CALEDONIA — New Hope High School forward Jake Crosson didn’t call “bar” when he launched a corner kick in the 22nd minute of his team’s derby match against Caledonia on Tuesday night.
Crosson, who’d opened the scoring with a glancing header off a Bryan Vogel free kick two minutes earlier, was looking to re-pay the favor and drop a gift for a teammate near the back post. The ball found the back post and the net, over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Carson Dallas. It was the zinger in a blistering stretch that saw New Hope build a three-goal lead through 32 minutes. The Trojans held on for a 3-1 win in the first of two Lowndes County Derby matches this season.
“I usually go for that back post around the PK line, but that kick had one heck of a curve on it,” Crosson said. “It cornered right in there. I scored one off a corner when I was younger, but I don’t work for that; the chances of that happening are pretty slim.”
New Hope’s chances of converting set pieces into goals were pretty good entering the game, said Andrew Olsen, New Hope coach. Olsen said his team has a few guys “who’ll always find the ball.”
Crosson found Vogel’s deep free kick at the edge of the six-yard box, where Dallas was caught in no-man’s land. His indecision and miscommunication with his back line left an opening for Crosson.
“It was the perfect floater. It seemed like it sat in the air forever,” Crosson said. “As it was coming down, I knew I just had to get my head on it. Turns out, I was the only person around.”
The set-piece goals were deflating to a Caledonia side that had its chances early. Quaid Phillips fired wide from the edge of the 18 and Daniel Longmire’s looping effort over goalkeeper Bryce Braddock just missed the far post.
“I preach all the time: It takes one foot to get a head on a goal,” Caledonia coach Louis Alexander said. “We got guys marking up five or six yards off a man. That’s unacceptable. I can say it, but sometimes it takes games like tonight — two goals off set pieces — to wake them up. I hate that it came to that, but there can be a silver lining that that lesson has been learned.”
New Hope (3-0) took a 3-0 lead into the break after Marc Juanico shook off center back Sam Young at the top of the box and fired low past Dallas. The Trojans enjoyed lengthy spells on the ball, too, often stringing together five or six passes and stretching Caledonia’s midfield and backline.
“Constantly change the point of attack. That’s all we’ve worked on since the summer,” Olsen said. “We want to make the field wide and make them chase us. If you control possession and make them chase the ball, and we have our legs underneath us, we’ll pull the win out.”
After a fiery halftime talk from Alexander, the Confederates dominated the second half by controlling the ball and using their speed to work the flanks. Garrett Parish was particularly impressive, winning a handful of corners and finding his way onto the end of long through-balls from Phillips. Parish scored Caledonia’s first goal in the 66th minute after running at three defenders in the box and eluding all of them.
Caledonia (0-2) thought it had another minutes from the final whistle when the Parish and Phillips linked up once more, this time seeing Phillips clear the back line on a counter attack and firing past Braddock. An offsides call negated a goal that what would have made it 3-2.
“We were on our heels,” Olsen said. “Caledonia was pressuring high and trying to get shots. Every time they got the ball around the 18, they were trying to put it on frame.
“I wanted to keep the pace and intensity, but we definitely wore down a bit.”
Alexander took solace in his team’s second-half performance and the goals left on the field.
“We just took too long to settle into the game,” Alexander said. “The biggest positive is we’re mentally tough.
“It’s hard to come and work hard and do the right things when results aren’t going your way. We’ll find out this week if we’re as mentally tough as I think we are.”
n Caledonia girls 3, New Hope 2: Hallie Kate Brewer scored two goals in the opener to help the Lady Confederates improve to 2-2.
Claire Benson added a goal and an assist, while Lizzie Truelock had two assists.
Jada Tate scored off an assist from Madison Waddell, and Allie Corbett scored off a assist from Reagan Greenhaw for New Hope.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.