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B-UHS falls on the road

By Tony Baisi

For The Inter-Mountain

RIPLEY — The hosting Ripley High School Vikings proved to be too much for Buckhannon-Upshur High School after downing the visitors Saturday with a 5-2 decision on the soccer pitch.

Ripley took a 2-0 lead into halftime, and tacked on three more goals while never relinquishing their lead in the second half of Class AAA non-conference matters.

“This definitely wasn’t the result we were looking for to open our regular season,” B-UHS coach Mike Donato said. “But we were able to take some positives from our first game. We had to rely on a lot of younger players in this game to fill in some big spots, and did well in that regard.

“Where our breakdowns occurred was the spacing between our backline and central midfield. Through experience and repetition, that is an issue that can be corrected,” Donato added. “Possession wise, I thought we did well. Our intent with the ball was correct, but we were too hesitant or soft with the ball.”

Ripley tallied advantages by having 13 shots on goal compared to five by the Buccaneers, and forcing seven corner kick opportunities to B-U’s two attempts from the flagstick. Fouls were near even (B-U 13, Ripley 15), and Buckhannon senior Kole Kessler was whistled for a yellow card due to a tactical foul infraction.

Sophomore keeper Logan Kelley collected eight saves in net for the Buccaneers, and Chris Neil recorded three stops for Ripley. The Vikings had five different players put the leather away as goals were scored by Ryan Shatto, Samuel Pierson, Kai Greely-Fay, Ian Gainey and Brandon Cochran.

Both of Buckhannon-Upshur’s goals came in the second half, as freshman Lane Tenney took advantage of a failed clearance by the Vikings and put a back post shot in to end Ripley’s shutout bid, cutting their lead to 4-1. Tenney would later assist B-U senior Tyler Hollen who finished near post for the score.

The Bucs will be back in action Tuesday for their home opener at 7:30 p.m. against section rival Morgantown High School.

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