The Calvary Cavaliers and Lady Cavs hosted Minden Crimson Tide at Jerry Barker Stadium on Thursday night.
Calvary snuck a 1-0 win over Minden in the opening game. Calvary held a slight possession edge over the Lady Tiders as neither team could gain much ground. Calvary outshot the Minden 7-2 in the first half. The Lady Cavs were unable to take advantage of any of its three first-half corners. The second half continually showed each team to be evenly matched. In the 69th minute, Calvary found an option as Skylar Odom popped one over the goalkeeper’s head to score the lone goal. Bailey Barber picked up the assist. The shot difference was closer in the second half at 6-4.
“That Minden game has become a pretty good rivalry in the last two years,” Coach Adam Hester said. “We always hang in there with those girls from Minden. That’s become such an important for them. We always try to kick it up a notch when we play them. We know we’re going to get good competition and a physical game. Nobody’s going to take a playoff in that game. As far as tonight’s game, we knew there was a goal there if we just kept it together. We were in the attacking half for at least 65-70 minutes. We always felt like it was coming and keep pushing and pushing. Bailey Barber was on the right-wing and had the best game she has had her whole career. She’s somebody that has started since the eighth grade. We changed up formations because it gave us a better chance and I told Skylar Odom to keep working and something on goal is going to happen. Bailey throws it in and Skylar makes the touch and arcs the keeper and that’s what we needed.”
The opposite was true in the boy’s match. Calvary maintained around 60 percent possession in the first half and not allowing a single shot by Minden in the first half. Calvary took a massive 19 shots and had 26 throw-ins in the first half. The Calvary attack was strong an all around the goal. Abram Murray shot in the 17th minutes banged off the top bar. Success was found In the 18th minute as Jordan Wallace made a cross to Braden Reeder to punch in the first goal. The goal didn’t stop the attack. Another Abram Murray shot went high in the 20th minute. Calvary struck again in the 26th minute as Abram Murray took a shot in the box that Minden goalkeeper deflected and Reeder was there to finish and give the Cavs a 2-0 lead into halftime. Minden did get opportunities in the second half but Calvary still outshot the Tide 13-5. Abram Murray made up for his missed opportunities in the second half. Murray worked his footwork magic along the goal line to score his first goal of the match in the 61st minute. Another breakaway to the goal allowed Abram Murray to get in the box again but this time allowing him to score the goal in the 63rd minute. Minden threatened the clean sheet in the 66th minute as Dillon Creech went for the grab but missed leaving an open net. Quick action by the Cavalier backline stopped the scoring opportunity for Minden as the Cavs held on for the 4-0 win.
“Tons of chances, tons of chance and we left goals out on the field,” Hester said. “They knew that we talked about it at halftime. That stuff was Ok for tonight. I bet we have practiced twice when all those guys were available. We haven’t had that practice time and unfortunately, we’re probably not going to have a lot of it because of the way the schedule is set up. They are learning on the job. Jayce Gill was fantastic tonight. Thomas Murray was out, so Jayce played that defensive mid spot. He’s a guy who didn’t play last year and he’s a sophomore. He played when he was younger. He played in the state (football) championship game, he shows up at practice the day after he doesn’t have a spot, doesn’t where to go and he goes and wins the ball. He goes and wins the ball and works his tail off. If you have a few kids like along with these kids who are highly skilled like the Murray boys and Jordan Wallace and Osbourne and you add that grit, suddenly you have a well-rounded team. We’re not there yet and we have (Caddo) Magnet tomorrow night and down the road we have OCS coming here. Those kinds of games we have to get better, but we have a raw talent here that can be turned into something.”
Speaking of the Caddo Magnet, the Cavaliers had a 2-1 one of the top teams in the area only to have a penalty kick even the game but a big tie for Calvary. Abram Murray scored the two-goals to push his total for the season to 8. The Cavaliers still have not suffered a loss and sit at 6-0-3.
The Lady Cavaliers jumped up to No. 16 in the power rankings after the win. That’s crucial because that could mean a first-round home playoff game. Calvary ladies will have a full slate of three games next week. Tuesday night will be their first district game at Evangel. Thursday night they’ll return to Jerry Barker Stadium with a match against Airline. Calvary will have a Saturday matinee game against Ouachita Christian at home.
The boys are currently No. 9 in Division IV and might be reaching a first-round bye in the playoffs. They will also play Evangel and OCS next week as doubleheader’s second game.
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