Rain or shine, our Eagles make it right! The Eagles took on Jarvis Christian this past Thursday for their 17th game in their 2023-24 season. They played at their home turf of Judy Kelley Morgan Field, where they have been evenly matched with a 4-4 win-loss record. This game is important because if lost, they would not have qualified to compete in the upcoming Conference Tournament.

The match starts with Jarvis Christian kicking off and keeping control but soon the Eagles take possession when JC tries to push down field. Fouls begin happening with JC fouling Damilare Origunloye and the Eagles getting a free kick. This would start the cascade of fouls that begin to unfold from both teams in this tough game. The foul that was the most important in this first half was one that was unfortunately done by our own Coastes Heckman which looked like maybe a grab towards the other player that caused the call. This free kick would allow JC to put themselves on the board with a shot that was more than half the length of the field, putting the score at 1-0 Jarvis Christian leading.

For the remainder of the first half, it was very back and forth between both teams. There was a yellow card given to Dante Zavala for what looked like too high of a kick hitting the opposing team member. Not too long after, Jaret Rojas received a  yellow card for an unintentional headbutt given to the other team’s player. With no more scores, the first half came to an end.

The second half begins with an Eagles kick off, trailing still with Jarvis Christian leading with a 1-0 score. There was back and forth at the beginning but then fouls started stirring up again with JC fouling our own Patrick Cowley just about 25 feet from the opposing goal. With a strong kick, it sadly does not make it, barely missing the top crossbar. The tension continues with shortly after another foul being called that was done to Emmanuel Mubanga allowing a free kick right on the center line with a nice kick that ends up being a goal kick for the JC Bulldogs. The ball is juggled between both teams for possession and with the Eagles still down by 1 they need to quickly score to keep their ranking of 8th to be able to qualify.

With nothing happening and the time clock steadily counting down, with just five minutes remaining the Eagles get fouled inside the goal box resulting in a 1-on-1 penalty kick. This is exactly what our Eagles need to secure a possible tie and even the playing field. Oluwafisayo Oduwole goes up for the kick and shoots a beautiful top left shot making the score 1-1! For the rest of the match it was back and forth with a few fouls and another yellow card given to JC’s goalie because of unsportsmanlike conduct by kicking the ball over the fence during a pause.

Overall, a very stressful game for the Eagles but in the end they were able to pull through and score a goal to tie it up leaving their home games scores at 4-4-1 and overall record being 9-8-1, allowing them to go and compete in the Red River Athletic Conference. Go Eagles !