Knights dispatch Cougars by prevailing in game's defining moments

Oct. 5—THURMONT — There's so many little moments that can turn a soccer game on its head, and the Middletown boys were on the right end of two important battles Thursday night.

In the first half, that was senior Gabe Cottrell sprinting to catch up to Catoctin's Elias Irons, who had dribbled past Middletown senior keeper Gary Wright and had a wide-open cage. Cottrell slid and just knocked Irons' shot away at the last second, and a few minutes later, the Knights opened the scoring on senior Omar Aguilar's boot.

In the second half, that was junior Fredy Hernandez winning a ball battle in the 78th minute and sending a perfect long pass to senior M.C. Cioffi, who started a rush the other way. Cioffi found junior Rory Kopelson, who buried the insurance marker.

"Those are the moments that define going from, who knows, an overtime situation to a win," Middletown coach Jeff Colsh said. "That is the kind of team we have. They're willing to do that for everybody."

They were pivotal in a 3-0 road win over the Cougars Thursday night, one in which the Knights got stronger as the game progressed.

Though it couldn't nab another breakthrough until Kopelson's late strike, Middletown (5-4-1) dominated possession in the final 40 minutes and did not give Catoctin any quality scoring chances. Wright platooned with freshman Zach Ledder in net, but neither were particularly busy as they combined for the clean sheet.

And both were rewarded by the offense in the match's final moments, with junior Matheo Trujillo following Kopelson with an 80th-minute tally.

"Playing it through the middle and playing it out wide was key," Aguilar said. "They couldn't really do anything about it when we went down that right wing and put it across. Inevitably, that's how we scored one of our goals."

The Knights peppered Cougars keeper Chase Jackson, who bailed out his tired squad time and time again in the final 40 minutes to keep it a one-goal contest.

Jackson finished with 12 saves, turning in another strong performance in just his sophomore season.

"He is a growing player," Cougars coach Barrett Irons said. "He tries to do his best every time he's out there."

That's true of Catoctin (4-6) as a whole.

The squad has shown marked improvement all around the pitch and is much deeper at all positions. The Cougars are even fielding a junior varsity team for the first time in nine years.

"We're scoring goals, and the strength of our players is stretching across the field," Irons said. "I don't have a lot of holes from one side to the other."

It meant Catoctin could put up a respectable showing against a school that in past years has blown it out.

But the Cougars couldn't win those pivotal little battles, which all went Middletown's way. And that made all the difference.

"Our midfield plays very, very strong," Kopelson said. "We felt they were funneling to the inside for their plays, so playing into our strongest midfielders really put us together."