The Red River FC club based out of Minden finally got their debut in semi-professional leagues. Red River FC was ready to kick off last year in the UPSL but COVID-19 canceled their first season. The Black Bears started their inaugural season in the Gulf Coast Premier League on May 9 on the road against the Louisiana Krewe based out of Lafayette. Here’s a recap of the first two games.
Louisiana Krewe 2, Red River FC 1 (May 9)
Red River FC started with one of the top dogs within the GCPL on the Louisiana Krewe home field in Lafayette. Red River had some bad luck midway through the first half as Luis Pena was injured in the 28th minute. A local veteran to the GCPL and former Bossier-based BOCA FC Knights star, Quesi Weston scored the first goal in the 30th minute. Eight minutes later, Sergio Perez got the honor of giving the Black Bears their first goal in the GCPL tying the game at 1-1. Weston struck again in the 65th minute to give the Krewe the win as they held on for the 2-1 win.
“It was the game of the week,” Coach Joseph Winningham said. “It was highly anticipated and definitely a hard first game to be our debut. Krewe has been playing games regularly and is in form. Our boys played strong but were unsettled. We lost Pena, one of our starting centerbacks early due to a hamstring injury which threw us out of sync. Considering the newness of our team, language barriers, we did well, and was a good back and forth battle with Krewe only conceding a late goal. We have already improved during training and are getting more settled. We will only get better as it goes.”
Red River FC 2, Cajun Rush 1 (May 15)
The Black Bears proved that they had improved by the next Saturday on a second trip to Lafayette as they brought a win back to Northwest Louisiana. Cajun Rush took an early lead as Ezra Hebert netted a goal in the 31st minutes giving Cajun Rush the 1-0 lead at the end of the first half. The Black Bears got hot in the second half as Sergio Perez recorded his second goal of the season with a 51st-minute goal to tie the match. Abdullah Rayyan pushed the lead for Red River with a late goal in the 88th minute to give the Black Bears their first win in the GCPL.
Red River FC won’t get to play on their home field at Minden Recreational Center until their fifth game of the season on June 5, but they will get to play a lot closer to home at Lee Hedges Stadium in Shreveport on Wednesday, May 26 against Shreveport United at 7:15 pm.
Western Conference Standings (as of May 24)
| W | L | T | Pts | Goal Diff | |
| Louisiana Krewe | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | +4 |
| Cajun Rush | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | +4 |
| Shreveport United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | +1 |
| Red River FC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Central TX Lobos | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -3 |
| Alexandria PBFC | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -6 |
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