High school soccer: Rowland Hall hammers Parowan in 2A playoffs

SALT LAKE CITY — The Parowan Rams' second trip to Salt Lake City didn't go as well as the first.

Playing the Rowland Hall-St. Marks school at Sunnyside Park on a warm, breezy Saturday afternoon, the Rams couldn't keep up with the Winged Lions and saw their boys soccer dreams end 7-2 in a 2A quarterfinal matchup.

Hans Wiener and Jonathan Bebbington scored two goals each as Rowland Hall's won its eighth straight match and advanced to play Waterford next Friday at 1:45 p.m. at Jordan High School.

"We sometimes start slowly," said Rowland Hall coach Bobby Kennedy, whose team is now 9-4 overall. "We usually play better as the game gets going. Our guys are pretty cerebral, but I don't know if we can continue to play that way as the postseason progresses."

The match was scoreless until about midway through the first half. Rowland Hall had the wind at its back and freshmen goalkeeper Ted Janes boomed a kick downfield, where Sam Nolan took possession and fired a nice pass to Wiener for the score.

That goal gave Rowland Hall the momentum, and the Winged Lions never let up. Bebbington added a nice header into the net a few minutes later. Joe Diehl and Bebbington added scored before halftime and the Rams, who made the 220-mile drive a few days earlier to play Intermountain Christian, seemed to be a defeated bunch.

Coach Brian Mangum didn't see it at the way, though. Parowan, which is only in its second season with a boys soccer program, had three players compete at the BYU Invitational track and field meet earlier in the day.

Mangum said junior goalkeeper Michael Barrett had an off day, but his efforts throughout the season got the Rams this far in the tournament. Parowan trailed 7-0 at one point, but rallied with a pair of goals by William Elias and Sean Halterman.

"These guys are special. They gave it their all," Mangum said. "We're young with soccer, but we have guys who love it and we're going to win some games."

Just not this year – at least not to teams as strong as Rowland Hall. The Winged Lion made the 2A state tournament three straight years (winning twice) before falling at this same point last year. The team didn't like that feeling and Kennedy tried to prepare them better.

"We are a young team, but we had a 3A non-league schedule and were always competitive with them," he said.

Rowland Hall emptied its bench for much of the second half, and continued to pressure the goal. Wiener got his second goal and Andy Gilbert and Michael Thompson found the net.

2A soccer playoffs

Semifinals

Friday, May 13

at Jordan High School

St. Joseph vs. South Summit, 11: 30 a.m.

Rowland Hall vs. Waterford, 1:45 p.m.