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Dripping Springs High School hosted former Class A Central division rival Austin High School last Thursday night, Feb. 8, in their home opener.
Starters at attack were senior Kyle Parker and juniors Brady Taylor and AJ Deer. Starters at midfield were seniors Lucas Willingham, Noah Chomout and junior Dominic Bruni. Starting defensively were Nate Tyo, Dylan Reeves and junior Brighton Peterson. Tyo had been recovering from an ankle injury and was a welcome returner to the lineup. Junior Shane Roberts started in goal.
Two minutes into the game, Austin scored. Brandon Magat won the following face-off, passing to Willingham. Willingham dodged his man, drew a double team, and found senior long pole Noah Chomout wide-open in the middle of the field. Chomout ripped a shot to tie the game. Immediately afterward, Magat would win another face off to secure the ball. Offensive midfielder, senior Tucker Walls took an ensuing pass and dodged straight to the cage, scoring, to give Drip a 2-1 lead.
During Austin’s next possession, Brighton Peterson forced a turnover, kicking the ball to senior Kyle Parker. Like the possession before, passing to Willingham would net Drip a goal, bringing their lead to two. But Austin wanted in on the fun and would score the next three goals, unanswered, to close out the first quarter and take a 4-3 lead.
Within the first 30 seconds of the second quarter, Parker would field a pass from X. Skirting his defender, he dodged past to tie the game and celebrated with his signature penguin waddle. On the next face off, Willingham won, passing to Deacon Ivey, who ripped a shot while getting hit by his defender. The shot was true, regaining Drip’s lead. Minutes later, Taylor took possession, faked his defender, rolled back and then sprinted past, zipping the ball between the goal keeper’s legs. Resiliently, Austin responded with a score of their own, cutting the Drip lead to one.
With three minutes left in the half, Willingham was inexplicably uncovered and, after receiving a pass, headed straight to the cage, almost completely undefended, and scored to give Drip a 7- 5 lead. Austin would follow with two more quick succession goals to tie the game, 7-7, at the half.
Austin started the second half with a score to regain the lead. Two minutes later, with the ball on the ground and both teams battling, Austin Reeves scooped the ball. As he was being pushed, falling out of bounds, he whipped it to nearby Bruni, who grabbed the pass and scored on a fast break to the goal to tie the game 8-8.
After Bruni’s goal, Drip would find themselves in a manup play. Taylor ripped a wide shot, picked up by Parker, who was perfectly positioned behind the cage. Parker passed back to an open Bruni on the crease, who let fly a shot. Austin’s goalie made a great save but the ball bounced off the goal post, directly to Walls. Walls promptly returned it to the back of the goal, giving Drip a 9-8 lead.
With three minutes and 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Austin would tie the game, 9-9. With another goal in the last minute of the third, Austin took a 10-9 lead. The fourth-quarter started much like the third, with four scoreless minutes, until Austin scored again to extend their lead to two.
After Austin’s faceoff midfielder was called for holding, Willingham picked up the ground ball and tossed it to Taylor. Taylor carried the ball to the midfield point, drawing his defender out, almost 30 yards from the goal. Taylor then blew past his exposed defender and ripped a low corner shot to cut the lead to 1.
A determined Austin scored again with just under seven minutes remaining to regain a two point lead. Around the four minute mark, junior AJ Deer would find Parker on the Austin goalie’s doorstep, dropping it in to cut the deficit to 1. The next four minutes were a cat-and-mouse game of Austin trying to run out the clock with the Drip chasing to regain possession. Ultimately, Austin was victorious, with a final score of 12 to 11.
Willingham finished the night with two goals, two assists and led the team in ground balls with six. He also forced four turnovers and went four of six on face offs. Sharing face-off duties with Willingham, Magat dominated his face off contests, winning 13 out of 17. Shane Roberts finished the night with eight saves.
The Tigers were scheduled to host Georgetown on Saturday but the game was postponed due to the forecasted lightning. It will be held this Tuesday, Feb 13. Drip follows the rescheduled Georgetown contest with a road game at Vista Ridge on Saturday, Feb 17.
