A young Todd County Central team very nearly continued a recent run of success in the opening round of the 4th Region tournament, but came up just short. The Glasgow Scotties are headed back to the 4th Region boys’ soccer semifinals for the first time in four seasons. The Scotties scored two goals over the final sixteen minutes of the match Monday night to get past the Todd County Central Rebels 3-1 in quarterfinal round play in Bowling Green.
The win puts the Scotties in the region semifinals for the first time since the 2021 season, when they lost to South Warren after defeating Russellville in the quarterfinals. The win also ended the Rebels’ bid to reach the semifinals for the fourth straight season.
Monday night’s match was a battle down to the final moments and not lacking for excitement and drama, both of which continued after the final horn.
The Rebels entered the match knowing they would be without leading scorer John Ross Cardwell, who was missing his second straight postseason match for Todd County Central.
Glasgow got on the board first in the match when junior Daniel Rodriguez took a shot from outside the top of the box and found the top left corner of the net, just out of the reach of Todd County Central goalie John Mark Campbell to put the Scotties up 1-0 at the 14:30 mark.
The Rebels pulled even later in the opening half when Carson Caracciolo scored a rebound off a shot across the face of the net at the 25:15 mark to even the score at 1-1.
It felt like the Rebels controlled play for the rest of the first half but just could not get another shot to find the net as the two teams headed off to the break at 1-1.
For the opening half, the Rebels outshot the Scotties 8 to 4.
In the opening moments of the second half, Todd County Central still controlled the flow of play, but then something changed, and the Scotties were able to take advantage.
A call midway through the second half turned the momentum for both teams. At the 64:30 mark, the Rebels were called for a borderline foul in the box. In expressing his displeasure about the call, Todd County Central coach Mike Smith was given a yellow card. Jared Malagon scored the penalty kick for the Scotties to put Glasgow in front, and Ole Uncle Moe was now on the side of the team wearing blue and white.
Later in the half, Coach Smith was given a second yellow card after officials missed a handball on a Rebel pass down the left-hand side of the field. The second yellow card meant that Smith now had a red card and was ejected from the match.
The Scotties secured the win when Daniel Rodriguez sent a shot off a Rebel defender that then bounced over goalie John Mark Campbell, who had slipped on the artificial turf at the 73:40 mark.
The Rebels had chances to score over the final minutes of the match, but could not get the shots to find the net as the Scotties kept their season alive.
Todd Central got some big efforts from Spencer Pool and Charlie Campbell on the attack and Kollin Ensign and Tyler Baker on defense.
The waning seconds of the match and the immediate aftermath saw three players given red cards as things got a bit intense on the field after the final horn.
The loss ends the Rebels’ season with a record of 12-8-0.
Glasgow improves to 13-9-3 and advances to Tuesday night’s semifinals, where they will face Bowling Green at 7:30pm. The Purples had no trouble in their quarterfinal Monday night, shutting out Clinton County 8-0 in a match that lasted just 40 minutes.
