Farragut’s soccer team ended a long losing streak against Bearden on Saturday night.
Not with a victory against the Bulldogs.
With a tie.
Farragut played visiting Bearden to a 1-1 tie after 100 minutes of regulation play and two 10-minute golden-goal (sudden death) overtimes.
Bearden then won a penalty-kick shootout 4-3 when Bulldogs goalkeeper Logan Nelson blocked a PK attempt by Nathan Henderson in the sixth round.
Nelson, a senior, was in goal for the Bulldogs’ PK victory over Ravenwood in last year’s Class AAA state championship game. And Nelson had the winning penalty kick in the shootout against Ravenwood.
He was ready again Saturday night.
“I just thought, ‘I’ve got to go, either way, and hopefully he’ll hit it my way,’ Nelson said. “I knew my team needed to bang in some shots on the back side to win us the game, and my boys did it. We’re some dogs.”
Bearden entered Saturday with a nine-match winning streak against Farragut, which last beat the Bulldogs on April 26, 2019.
Saturday’s match counts as a tie for both teams.
The sudden-death overtime and PK shootout are used only for District 4-AAA seeding purposes, if needed.
Bearden (14-1-2) is 5-0-1 in District 4-AAA. Farragut (8-3-3) is 2-1-2 in the district.
The Bulldogs have clinched the No. 1 seeding in the district tournament, while Farragut and Hardin Valley Academy are still competing for second place in the district.
Bearden’s only regular-season match remaining is at Johnson City Science Hill this coming Thursday.
Farragut still has a non-district match against Halls and a district match against Heritage this week.
HVA and West have a district match left against each other that will affect the district standings.
Nelson had one save in Saturday’s PK shootout, and Farragut had two shots off frame.
“It’s a very big win,” Nelson said. “This was a hell of a game. Farragut’s got a good team, a good coach, a good coaching staff, but I think we’ve trained for these big night games to come out and win, and we did it.”
Farragut keeper Matthew Burney blocked two shots in the PK shootout.
Burney entered in goal for the shootout in place of Parker Fuller, who played the previous 100 minutes.
Bearden finished regulation and overtime with 16 shots (eight on goal), and Fuller made several clutch saves that kept the Admirals in the match.
Farragut had 10 shots (seven on goal).
“All I know is both teams got everything they wanted tonight,” Farragut coach Bradley Culbreth said. “The crowd got a good game, and we both got out of here healthy. We’ll be ready for the playoffs.”
Bearden took a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute of Saturday’s match when Preston Ford knocked a low shot past Fuller. Aidan Ainsworth got the assist.
Farragut tied it 1-1 in the 46th minute.
The Admirals’ Lincoln Unger booted a long free kick toward the Bulldogs’ goal, and while the ball bounced in a crowd, Bearden was called for a handball.
Franklin Von Hagen drilled the penalty kick low and to his left past Nelson, tying the match.
“I’m pretty frustrated with how the game went and how we approached the second half,” Bearden coach Ryan Radcliffe said. “When you score 3 minutes into the game, you’d like to see a team come out and put the nail in the coffin, and then we let off.
“I want us to be a team that when you go up 1-0 in the first 3 minutes to keep your foot on the pedal and keep going, and I thought we had moments to, and we were just a step off. But it’s a rivalry game, so we’re going to get their best. That’s a good team, a very athletic (Farragut) team.”
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