NILES — Leading up to Monday’s Lakeland Conference consolation round match between Cassopolis and host Brandywine, the Rangers had yet to taste victory in 2011.

Down 2-0 at halftime, things didn’t look good for Cassopolis to pick up that elusive victory.

But three second half goals, including one in the final two and a half minutes of the match lifted the Rangers to a 3-2 win over the Bobcats.

“It felt good, especially to come back from down 2-0,” first-year Cassopolis coach Tony Catanzarite said. “It’s the kind of heart I knew they had, I just wish it would have shown up earlier in the season. But you know what, they are happy.”

George Samadder cut the Brandywine lead to a single goal, 2-1, with a score early in the second half on a penalty kick.

Kyle Carpenter got the tying goal in the 58th minute off an assist by Tim Coates.

It then appeared that the two teams were headed for another tie and overtime.

But with the clock winding down Blaise Suseland scored the most memorable goal of the season for the Rangers with 77:44 showing on the clock.

“I’m always optimistic,” answered Catanzarite when asked if he thought the match would end in a tie. “I kind of thought we were headed to overtime. Then our conditioning took over. I have been working the guys a little bit harder and it finally paid off.”

The first half was all Brandywine as the Bobcats continually attacked the Cassopolis goal.

Finally, in the 28th minute, Zachary Schmidt found the back of the net to break the scoreless deadlock.

Less than a minute later, Jordan Hatch made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal.

That brief spurt would be all the offense the Bobcats would generate, although they did have several other quality scoring chances, but could not get the ball in the net.

“We left a couple of scoring chances out there,” Brandywine coach Evan Winkler said. “We’re disappointed. We played a great first half and then in the second half we kind of stood around and let Cass dictate play. They wanted it more than we did in the second half.”

Play throughout the contest spent much of the time in the middle of the field. While both teams were able to make runs at the goal, neither were able to get off many shots.

The Rangers finished with eight shots on goal, while Brandywine had six.

The Lakeland Conference Tournament will wrap up on Wednesday. The Bobcats will travel to Buchanan.

Cassopolis…3

Brandywine…2

Halftime score

Brandywine 2, Cassopolis 0

First half

BW – Zachary Schmidt 28th minute

BW – Jordan Hatch

Second half

C – George Samadder (penalty kick)

C – Kyle Carpenter (Tim Coates assist)

C – Blaise Suseland 78th minute

Shots on goal

Cassopolis 8

Brandywine 6

Saves

Cassopolis 3 (Kelvin Curtis)

Brandywine 5 (Alex Walters)

Corner kicks

Cassopolis 3

Brandywine 2