BRENTWOOD – John Pettit and the Brentwood High soccer team came up empty on their first 20 shots on goal in Tuesday night’s District 11-AAA opener against visiting Centennial.
Shot No. 21 proved to be the difference maker.
“Spectacular,” Pettit said of his late game-winning goal. “It was nice to work as a team to get that goal and finally finish one of our opportunities. We were working hard and finally got a prime opportunity right there.”
Pettit, a senior midfielder, buried a 72nd-minute penalty kick past Centennial goalkeeper Luis Rodriguez, propelling the Bruins to a 1-0 win.
Brentwood (3-0, 1-0 11-AAA), playing for the first time in 12 days after last week’s spring break and a slew of weather-related cancellations, controlled possession for virtually the entire contest, tallying 16 more shots than the Cougars, but the Bruins’ poor finishing percentage kept things level until Pettit’s late penalty kick.
“Some of the ones we missed, there’s not much you can say,” Brentwood coach Mike Purcell said. “You’ve got to tell them to keep shooting. You can’t say ‘how’d you miss that?’ or ‘why didn’t you make those?’ You don’t want to discourage anybody, but it was like we hadn’t played in two weeks.”
Rodriguez, a Delta State signee, delivered several nice saves in the losing effort, including an impressive diving stop on junior Jackson Deming’s 83rd-minute strike at goal. The 6-foot-4 senior also turned away a 45th-minute penalty kick from Pettit.
“We had the majority of possession to help us keep positive,” Pettit said. “We had chances – good chances. We just had to capitalize.”
Ravenwood rallies past Centennial again
And while Rodriguez and the back line of Centennial kept things close, the Cougars, making their season debut on Tuesday, never managed to mount much of a counter attack.
“I think there were moments where we played well, but we’ve got a lot to work on,” first-year Centennial coach Robbie Stewart said. “(In the second half) we just tried to get organized a little better defensively. We tried to stop them from switching the point of attack from one side to the other. We did a little better job, but still, a lot to work on.”
Centennial (0-1, 0-1), which had only practiced four times prior to Tuesday’s match, managed just five shots on goal.
“I think they’re a very dangerous team,” Purcell added. “They’re a good team and they’ll be there at the end of the year. This was just one of those games where you’ve got to win your district games. It’s kind of strange that this was the first game after spring break and we’d had so many rain outs. We just haven’t played a lot of soccer. Of course, they’re the same way.”
Reach Michael Murphy at 615-259-8018 and on Twitter @Murph_TNsports.
