BHS to Face Crossroads In District Playoffs

Justin Redfering moves to stop a shot from Liberty-Wentzville's James Boyd in the first half of Liberty's 3-0 victory on Thursday in Brentwood. (All photos by Steve Bowman) — Justin Redfering moves to stop a shot from Liberty-Wentzville’s James Boyd (left) in the first half of Liberty’s 3-0 victory on Thursday in Brentwood. (All photos by Steve Bowman)

BHS is 0-2 vs. Current but both games were close

By Steve Bowman
Editor, The Brentwood Spirit
Email: bowmansj@sbcglobal.net

The Brentwood High School boys soccer team ended its regular season last week with a 9-11 record and, for the third year in a row, a third-place finish in the South Central AA Conference.

That may sound like a letdown for a team that had higher hopes back in August. Remember? Almost 40 guys came out for soccer, including the biggest senior turnout in five years, and promisingly outscored their first three opponents 18-0. Would this be the first group in years to challenge for the conference title and finish with a winning record?

But the last three weeks of September did the Eagles in conference-wise as they went 1-4 in the South Central. They rallied to win the last three but their 4-4 record couldn’t beat Crossroads’ 7-1 or Hancock’s 6-2.

Nor would Brentwood end the regular season with more wins than losses. They were 9-8 early last week but lost the last three games. They can still even it out but must win this week’s Class 1 District 2 playoffs to do so. If they can get by Crossroads at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, they’ll probably face Principia in the championship.

Eddie Wright outpositions his Liberty opponent for a header in the first half. — Eddie Wright (left) fights a Liberty player for a header.

Tough schedule, close games

Of course, records can be misleading. Valley Park is 10-9 but has lost to BHS twice. The Eagles have simply played a tougher schedule. Nine of their 11 losses have been to Class 2 or Class 3 schools. They’ve lost to only one fellow Class 1 team (Crossroads, twice).

And Brentwood has never been blown out. In fact, they’ve outscored their opponents 37-25. They lost 3-0 to Windsor and to Liberty, both Class 3, but all nine of their remaining defeats were by one or two goals.

Said senior Alex Smoller, “We played a lot of tough teams and all of them were close games.”

“Some of the schools are so big compared to Brentwood,” said head coach Cory Grage.

But he knows the experience against bigger schools might help the Eagles this week in the district playoffs, where all the competition is Class 1. They face Crossroads after having played 15-7-1 Liberty and 11-8 Windsor.

“These are two of the three or four strongest teams we’ve seen all season,” said Grage.

Alex Smoller (11) duals Tyler Reed of Windsor-Imperial on Friday in Brentwood.

Brentwood coach Cory Grage talks to his players at halftime of the Liberty game.

Finally beating Bayless

The most memorable game of the season for at least several Eagles was the 1-0 victory at Bayless, the first time they’ve topped the Broncos in at least four years. With 15 seconds left, Seamus Saunders fired a pass across the middle and Joey Dreyer stabbed it in with a header.

“I threw the ball in from a little bit outside of the box,” said Saunders. “It bounced back at me and I looked at the clock and there were about 20 seconds left so I didn’t have any time to dribble. So I kicked it off the bounce, volleyed it in and Joey was there to clean it off and head it in.”

Said Dreyer, “Seamus floated it in and it was a perfect cross, it was right to me and I was just there and I headed it into the bottom left corner of the net. It barely beat the keeper.”

Said Saunders, “Everyone was going crazy. It was awesome. We’ve always lost to Bayless.”

Said Dreyer, a senior playing in his first high school season, “It was an amazing feeling. It was the best night of my life.”

Three nights later at McCluer, Quinn Evans received a diagonal pass and scored with 16 seconds left for a 1-0 victory.

Seamus Saunders heads a ball in the first half of the Liberty game.

11 honored at senior night

Eleven seniors were recognized at halftime of the Oct. 16 Windsor game, the final home game of their high school careers.

“It’s tough to realize,” said senior Eddie Wright. “There are a lot of great memories. It’s the last time being on this field in front of the home crowd.”

Said senior Marcos Sanchez, “It hit me in the second half, the first 20 minutes, when we were fired up. When we played those 20 minutes good, that’s when it hit.”

Wright hopes he finds his scoring touch Wednesday against Crossroads. He scored 10 goals in Brentwood’s first seven games but hasn’t found the net since Sept. 22.

