Dunbar tops Frankfort in 11th Region boys’ soccer match cut short by on-field incidents
For the second year in a row, high emotions and on-field skirmishes marred a boys’ 11th Region Tournament semifinal match between Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frankfort on Thursday.
The last skirmish prompted the center referee to blow the game dead with 5:19 left in the second half at Madison Central High School. After consultation with both coaches and the host athletics director, the teams agreed to end the contest with the 4-1 result in favor of Dunbar, the defending region and state champions.
While the No. 2 Bulldogs reached their third straight 11th Region tournament finals where they will play No. 3 Frederick Douglass at noon on Saturday, it will be without one of its players for that match due to suspension via one of the two red cards issued by the center referee.
“It was an unfortunate ending to what otherwise I thought was a pretty good game for us,” Dunbar Coach James Wray said. “It’s not a good way to end. I’m not real happy with my guys and not real happy with the ref.”
Last year in Dunbar’s 4-2 win over Frankfort at the same stage, there was another skirmish, several yellow cards and a red card for the Panthers in the high-stakes game. This was the third consecutive year Dunbar and Frankfort have faced each other in a region elimination game.
At Lexington Christian in 2021 and this year at Madison Central, the games were played on pitches that are not as wide as the soccer field dimensions at Lexington’s six public schools. Madison Central’s soccer surface at its turf football field is 60 yards wide compared to LCA’s 68 and Dunbar’s 74.
“There’s not a lot of room and there’s a lot of contact. It got a little out of control at the end of last year, and I think that carried over to this year,” Wray said. “They were amped up to play us and we knew it was going to be a battle.”
The tournament was originally scheduled to be played at Madison Central’s off-campus Memorial Stadium, which has grass instead of turf and is slightly wider than its football field layout. After the original games were stormed out on Wednesday, a wheelchair access complaint prompted the tournament’s move to the football stadium.
Frankfort, rated as the No. 17 team in the state by Maher Rankings and this year’s All “A” Classic state champions, was on the negative side of two referee decisions Thursday that each required discussion between the center ref and the assistant referee on the fans’ side of the field.
The first allowed Dunbar to take a 3-1 lead near the end of the second half on a goal by Chaz Rich. The discussion appeared to be over whether the play was offside. The second conference took place after an apparent Frankfort corner kick goal that would have cut Dunbar’s lead to 3-2 with 27 minutes left in the game. After the discussion that goal was disallowed.
Tensions remained high between the teams and in the stands following those controversies.
“We knew this game would be tough. We knew that coming in,” Frankfort Coach Brad Kennedy said. “When you play at this level, you’re going to have to catch some breaks. Some bounces need to go your way. And we just didn’t seem to get those breaks tonight.”
Frankfort’s red card came on the issuing of two yellow cards to a player in the second half, the first for what appeared to be dissent and the second a few minutes later for a hard foul just outside the Panthers’ 18-yard box with 13 minutes to play in the game. It was just a few minutes after Frankfort went down to 10 men that scuffles broke out among the opposing players.
“It’s just two good teams that have a goal to win the 11th Region,” Kennedy said. “These are young guys and emotions get high. Everybody’s pushing, not physically, but pushing toward the goal, pushing toward the dream. These are competitors.”
Dunbar’s Ryan O’Hara assisted on the Bulldogs’ first and final goals. O’Hara’s free kick into the 6-yard box was headed in by Grant Courtad for a 1-0 lead just over midway through the first half. O’Hara’s diagonal pass in front of the run of Joany “Gio” Chavez set up Chavez’ smooth finish for a 4-1 lead midway through the second half. Christian Delgado scored on a quick counter for a 2-1 lead in the first half.
Frankfort’s goal came on a penalty kick by Colton Cracraft after a handball foul was called in the box late in the first half.
Dunbar advanced to Thursday’s semifinals with a shootout win over Bryan Station on Monday. Frankfort defeated Madison Central 2-0 in the first round.
Douglass sets up showdown with Dunbar
The No. 3 Broncos secured their first appearance in the 11th Region finals thanks to a pair of goals from Cooper Ranvier and scores by Luke Wiles and Gavin Jones in a 4-1 win over Lexington Catholic on Thursday.
Jones’ goal off an assist from Ombeni “Beni” Shendera opened the scoring with 3:19 left in the first half. Ranvier quickly added to it with a header that bounded in just 44 seconds until the halftime horn.
“We had that header the whole game,” Ranvier said. “We finally got a good ball and I went up with the goalie and got it in.”
Seconds after LexCath’s Kevin Nevarez cut the Broncos lead two 2-1 midway through the second half, Ranvier struck again. The ensuing kickoff came to Ranvier’s foot and he rifled in a shot from the left side outside the 18-yard box to put Douglass back up 3-1. Wiles padded the lead to 4-1 with 10 minutes left.
Next up, Douglass faces Dunbar in a rematch of a game that was suspended and then canceled by lightning at the beginning of the season. Douglass held a 1-0 first half lead in that game before it was wiped off the books. Douglass has been eliminated by Dunbar in each of the last two region tournaments via overtime penalty shootouts.
“We’ve just been locked in all week for these games,” Ranvier said. “We’re excited now.”
LexCath to face Madison Central in girls’ finals
Lexington Catholic rolled to a 7-0 win over No. 15 Douglass on Monday and a 5-0 win over Madison Southern on Thursday to set itself up for its fourth consecutive 11th Region finals.
LexCath got goals from Sydney Eibert, Joanna Bryant, Zara McCarthy, Olivia Bretz and Mary Martin Hampton in Thursday’s shutout of the Eagles at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
The Knights will face Madison Central in the finals at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dunbar.
The Indians topped Great Crossing 2-1 in Thursday’s semifinals. The 41st District champion Warhawks had upset No. 11 Lafayette 3-2 on Monday.
Lexington Catholic is the No. 2 girls team in the state, according to the Maher Rankings, and has not lost to Madison Central in seven prior meetings, the last the 2021 region semifinals. The two programs last met in a region finals in 2015.
11th Region tournaments
Boys’ finals at Madison Central
▪ Paul Laurence Dunbar (14-2-3) vs. Frederick Douglass (17-0-4), noon Saturday
Girls finals’ at Paul Laurence Dunbar
▪ Lexington Catholic (23-1) vs. Madison Central (14-3-3), 1 p.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 8:30 AM.
