‘This was monumental.’ Frederick Douglass boys’ soccer conquers longtime nemesis at last.

After nine unsuccessful attempts in recent years, the Frederick Douglass High School boys’ soccer team broke through with a convincing win over district rival Henry Clay on Tuesday night.

Junior Luke Wiles put the Broncos ahead 2-1 in the second half before Cooper Ranvier scored two goals to cap the 4-1 home victory.

Following his second goal, which came with just a little under five minutes left, Ranvier celebrated with a backflip. It was a night to celebrate at The Farm.

Frederick Douglass launched its soccer program when the school opened in 2017. That first season, the Broncos finished 4-16. Among the losses was a 10-0 defeat at Henry Clay. The Blue Devils beat Frederick Douglass eight more times consecutively over the next four years.

Tuesday night’s win at last ended the streak.

“It’s been a long process,” said Frederick Douglass Coach Omar Shalash, who has built the Broncos’ program from the start. “Give credit to (Henry Clay). They’re very well-coached and have a lot of talent. We’ve circled this game and a few others and we’ve accomplished our goal. We’ve basically fulfilled one of our objectives and now we move on to the next one. This was a big one. All credit to the guys.”

With the victory, Frederick Douglass improved to 8-0 this season. More importantly, the Broncos secured the No. 1 seed in the 42nd District Tournament. It’s the first regular season district title in school history for Frederick Douglass.

“We knew what was at stake,” Shalash said. “We’ve never been the one seed. We’ve never gotten a bye. Are we satisfied? Of course. Are we wanting more? 100 percent. We don’t get any breaks in this region. We go to Lexington Catholic (5-1-2) on Thursday. But knocking down the door and most importantly keeping it open and knocking down the next one and the next one. But this was monumental. This was a big win.”

The Broncos dominated possession for most of the first half Tuesday.

Following a shot from Ranvier that led to a corner kick, senior Josh Carr found the back of the net to put the Broncos in front 1-0 with 24 minutes remaining in the first half. The goal was Carr’s team-leading seventh of the year, according to the KHSAA’s official stats website.

The Blue Devils (5-3-2) struggled to get shots on goal in the first half.

Henry Clay earned a corner kick with under four minutes remaining in the half but was unable to capitalize, sending the match into halftime facing a one-goal deficit.

However, early in the second half, Henry Clay found the equalizer when Braden Cundiff scored his first varsity goal.

But it was all Frederick Douglass from that point on.

Wiles’ go-ahead goal came with 21 minutes remaining in the match.

“We played a corner and it just started bobbling in there,” Wiles said. “I beat my defender and put it in the corner.”

Ranvier finished off the Blue Devils with two goals within approximately seven minutes.

His first goal came on a header when he outleaped a Henry Clay defender. The next goal was a strike that beat the Blue Devils’ goalkeeper.

After years of frustration against Henry Clay, Ranvier said the victory was memorable for him and his senior teammates.

“They started the same year I did,” Ranvier said. “They started in eighth grade, I started in seventh grade. We’ve all played club together and we all just grew as a family. Beating (Henry Clay) was just for everybody and made us all feel really good.”

Tuesday’s match was a learning experience for Henry Clay, head coach Jason Behler said.

“For us, we’re playing a lot of young guys. We’re still trying to figure out our identity a little bit in terms of how we want to play and what we’re capable of,” Behler said. “We’ve lost some pieces to injury and to other things and really had to recalibrate what that is in the last couple of weeks. I’m not disappointed at all with the effort. I thought we went out and executed our game plan and our legs failed us the last 15 minutes.

“I think we just got tired. We’re not as deep as (Frederick Douglass). They’re a good, senior-laden team. We’re a young, figuring-it-out team.

“That game for me was all about learning for our team and taking the next step forward. We took a good step forward and learned some stuff about ourselves, so if we can put that to work the next couple of weeks, we’ll be all right.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 11:13 AM.