5A high school soccer: Defending champ Bengals survive scare in 5A soccer

WOODS CROSS — For the better part of 70 minutes, almost everything went according to script for defending champ Brighton in its semifinal showdown against Region 2 neighbor Hillcrest.

And then the final 13 minutes happened.

Every single one of those minutes was both gripping and enthralling, with a new twist seemingly happening at every turn.

Leading 1-0 going into the 67th minute, Brighton was forced to endure a roller-coaster ride down the stretch while trying to find ways to simply hang on for dear life.

To their credit, though, that's precisely what the Bengals did, and now they're headed back to the 5A state title game for the second time in as many seasons.

Junior Taylor Peay and sophomore Josh Hicks each scored once, and the Bengals survived a frantic finish to beat the Huskies 2-1 on Tuesday at Woods Cross High.

"We pulled it out at the end," deadpanned Peay, whose team will face Layton at 4:30 p.m. Thursday inside Rio Tinto Stadium to decide the 5A championship.

Brighton led 1-0 via a nice Peay goal in the 34th minute, a goal that was set up by Thomas Loomis, and the Bengals created a number of chances from that point on.

However, they failed to take any of them, and Tuesday's semifinal exploded into action after Brighton star junior Austin Nate was given a soft red card — a yellow for clattering with a Hillcrest player and a second yellow for dissent — in the 67th minute. (Because it's a soft red, Nate will be allowed to play in Thursday's final.)

Brighton actually had a couple of chances to double its lead after the soft red card, but then Hillcrest's outstanding attack sprung to life.

Over five minutes, Hillcrest repeatedly threw scares at the Bengals, only to have Hicks pop up with what ultimately proved to the game-winner in the 77th minute.

Loomis pressured Hillcrest's keeper when the ball was played back to him, and all Hillcrest's keeper could do was boot it downfield into the path of Hicks.

Though he's just a sophomore, Hicks kept his composure and slotted home to double Brighton's lead.

"It was a pressure goal," Brighton coach Russ Boyer said. "It was a play where we could've taken it off and rested but we pressed and pressed and pressed, and we forced a mistake and capitalized."

Hicks' goal wasn't the end of the drama, however.