“It’s kind of frustrating, I’m going through a dry spell right now,” he said. “I’ve got to find that touch again. I’ve got to bring my A game against Crossroads.”

Brentwood soccer's biggest senior class since 2010 is (from left) — Brentwood soccer’s biggest senior class in five years is (from left) Alex Smoller, Marcos Sanchez, Justin Redfering, Joey Dreyer, Mitch Bender, Eddie Wright (front), Seamus Saunders, Mike Mills, Alex Riedel, Noah Lee and Eli Wouters.

Senior Mitch Bender and his parents Bonita and Richard.

Senior Joey Dreyer and his parents Karen and Karl.

Senior Noah Lee and his parents Denise and Sherman.

Senior Justin Redfering and his parents Becky and Chris.

Senior Alex Riedel and his parents Me'Shel and Jeff. — Senior Alex Riedel and his parents Me’Shel and Jeff.

Senior Marcos Sanchez and his mother Marchelle and brother.

Senior Seamus Saunders and his parents Maureen and Matt.

Senior Alex Smoller and his parents Kellie and Aaron.

Senior Eli Wouters and his parents Beth and Scott.

Senior Eddie Wright and his parents Joanne Sivier and Ed Wright.

Final Standings, South Central AA Conference
Crossroads 7-1 league, 12-4 overall
Hancock 6-2, 13-9
Brentwood 4-4, 9-11
Bayless 2-6, 4-16
Valley Park 1-7, 10-9

Sean Reilly in the Liberty game. — Sean Reilly makes contact in front of Liberty’s James Boyd.

Class 1, District 2 playoffs seeding
1. Principia
2. Crossroads
3. Brentwood
4. Valley Park

District playoffs at Principia
Oct. 21, 4 p.m., Brentwood vs. Crossroads
Oct. 21, 4:30 p.m., Principia vs. Valley Park
Oct. 22, 4:30 p.m., championship game

Mahoto Sasaki tries to penetrate the Liberty defense in the first half.

BHS final game results, regular season
Record: 9-11
Aug. 25: beat Metro 6-0
Goals: Eddie Wright 2, Quinn Evans, Marcos Sanchez, Joey Dreyer, Aro Ntatin
Assists: Mahoto Sasaki 2, Wright
Saves: Justin Redfering 2, Jordan McGehee
Aug. 26: beat O’Fallon Christian 5-0
Goals: Wright 4, Sasaki
Assists: Seamus Saunders 2, Evans, Chrishawn Houston.
Saves: McGehee 3, Redfering 2
Sept. 1: beat Hazelwood East 7-0
Goals: Neal Bhattacharya 2, Evans, Houston, M. Sanchez, Sasaki, Wright
Assists: Wright 2, M. Sanchez, Sasaki
Sept. 4: lost to DeSoto 1-0
Sept. 8: lost to Bayless 2-1 in 2 OT’s
Sept. 10: beat Gateway Science Academy 3-0
Goals: Bhattacharya, Ntatin, Wright
Assists: Bhattacharya
Saves: McGehee 6, Redfering 3
Sept. 14: lost to St. Pius X-Festus 2-1 in OT
Goals: Ntatin
Assists: Saunders
Saves: McGehee 13
Sept. 15: lost to Principia 2-0
Saves: McGehee 14
Sept. 18: lost to Hancock 3-2
Goals: Ntatin, Cristian Sanchez
Assists: Alex Smoller, C. Sanchez
Sept. 22: beat Valley Park 6-2
Goals: Sasaki 2, Wright, M. Sanchez, Mike Mills, Dreyer
Saves: McGehee 5, Sean Reilly 2
Sept. 24: lost to Crossroads 2-1
Sept. 28: lost to Clayton 1-0
Sept. 29: lost to Crossroads 2-0
Oct. 2: beat Bayless 1-0
Goal: Dreyer
Assist: Saunders
Saves: McGehee 6
Oct. 5: beat McCluer 1-0
Goal: Evans
Assist: M. Sanchez
Saves: Redfering 4, McGehee 4
Oct. 6: beat Hancock 2-1
Goals: Bhattacharya, Ntatin
Assists: Mills 2
Save: Redfering 8, McGehee 5
Oct. 9: beat Valley Park 1-0
Goal: Evans
Assist: Ntatin
Oct. 14: lost to JFK 1-0
Oct. 15: lost to Liberty-Wentzville 3-0
Saves: Redfering
Oct. 16: lost to Windsor-Imperial 3-0
Saves: Redfering