Ryle 1 Covington Catholic 0

[Runcible Owl]

⚽ "Game of the Week" per @kyag. 

Would love to hear some details on this one please.

The Raiders extend their win streak over the Colonels to five games, the longest by either team in "The Scoreboard" era. 

Another big game for Ryle (4-2) next Tuesday at Dixie Heights. Cov Cath (4-3-1) hosts Centerville (OH) on Saturday.

[OutOfNeccessity]

Definitely NOT what many people were expecting out of either team. Cheap seat observation:

I'm going to say something that surprises me more that it will probably surprise you. This is one of the few HS matches I've watched in my lifetime where I can honestly say that the better overall team on the night, lost. I'm not saying that one team is a better overall team. But last night, one appeared to be. I'm not 100% sure whether it is because of all of the "hype" Ryle has deservedly received from preseason to now, or that CCH hadn't seemed to have completely gelled into a cohesive team prior to last night. Either way, if you watched the game, you were surprised with what you saw. This is what I saw and my reasons for my assessment.

1. The score line. 1-0 and the sole goal came from a PK. (with an 85% probable conversion rate). For a team with one of if not the highest rated players in the state, the score line was just underwhelming.

2. Fouls, freekicks and YC. Ryle was definitely the more physical of the two teams. But as the game progressed, that physicality morphed into what appeared to be abject frustration leading to several yellow cards, and many, many free kicks. 2 of which were only stopped by the woodwork.

3. CCH's defense effectively shut down everything that Ryle ran at them. Their back line worked exceptionally well together.

4. CCH's midfield and attacking third owned the touchlines and moved the ball seemingly at will. I'm still not sure whether it was Ryle's defending or CCH's strikers just not being in a good position led to their inability to connect to players in the box. Most likely a mix of the two with a heavy leaning to the latter.

5. And I say this with the utmost respect to everyone on the field. But there were two very obvious missed calls that in my opinion would have resulted in 2 separate PKs for CCH and potentially the win. A handball that was so evident that some of the Ryle parents actually said that they were surprised it wasn't called, and a tackle in the box that was arguably worse than the one called for Ryle. And while a handball can easily be missed, especially with heavy traffic in the box, a 1 on 1 tackle, from the rear where the defender didn't even touch the ball should be a fairly obvious one. Especially when they are awarded a goal kick. I wouldn't ordinarily even bring it up but in a match that is decided by a single PK either of these calls absolutely would have made the difference.

These are just my observations, and are definitely subjective. The fact is that at the end of 80 minutes, Ryle walked away with the win. Overall it was one of the best matches I've seen in quite a while and definitely worth the price of admission. Hats off to the players of both teams and I am at least for now, quite sure that they will see each other again in the 9th Regional final.

 

 

 

[JG1027]

Spot on.

[theguru]

4 minutes ago, JG1027 said:

Spot on.

Welcome to BGP @JG1027!