SPENCERVILLE – Sometimes all you need is a perfect bounce of a ball but in the case of the Bearcats Wednesday night their two perfect bounces led to Will Gallaspie goals and a 2-1 victory over Temple Christian in sectional semi-final action at Memorial Field.
Thirteen days ago the two teams met in Lima with the Bearcats emerging a 1-0 victor thanks to a goal from Evan Core that decided the contest.
Will Gallaspie put the home team on the scoreboard first with 30:50 left in the first half of play on this evening as the Bearcats sophomore utilized a pass from teammate Emerson Layman and raced past Pioneer defenders towards keeper Connor Watkins and lifted a bouncing ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
Temple Christian tied up the physical contest at 1-1 with 13:43 to go in the half on their own perfect bouncing ball when Preston Patrick bodied in a redirected attempt from a teammate for his teams lone marker of the contest.
Early in the second half of play with the score still knotted at a goal each, the Bearcats again worked their way up the pitch with Gallaspie moving on a perfectly placed ball from a teammate, this time Braxton McMichael and past Watkins for his 27th score of the season and a 2-1 Spencerville lead with nearly nine minutes gone.
“Will’s second finish was a beautiful strike that was fed to him by Braxton McMichael” said Bearcat coach Josh Van Gorder after the game.
Though the final thirty minutes of play were rough and provided many opportunities for each team to tie the game or push ahead, no goals were scored and the hosts emerged victorious 2-1.
On his postgame outlook Van Gorder opined “This was a team win. I was impressed with Temple’s mentality and toughness. They tried to put constant pressure on us but our boys would not break. I’m proud of these boys for finishing strong. Temple certainly gave us a run, BJ McPheron does a great job of getting the most out of his club.”
Temple Christian’s season comes to an end at 2-16-1 while the Bearcats move to 9-5-2 and advance to Saturday afternoon’s 3:00 P.M. sectional finals where they will travel to Continental to battle the Pirates.