STURGIS, SD — The Sturgis boys soccer team continued their winning ways by beating the Tea Area Titans in thrilling fashion, 3-2 on Tuesday night at Woodle Field in the first round of the SoDak 16 playoffs.
The Scoopers came into the game as the #7 seed with a 10-3-1 record and the Titans were the #10 seed with a record of 7-5-2.
Sturgis struck first just :30 seconds into the match as Mason Brautigan took a slick pass and broke away from the Titan defense beating goalkeeper Brax Johnson with a stiff shot to the corner, giving the Scoopers a quick 1-0 lead.
Brautigan found the back of the net again with just eight minutes gone in the first half, as he took a cross from Jaxon Dodson and beat Johnson with a quick shot to give Sturgis a 2-0 lead.
Tea Area answered with a penalty kick by Hudson Hadrick with 17:49 left before the half to make the score Sturgis 2, Tea Area 1.
Neither team could find the back of the net for the rest of the first half and most of the second half. With just 1:50 left in the match, Tea Area’s Holdyn Del Monaco placed a header past Scooper goalkeeper Oliver Kristensen to score the equalizer, tying the match at two goals apiece.
It looked like the match would go into overtime until Scooper freshman forward Cooper Venjohn flipped a pass downfield through the Titan defense and found Dodson, who outran his defender and buried a shot over the head of Johnson with only :14 left. Tea Area kicked off but ran out of time, giving Sturgis a 3-2 playoff victory.
It was Dodson’s 17th goal of the season, which is a Sturgis school record. Dodson also holds school records for points in a season with 28, and tied the record for assists in a season with 11.
“(The pass) came to my head, headed it forward, beat the guy on my left and then just hit it, you know, and it went in,” Dodson said. “It just feels great just to do it with this team. I love these seniors and these players are great teammates, it’s amazing.”
Sturgis (11-3-1) had eight shots on goal and 14 fouls in the match. Kristensen finished with seven saves for the Scoopers.
Tea Area (7-6-2) had nine shots on goal and 14 fouls, including three yellow cards. Johnson had eight saves for the Titans.
“The whole game was extremely physical and there were a lot of fouls out there,” said Scooper head coach Tyler Louder. “It’s very simple, I told the boys there is a checklist of four things that we have to do this month, and tonight was step one. Tomorrow, we will start preparing for our next matchup and we have to come ready to take it to whoever we have to face.”
The Scoopers will take on Sioux Falls Jefferson on Saturday in Sioux Falls in the second round of the playoffs.