With the curtain closed on the regular season, the curtain rose for the postseason stage. It was playoff time for Hillcrest and the number five seeded Ravens went on the road to face off against fellow Southeast Super Conference member, the number four seeded Central Lee Hawks, for a 1A first round matchup on May 15. 

This game was a rematch from a regular season game, on April 13, where the Ravens emerged victorious over Central Lee by virtue of penalty kicks.  

However in this playoff matchup, even though Hillcrest was able to generate more offense than its opponent in the second half, they weren’t able to capitalize on the scoring chances they created, and the Ravens season came to an end against Central Lee with a final score 2-1. 

“We just didn’t finish. We were dominating in the second half and we had some really good shots,” Hillcrest coach Marcus Miller said after the game. “It’s the problems we struggled with all year in terms of finishing that showed up again tonight.”

After about 20 minutes of play both team’s defense would hold steady, not surrendering any goals. The Hawks would be the ones to break the tie, scoring with 21:16 left in the first half. Central Lee seemingly found its scoring rhythm after its first goal, scoring a second goal about one minute later to go up 2-0.   

Not daunted by the quick 2-0 deficit Hillcrest suddenly found itself in, the Ravens were able to respond almost immediately. 

Sophomore Jesse Blossom used his speed and dribbling skills to bring the ball up the field on the left side and he was able to send a nice cross inside the box. The cross ended up at the feet of his teammate, sophomore Phoenix Anderson, and Anderson did not let this opportunity go to waste, kicking the ball past the goalie into the goal from close range.  

“Drew, one assistant, had been talking to Jesse about how we felt like we were forcing the ball down the middle too much,” Miller said about how Anderson’s goal came about. “And Drew said, ‘Hey, just try taking the ball down the side once and crossing it in’. Jesse likes to sometimes cross way-out in the middle of the field, and that can be effective. But he listened and took it down there and put a nice cross in and Phoenix did a nice job of finishing.”

Anderson’s goal came with 20:41 left in the first half to bring the score to 2-1 in Central Lee’s favor. After no goals scored for most of the first half these three goals were scored within two minutes of each other.

After the flurry of offense by both teams, defense became the name of the game again and the score of 2-1 would stand firm.

“The back line of Grant Bender, Mason Bender, Mason Helmuth, Bryce Bailey, they just had a whale of a game,” Miller said. “Mason Bender was at defensive mid and he was great. And we tried to get him more active, moved Grant up and slid Bryce over and he did well. That’s been kind of a strength all year, is that defense.”

The Ravens went on attack mode in the second half and while the equalizer came tantalizingly close for Hillcrest numerous times they just were unable to finish on offense.

One of the best looks they got in the second half came from Blossom with about five minutes left in the game. 

Blossom would bring the ball up the field and fired a bullet of a shot straight at the Central Lee goalie and the goalie would block the shot by deflecting it with his hands. The deflection would bounce to Hillcrest sophomore Micah Gerber and he had a great look close to the goal, but his shot would also be blocked from close range.   

“The nice thing is they’re all young, they’re all sophomores or freshmen, except for Grant,” Miller said about the potential of his team next season. “There is a nucleus to build on and we just need to work on the finishing skills.”

As the game came to an end with a final score of 2-1 Hillcrest found itself on the losing end. With this loss the Ravens season would officially be over with a final record of 4-7. 

“They’ve been a fun group to work with. They don’t have a lot of soccer experience. Like a lot of these guys haven’t played youth soccer at all. So they listen and they try to do what you tell them to do. It feels good when they listen,” Miller said.