Blue Devils don’t want shootout loss to diminish their persistence and fight in battle with Panthers

QUINCY — The Quincy High School boys soccer players hid neither their disappointment nor their frustration.

“This hurts man,” junior center back Bennett Soltwedel said after Tuesday night’s Western Big 6 Conference loss in a penalty kick shootout to United Township following a 2-2 tie through regulation and overtime. “We had it. We just need to put one in the back of the net. We need to finish when we need to.”

And there’s a strong belief this group is moving closer and closer to doing that.

“We fought like hell,” QHS senior goalkeeper Lance Venvertloh said. “It came down to the very end, and we did what we could do. Things are changing. We can see it. We’re on an uphill climb. Nobody should look at our record right now. You should come watch our game and see what we have.

“We’re not what our record says. I don’t even know our record. I think we have one win. That doesn’t matter. Our games are super intense and close. The effort is there. It’s about putting the pieces together and doing things right.”

Erasing a one-goal deficit in the closing minutes is proof of the effort.

United Township’s Brodie King scored with 13:14 remaining in regulation to give the Panthers (8-2, 5-0 WB6) a 2-1 lead, but he was given a red card for taunting the QHS bench during his celebration. It created a man advantage for the Blue Devils (1-12, 1-3 WB6) and a new life both on the field and on the sideline.

The energy and effort resulted in the game-tying goal with 6:08 to play.

Off a corner kick from the right side, Quincy’s Campbell Reekie redirected it on goal, and the ball went off a defender and UT goalkeeper Logan Schaefer tried to corral it with no luck before the ball went over the goalline to tie the game.

“What they showed is they’re able to be in a game, lose the lead and come back and fight,” QHS coach Ron Bridal said. “That’s something we’ve wanted to see from them. It didn’t end the way that we wanted, but to come back and fight and to create the opportunities that they did and have opportunities to win in regulation and overtime, I thought we were right there.”

The opportunities piled up with the Blue Devils hitting the left post and then driving a shot off the football crossbar just 45 seconds into overtime. Scoreless after 20 minutes of overtime, the teams went to a shootout.

Trace Routh buried the first attempt for the Blue Devils, and Venvertloh dove to his left to stop the Panthers’ first attempt by Carter Ramsey. A QHS miss on the second attempt and saves by both Venvertloh and Schaefer left the shootout tied at 2 going to the fifth shooters.

Schaefer made a save, and UT’s Jesus Munoz buried his shot into the lower left corner for the victory.

“We just have to keep our confidence high and know we are better than our record shows,” Soltwedel said. “We have what it takes to go win a regional. We have to keep our head up and keep playing hard.”