Wallace-Rose Hill stops skid, hands Clinton first loss in boys soccer

Were it not for the humidity and gnats, you could've sworn Wallace-Rose Hill was the site of a late-round playoff match on Wednesday night.

It wasn't cold enough for that mid-October event, but the intensity was there.

Wallace-Rose Hill snapped a three-game losing skid to hand Clinton its first loss of the season, 3-2.

The unquestioned man of the match for the Bulldogs (3-3-1) was goalkeeper Elier Marquez, who was under duress from the Dark Horses (4-1) early and often, yet Wallace-Rose Hill held a 1-0 lead at halftime thanks to a Kyler Mateer goal.

In the second half, there were two sets of tit-for-tat goals that kept the game lively until the end.

In the 48th minute, Clinton scored on a Cullen Brewer header off a corner from Julian Najera, leveling the score at 1-all.

However, it took all of two minutes for Wallace-Rose Hill to take back the lead as the Bulldogs linked together nine passes to go from one end of the field to the other, culminating in a rocket from Alex Zepeda off a ball laid off by Mateer.

Wallace-Rose Hill increased its lead to 3-1 in the 75th as Mateer got his second goal (and fifth point) of the match by volleying in his own rebound.

But instead of a comfortable last five minutes, the Bulldogs surrendered a 77th minute goal by Walker Spell that bring back that playoff-like intensity.

Clinton has two more weeks of nonconference play before starting Southeastern 2A Conference action, while Wallace-Rose Hill opens East Central 2A Conference action next week.