Druid Hills goalkeeper Wyatt Bennett kicks away after a save against Heritage. Bennett allowed just one first half goal and held Heritage scoreless in the second half along with backup keeper Ethan Sayer as the pair combined for six saves in the half. (Photo by Mark Brock)
In the final tune up before the state playoffs next week the Class 4A No. 7 ranked Druid Hills Red Devils broke open a 1-1 match with the Heritage Patriots with a four-goal second half on the way to a 5-1 win in non-region high school soccer action at Adams Stadium on Friday night.
The two teams were tied 1-1 at the half and it took almost 13 and a half minutes into the second half before Druid Hills took the lead for good at the 26:32 mark. Mason Martz took a pass from Justin Nyijak and put a shot past Heritage keeper Jonathan Hermandez who had four of his five saves in the match , the last with 37:31 remaining in the match, to keep the score knotted at 1-1.
Wyatt Bennett had three saves in the first 13 minutes of the second half for the Red Devils to keep the game at 1-1 before Martz’s goal made it 2-1. One of the saves was a big leap to his left to smother a ball just in front of the goal six minutes into the half.
Druid Hills struck again when freshman Brayden Schoenthal split the defenders on a pass from Eh Soo and squeezed a shot over the outstretched foot of Hernandez and the goal post to make it 3-1 with 19:30 to play.
Eh Soo got another assist with 12:59 to play as he lofted a pass over the defense and Nyijak out raced Hernandez to the ball and put it past him to up the lead to 4-1.
Soo got in on the scoring side with 7:53 to play as he blasted a free kick from 26 yards out into the upper right corner of the net to make the final of 5-1.
Substitute goalie Evan Sayer kept the margin at four goals for Druid Hills with three big saves in the final 14:30 of the match including a big foot save and a diving save on a point blank shot by Heritage.
Druid Hills (11-5-1) scored in the first minute of the game to take a 1-0 lead as a Wyatt Blair shot ricocheted off a defender’s attempt to block the shot and into the goal at the 39:01 mark.
Seven minutes later Heritage (11-4-0) evened the game at 1-1 as Juan Ramos got loose in the Red Devils’ back end and put a shot past a diving Bennett.
The Red Devils go on the road in the first round of the Class 4A boys’ state playoffs next Friday (4/19) for a 7:00 pm meeting with Region 7 No. 2 seed Cedartown (10-7-0), losers of their last two matches this past week.