When two of the four schools in Christian County matchup in any sport it is the premier place to be.
The atmosphere and quality of the game never seem to disappoint.
When University Heights hosted Hopkinsville Tuesday night for a varsity boys soccer game, it was no different.
Seven yellow cards were issued. Four on UHA players, one on their coach, and two on Hopkinsville players.
It was an extremely physical affair with no one’s uniform staying clean.
The Tigers dominated the first twenty minutes or so of the game possession wise and did have the games first goal.
Seven and a half minutes in Bryan Fernandez sent a beautiful kick flying with touch into the back of the net to give his team the early 1-0 lead.
Over the next eighteen minutes there would be several opportunities both ways on corner kicks and otherwise great shots on goal, but neither team would be able to score.
With fifteen minutes remaining we saw our first of those six yellow cards come out and lead to a penalty kick for UHA.
Ethan Hale did what he does best and faked out Tim Marvel, the Tigers back-up goalie who had albeit a spectacular game, with a hard kick into the top left corner for the score.
We were now all tied up at one and it seemed we went enter the half with that tie holding, until the under two minute mark.
Having lost Alex Ramirez to an injury shortly after the PK and seeing another yellow card doled out to a Tigers player, David Lopez and Nick Klar stepped up in a big way.
A set kick from midfield, Lopez launched it with just the right arc and trajectory for Klar to get a head above the rest and butt it into the far side of the net for a late goal.
The Tigers would carry the momentum and the score into halftime and the second half leading 2-1.
Understandably, the Blazers came out for the second half with a new level of energy and physicality.
They did not allow the Tigers to take control of the time of possession early, and forced the issue of playing in tight spaces and under pressure as often as they could.
Now does feel like the proper time to point out, Hopkinsville had both their yellow cards issued in the first half, all five (four players, one coach) for UHA came in the second half.
Not saying anyone did anything intentionally, just pointing out the level of intensity and aggression and maybe more accurately who the aggressor was, seemed to shift from half to half.
Anyway, the first of the three player yellow cards came around seven minutes into the second half when Marvel and a Blazer forward both went for a ball, the Blazer sliding in and taking Marvel’s feet out from under him.
Again, no harm or intention of harm meant or caused, but that was the level of effort UHA had elevated to.
It paid off six minutes later when Hale sent a corner kick curling toward the goal and Preston Thomas did a wonderful job to time his jump and slap a header home to tie the score at two.
Just thirty seconds later Nick Luckey would go down with an apparent injury after colliding with a Tigers player both going for a ball near the benches on the far side of the UHA field.
This is when things started, according to both sets of fans, to get chippy.
Several minutes later UHA would have two more of their yellow cards issued one for the actual play, the physical nature of it, and another, on a separate player, for arguing about the call.
Hoptown was unable to take advantage of being put in a favorable position after the two yellows and subsequently failed to get anything positive out of a third yellow card issued to UHA in a matter of ten to twelve minutes.
After weathering the storm of yellows, it almost felt as if the Blazers had a renewed and reinvigorated sense of energy and it would pay off.
With fifteen minutes remaining Thomas would do it all by himself this time driving to the goal and finding a way to navigate behind Marvel, whose defense just did not get back in time, leaving him on an island, for a score to take the lead.
Thomas was not done though, after a PK by Hale failed to find the back of the net two minutes later, a minute after that Hale blasted another beautiful corner kick into the head of Thomas for his third goal.
A hat trick for him, and now a two goal lead with just twelve minutes remaining.
The Tigers had their chances down the stretch, including a shot just a foot away from finding the bottom left corner of the goal with around four minutes to go.
It was a hard fought, valiant effort to the end.
Neither team gave up, and to prove that point with under two minutes to go a long high kick attempting to flip the field saw two players, one from each side elevate vying for position and unintentionally the Tiger player upended the Blazers player who landed awkwardly before running off under his own power. No yellow card was issued and this is where the UHA coach earned his yellow card, coming far out onto the field to argue with the referees.
As many yellow cards as we had seen in this game, I do not blame him for being frustrated that neither side invoked one on what seemingly was one of the most physical plays in an extremely physical game.
Hopkinsville must now concentrate on the positives and get ready for the Colonel Showcase this weekend at Christian County, while UHA will try and carry momentum with them on a trip to Todd County Central on Thursday night.
For other scores from our area, check out this recap, https://whopam.com/2022/09/21/hs-sports-tuesday-recap-2/