Blue Devils fend off first-half adversity, advance to face Kahoks in Class 3A regional semifinals

QUINCY — The Quincy High School boys soccer team hasn’t allowed itself to be crippled by adversity.

Such was the case once again Friday night.

Eighth-seeded Granite City erased a one-goal lead midway through the first half, but Carter Venvertloh converted a rebound of a penalty kick and Evan Sohn followed with a goal to make it 3-1 by halftime at Flinn Stadium. The seventh-seeded Blue Devils added a pair of goals in the second half to finish off a 5-1 victory in the Class 3A Collinsville Regional quarterfinals at Flinn Stadium.

“We talk about the way our kids handle adversity,” QHS coach Ron Bridal said. “They don’t hang their head after they give up a goal. They go back out and continue to work hard. It helped us tonight. That second goal came right away and then that third goal.

“Going into halftime with a 3-1 lead was something we were OK with, but we also knew in the second half, Granite City was going to come out full of energy again and continue to throw punches.”

The Blue Devils (12-8-1) never flinched.

“We were a little more organized, better organized than we were in the first half,” Bridal said. “We really limited their opportunities. In the second half, we did a really good job defensively locking down.”

Their reward is a trip to Collinsville to face the top-seeded Kahoks at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the regional semifinals.

“It’s what you can hope for, to go against a team everyone thinks so favorably about and to go to their field and to go head-to-head with them,” Bridal said. “Those are the reasons why you play the game, to put yourself to the test and see how you perform. We’re excited to play No. 1-seeded Collinsville.”

Josh Stupavsky scored twice for the Blue Devils, while Evan Altman and Logan Epping had assists.

“The conditions were pretty crummy, but the kids handled the weather,” Bridal said. “And they handled the energy that Granite City brought. They were pumped up, and I thought our kids were more pumped up. Our kids handled the atmosphere of the evening really well.”