After being shutout in their season opener, the Sulphur Tor soccer team has turned it around after running the tables to win the Rebel Cup in Pineville over the weekend.
The Tors improved to 5-1 after beating the host Pineville Rebels 7-0 in the championship game on Saturday. The Tors last won the Rebel Cup in 2007 and made it to the semifinals last season.
“They (Pineville) came out pretty fast at first,” Sulphur head coach Walter Oglesby said. “They like to dribble a lot down the middle and we took it away from them.
“We got our aggressiveness back. We used a high-pressure defense. We wanted to win the ball in the air. We were ready.”
Sulphur’s first goal in the championship was actually scored by the Rebels when one of their defenders deflected a cross by Matt Stewart into the goal.
Kendon Phillips headed the ball in on a corner kick by Brett Manuel in the 22nd minute of the game to give Sulphur a 2-0 lead.
Things got a little tough for the host Rebels after that when one of their players received a red card and was ejected from the game forcing Pineville to play with only players the rest of the game.
The Tors broke the game open in the second half with three unassisted goals in the first 13 minutes by Ryan Smith, Anthony Frederick and Chris Benton.
Smith picked up his second goal of the game in the 52nd minute on a pass from Stephen Moffat and Kai Ackley scored with five minutes left in the game from 40-yards out on a free kick.
Senior goalkeeper, Cole Gunter had four saves in the shutout.
The Tors may have had it easy in finals pitching a shutout but had to survive two consecutive games that ended in penalty kicks to get there.
In the semifinals, Sulphur and St. Frederick’s finished the game in regulation tied 1-1. St. Frederick’s scored in the first half on a corner kick but Smith was able to tie it up in the 36th minute on a penalty kick. Sulphur got goals from Stewart, Smith, Brandon Kieffer, Nik Duncan and Manuel to win 5-3 in penalty kicks after regulation.
In their early morning quarterfinal round game, the Tors played Alexandria Senior High for the second time in two days and won 4-2 in penalty kicks after finishing tied 0-0 in regulation. Stewart, Smith, Kieffer, and Duncan scored for the Tors during the shootout.
The Tors went 2-0 in pool play in Friday with wins over Morgan City and Alexandria.
In their opening game on Friday, the Tors scored first on a penalty kick by Smith in the 19th minute but the Tigers needed just a few seconds to tie it up when Uriel Zuniga scored on the ensuing kickoff from midfield.
The Tigers got another shot on goal with a minute left in the first half but Gunter was able to stop it and Ackley cleared it away.
Sulphur took the lead back in the second half when Chris Benton scored on a thrown in from Smith in the 35th minute.
The Tors stayed on the offensive with several shots including one off the cross bar in the 48th minute by Stewart.
But Stewart found his mark in the 50th minute to give the Tors a 3-1 lead.
Morgan City looked like they had cut the lead to one when Oscar Hinojosa scored in the 53rd minute but called was off sides and the goal was negated.
The Tors second game on Friday got off to a quick start when Smith scored on a header just a minute and a half into the game on a throw in by Anthony Frederick. Alexandria tied the game at 1-1 in the 43rd minute but Stewart scored with four minutes left in the game on a throw in by Smith for the game winner.
Sulphur will return home on Tuesday when they take on St. Louis Catholic. The Saints have reached at least the quarterfinals since 2003 and have won four out of the last seven Division III state titles. The junior varsity game will start at 5:30 p.m. and the varsity at 7 p.m.
“After this weekend I am back to being optimistic,” Oglesby said. “If we play them a good game then I think that we have turned the corner.”
Pineville, La. —
