Boys soccer: College Park loses lead to Lufkin

SHENANDOAH, Texas – It’s called the most dangerous lead in soccer.

The College Park High School boys’ soccer team found out why on Friday. With a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead, the Cavaliers watch visiting Lufkin rally in the second half with the help of a penalty goal to steal a 3-2 decision in District 14-5A play at Woodforest Bank Stadium.

“The game turns and hinges just like that,” College Park boys’ soccer coach John Owens said. “It was a tail of two halves, the best of times; the worst of times.”

Cavaliers Kyle Gillan and David Beckman scored first-half goals before Lufkin answered with three of its own in the final period.

“You have to give credit to Lufkin,” Owens said. “They took advantage of a lot of things and they scored the goals and they deserved to win.”

Owens said he doesn’t believe petitioning the UIL to shorten the match to one half would work.

“It’s a shame you have to play the second half sometimes,” he said. “We knew that going in. We knew it was an 80-minute game. Our kids didn’t give up. They played hard all the way through.”

But the final 40 minutes belonged to Lufkin, now 7-3-4 overall and 2-1-1 in district play.

“We kind of got out of what was making us successful in the first half,” Owens said. “That’s something that we’ve been working on.”

A penalty kick tied the match at 2 and changed the momentum in the Panthers’ favor.

“Anytime a penalty kick is called it’s going to be a game-changer, especially with what the score was,” Owens said. “You give credit to the guys that win, you learn from it, and move on.”

College Park, now 5-4-2 overall and 0-3-1 in district play, visits district-leading The Woodlands for a 7:30 p.m. Tuesday match at Weldon Willig Field.