COLOMA  — The best ever-season for the Brandywine boys soccer program came to an end Wednesday.

Paw Paw upended the Bobcats, 3-1, in Division 3 district semifinal action at Coloma High School.

In the other semifinal, South Haven erased an early deficit and beat Dowagiac, 4-2.

A late offensive flurry helped the 18-1-1 Redskins get past the pesky Bobcats, who finished 16-6.

With the match tied at 1, Aidan Miller beat a Brandywine defender with his good footwork and scored from five yards to give Paw Paw a 2-1 lead with 6:49 left in the match.

That lead was extended to 3-1 after Parker Marcon scored inside the goal box off an assist from Will Gooding with 1:36 left in the match.

“Their offense is great,” said Brandywine coach Evan Winkler, whose team was outshot, 23-5. “We battled all day. I knew it was going to be a grind.

“I’m just so proud of my guys. They gave everything they had. That’s all you can do.”

Luck, along with talent, might have also been on Paw Paw’s side. Brandywine appeared to have taken a 2-1 lead with 23:51 left in the game when Zach Schmidt scored on an indirect kick. But the officials waved off the goal, keeping the match tied.

“It was frustrating,” Winkler said. “We disagreed a little bit (with the official) afterwards. But, (the official) told us afterwards what happened. They made the right call in the end. It was an indirect (kick) and it had to be touched before it went in. It didn’t touch the goalie. It hit the bar. We thought it touched the goalie from our angle, but the side ref had a great angle on it. He said it hit the bar first and went right behind (the goalie’s) hand.”

Despite being outshot, 10-1, in the first half, the Bobcats were tied with the Redskins at 1 going into halftime.

Brandywine made its one shot count as Dominic Stella scored on a breakaway from 15 yards to tie the match at 1 with 25:50 left in the first half.

“We battled hard,” Winkler said.

It was memorable season for the Bobcats coach, whose team lost to Paw Paw, 6-0, in a district game last year.

“We had a chip on our shoulder all year,” Winkler said. “I was really happy with how hard are team worked this year.”

In the second match, a bad trend continued for Dowagiac against South Haven. For the third time this season the Chieftains failed to hold on to an early lead against the Rams.

After falling behind 1-0, South Haven scored three straight goals in the first half.

“It’s been the same thing all year against (South Haven),” said Dowagiac coach Mike Williams, whose team finishes at 6-10. “We’ve been up 1-0 and then we sit back and stop playing the game that we were playing.”

Jose Lopez’s breakaway goal from five yards gave the Chieftains a 1-0 lead with 19:46 left in the first half.

Seven minutes later, the Rams got a goal from Omar Calderon in front of an empty net.

Other South Haven goals in the first half came from Quinn Johnson and Isaac DeLaRosa. DeLaRosa’s goal came after Dowagiac goalie Harprett Singh batted down a saved shot.

South Haven outshot Dowagiac, 13-3, in the first half.

“We were doing great tonight,” Williams said. “We were marking and attacking and keeping good pressure. Then we were leaving spaces open. When you leave them open they’re going to score goals.

“It’s our youth. We’re young and it shows. But, the future looks good.”

The Chieftains shook off their poor finish in the first half and pulled within 3-2 after getting another goal from Lopez with 24:06 left in the game. Lopez took advantage of Rams’ goalie Wyatt Baker, who was out of position on the shot.

South Haven, which improved to 9-12-3, then took back control of the match five minutes later when Alex Washegesic scored from 25 yards.

“We’ve got hard working kids,” Williams said. “It comes down to consistency and moving to every ball, every time, non-stop and that’s not easy. You’ve got to suck it up and go.”

 

Division 3 District Soccer

At Coloma

Paw Paw…3

Brandywine…1

Halftime score

Brandywine 1, Paw Paw 1

 

First half

P – Brennan Davidson (Jonathan Balkema) 32:04

B – Dominic Stella 25:50

 

Second half

P – Aidan Miller 6:49

P – Parker Marcon (Will Gooding) 1:36

 

Shots on goal

Paw Paw 23

Brandywine 5

 

Saves

Paw Paw 1 (Trent Heidema)

Brandywine 6 (Sean Danner)

 

Corner kicks

Paw Paw 13

Brandywine 1

 

Dowagiac…4

South Haven…2

Halftime score

South Haven 3, Dowagiac 1

 

First half

D – Jose Lopez 19:46

S – Omar Calderon 12:41

S – Quinn Johnson (Alex Washegesic) 11:03

S – Isaac DeLaRosa 7:12

 

Second half

D – Lopez (Nick Carpenter) 24:06

S – Washegesic 19:02

 

Shots on goal

South Haven 22

Dowagiac 11

 

Saves

South Haven 3( Wyatt Baker)

Dowagiac 5 (Harpeet Singh (D) 5

 

Corner kicks

South Haven 7

Dowagiac 3