The Cascade Champions ended the Community Vikings’ season in the District 9-A Soccer Tournament Semifinals in the third and final “Battle of Bedford” with a 1-0 victory on Tuesday night. 

Cascade, the two seed in the district behind Chapel Hill, played host to the three-seeded Vikings after the two teams played to an exhilarating 3-3 draw on April 25 in Unionville. That result – Community scored a pair of goals after initially going down 3-1 – prevented Cascade from clinching the top seed, meaning there would be a rematch in the district tournament.

This game didn’t have the excitement of six goals, but what it did have was nail-biting defensive activity from the Champs as they scrambled to try and hold onto a one goal lead from an increasingly desperate Community offensive bombardment as the seconds ticked away in the second half.

Both teams traded long shot after long shot for the majority of the first half as neither team really manufactured any clean-cut chances in front of goal. Community threatened to break through a high Cascade defensive backline a couple times with Nicky Anica, Jacob Graham, and Alex Britt pushing forward, but Hayden Dowell and Chase Sutter were able to recover and keep Nick Harris clean in goal.

Senior Ivan Draine pulled the strings of Cascade’s offensive attack, and it was his run and assist that led to the lone goal of the game. 

Ivan Draine (2) assisted the lone goal of the district semifinal on Tuesday.

After receiving the ball on the left sideline with about five minutes left in the first half, Draine created just enough space to play a low cross on the ground into the box right to the feet of junior Vayden Moore. Moore took the shot first time on his right foot, clinically redirecting the ball past Community goalkeeper Reily Anica to give Cascade a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute that they would never relinquish. 

The Champs almost doubled their lead less than a minute later, but an Anica save on a crowded header from a Draine long throw kept Community within reach.

The next 25-plus minutes – final four minutes of the first half and first 21-ish of the second half – regressed back to more of the same as the first half: plenty of half-chances from outside-the-box shots but nothing clear cut. 

Isaac Chapa (23) and Clayton Dodson (15) both fight to win back possession.

That all changed in the 63rd minute as Community had their first real one-on-one with Nick Harris in the Cascade goal. Jacob Graham careened down the right sideline, able to sneak past the Champs backline, and saw an on-rushing Harris as he approached the top of the 18-yard box. Harris slid in to try and snag the ball with his hands, but Graham seemed to poke the ball around Harris right before he was able to put his hands on the ball until a whistle blew.

Graham was deemed to have touched the ball while it was in Harris’ grasp, which is illegal of course, but is definitely not what actually happened. Graham was rightfully and animatedly irate because if not for the whistle, there was a good chance he would have been through on goal for an easy tap-in to tie the game at 1. After a conversation with his assistant, the center referee determined that there was no foul. He held a contested drop ball on the edge of the box to restart play, but the damage was already done as it allowed Cascade to reset their defense in front of the ball.

This blatant refereeing mistake did not deter the visiting Vikings; in fact, their pressure only picked up from that point on. In the 73rd minute, Community created their best chance of the game after a Graham flick-on header put Alex Britt through on goal one-on-one with Harris. However, a wayward touch combined with Harris quickly coming out of his goal to close him down threw Britt off just enough and the ball trickled just past the post and out of play for a goal kick.

Cascade did not allow another shot on goal despite the constant pestering Vikes’ attack in the Champs defensive half for the final eight minutes, holding on to their 1-0 lead to clinch a spot in the district championship game on Thursday.

Community’s season ends at 4-6-2 (2-3-1).

Cascade improves to 7-3-1 (4-1-1) and advances both to the District 9-A Championship at Chapel Hill on Thursday night and the Region 5-A Tournament.