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Golden Tigers suffer first home match loss to Cullman

For the first time this season, and in the history of the young program, the No. 9-ranked Russellville Golden Tigers (9-2-0, 2-0) were beaten on their home turf Thursday night.

An 80-minute bout with Cullman (6-3-1) saw the Bearcats come out on top 3-1, ending the Golden Tigers’ streak of four straight home victories.

“It was a good for our guys to play a team like this, and it was a good learning experience,” said Russellville head coach Trey Stanford.

Cullman, the No. 3-ranked team in Class 6A, took control of the match early and dominated the Golden Tigers in the first half, scoring two of its three goals in the first 40 minutes.

The first goal for the Bearcats came in the eighth minute. A mistake by the Russellville back line allowed Cullman’s Miguel Tizapa to pass the ball into the box and find the foot of a Bearcat striker, who laid it past junior goalkeeper Jesus Betancourt for the point.

Cullman scored again five minutes later when Tizapa, inside the box, stroked the ball into the back of the net.

Nerves, according to Stanford, were a big reason for Russellville’s slow start.

“They were tight, they were tense, they were nervous – I couldn’t have made them more nervous,” he said. “That’s on me. That’s my fault, 100 percent.”

As bad as the first 15 minutes went for Russellville, the Golden Tigers seemed to settle down and find their form towards the end of the half. Russellville managed to take a few shots on goal, including two excellent strikes by Jorge Bahena and Daniel Carranza that just could not sneak past the gloves of the Cullman keeper.

The Golden Tigers went into halftime down 2-0.

Coming out of the break, Cullman pressed the Golden Tiger defense to try and increase its two-goal lead. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Bearcats took three great shots on goal, but the goalkeeper Betancourt was there on each occasion to clear the danger.

Russellville’s first great opportunity for a goal in the second half came in the 60th minute. A Cullman foul earned the Golden Tigers a free kick, which was delivered perfectly to midfielder Cedrick Mojica who headed it in. Unfortunately for Russellville, the head official called for a push on the Golden Tigers and waved off the would-be goal.

Three minutes after the non-goal, Cullman struck again for the final time as sophomore Washington Sheffield pitched the ball over Betancourt, who came out of the goal to defend, and into the net.

Despite being down 3-0, Russellville continued to battle and spent nearly the remainder of the match in Cullman territory in an attempt to end the shutout. The Golden Tigers put the Cullman goalkeeper to work, forcing him to make multiple last-second saves but could not seem to beat him.

Finally, in the last minute of the game, Russellville found a goal. With just under a minute to play, a ball crossed into the box found the head of freshman David Baltazar, who snuck it past the Bearcat keeper for his second goal of the season.

“We played better towards the end and scored and put a point up on the board,” Stanford said. “There are still just a lot of things we can improve on and get better at everyday.”

Despite the tough loss at home, Stanford says there is still plenty to play for this season and the match against a premier team like Cullman is just a stepping-stone for the program as a whole.

“You can still accomplish everything you want to accomplish,” he told his team following the game.

“Cullman is a dominant program and they are the kind of a program we want to be one day.”

Russellville’s next match will be played Friday, March 24 on the road against Mars Hill Bible School in Florence.

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