single-goal match, complete with a dramatic ending.
North turned up the pressure as the time dwindled in regulation. The Hubs were getting more shots, each coming closer to the goal than the Blazers.
The Hubs decisive move started with about 4:30 left on the clock.
Byard slipped into position from his midfield slot to unload a shot off the right wing from about 10 yards. The shot rejected and came back at him.
“The ball bounced out at me and I shot it,” he said, calmly and matter-of-factly. “It was going in, but a player blocked it. It came back out and I got the slightest touch on it with my right foot and pushed it out to my left. And I shot it.
“I was a little surprised it came back to me. I was a little fortunate.”
The lucky break came at point blank range for North.
“It was just staying with what we were working on,” Galvin said. “Staying patient and knowing what we talked about at halftime was going to work.
“That was just a through ball that we have been working on, having Coop going to the inside from the wing position. He just needed to be in the right spot at the right moment and that’s what happened. Sometimes you have to have those types of balls to put them away.”
The game wasn’t over quite yet.
In the 77th minute, North’s Jayden Gray flashed in from the right side and unleashed a shot for a possible insurance goal, but it clanged squarely off the left goalpost and ejected back into the field of play, leaving Gray clutching his head in disbelief.
As the game entered extra time, Clear Spring made a push to get the tying goal.
With the help of passing and penetration, the Blazers got the ball to the goal mouth, where Aaron Chilin Bonilla took aim on North goalkeeper Darius Geaman.
The shot went high and over the net, just seconds before the game’s final whistle sounded.
In the end, the entire match was built on teams showing the ability to move the ball, but failing to finish their plays.
Except for one, as Byard exhibited.
“There was a lot of pressure and we had to adapt to (the situation),” he said. “Honestly, it was just being simple Just passing the ball along the ground. Just simple passes.
“You have to be consistent and put in the effort. When you put in 100% of the effort all the time and you get the chance. They’re going to come.”
