Bears advance to Regionals—Lady Bears win District match
11th District Runner-Up Bears
By Greg Moore
Banner Sports Editor
Two weekends ago, involved a lot of high school soccer in Morgantown and Brownsville. The 11th District Tournaments were held at Butler County and Edmonson County High Schools with Grayson, Edmonson, Butler, and Meade playing in both boys and girls. While the boys were all played in Brownsville, the girls competed in Morgantown.
Breckinridge County, who does not have a boys’ team, played the Lady Bears in a play-in game to start the tournament at BCHS. The Lady Bears would get the pleasure to face unbeaten in district play and the favorite in the 11th, #1 seed, Meade County, after they outscored the Lady Tigers, 5-3 in the play-in game. The Lady Bears would lose to the Lady Waves of Meade County; however, nothing was lost throughout the season of continuous growth for this group of young ladies.
Bears soccer has been through some ups and downs during the season with their record staying pretty consistent, at a near .500 winning percentage. Butler County, the #2 seed, took on Grayson County, who split with the Bears during regular season, in the first game.
Bears striker, Jonathan Portillo, who is ranked 37th in the state in scoring, put on a clinic for the soccer fans. Portillo hat-trick against the Cougars in the Bears’ regular season home win, but he put in an extra, just for good measure, during the district tournament clash, netting four goals in the 5-2 win for Butler County. As if four goals were not enough, Portillo assisted Jesus Francisco for the other score.
The Bears, who earned a berth to the 3rd Region Tournament with the win over Grayson, played Meade County for the 11th District Championship. Butler County could not overcome the balanced, physical lineup of the Green Waves and fell 8-0 in the title match.
The Bears played Ohio County at Beaver Dam in the region tournament this past Saturday. The Eagles struck quickly, scoring two goals in less than a minute into the match. It took almost four minutes for the next score, but the well-coached Eagles swarmed the Bears near the box for a 5-0 advantage over ten minutes through the half, which was all it took.
Goalkeeper, Landon Beatty, made some spectacular stops on shots by the Eagles; plus, the defense never stopped hustling for the Bears. Portillo and Kevin Mendoza exhibited some excellent dribbling through Ohio County’s defense, also. Both put some decent strikes on balls that just missed; and the Eagles keeper was sensational in the 10-0 shutout.
Landon Beatty, shown here taking some aggression out on this boot down field, is ranked #8 in the state in saves by goalkeepers
The BCHS Bears finish the season with a 7-9-1 overall record while going 4-6 in the region and 4-3 in district. The Lady Bears completed the season standing at 2-13-1, 2-8-1, 2-6, respectively. The sport of soccer could explode in Butler County under the right guidance at the Charles Black City Park, which is set up to be an ideal location for a youth league to flourish.
