Norman — Maybe, this time around, if everybody’s lucky enough to be treated to a postseason boys soccer Crosstown Clash, it won’t be in the first or second round.
Maybe the Tigers and the Timberwolves can each win their district this season. Because if North can pull it off, what happened Tuesday night at Harve Collins Field indicates Norman High could be right there, too.
The T-Wolves beat the Tigers 1-0, yet there were moments believing NHS might prevail was a completely reasonable thought.
North’s goal already in the net, NHS almost tied it twice over the first half’s final moments. Once when Cal Cornwell’s left-footed rocket was deflected just wide of the goal and again, off the resulting corner kick, when Andres Kenney blasted one narrowly over the crossbar.
The Tigers hardly lost momentum coming out of the half. It wasn’t until about 25 minutes remained that the T-Wolves again appeared to be the better team on the field.
“We hung in there with them,” NHS’ Alec Lee said. “We can hang with anybody in the state.”
Winning, however, is where it’s at, and topping the T-Wolves will be a tall order for anybody.
NHS outshot North 11-10 and North keeper Nick Nance made seven saves against the three of NHS’ Ray Jennings Clark. On the other hand, the best four chances of the night all belonged to North.
Clark saved two of them, each of them far more difficult than anything Nance kept out of the net; another one, Will Smith kicked over the crossbar; and another one, Khalil Benalioulhaj headed into the net.
The game’s only tally came in the ninth minute off one of those balls that doesn’t look very dangerous until it finds the goal.
North defender Josh Phillips played the not-very-dangerous-looking ball from the left side about 10 yards in from midfield. Benalioulhaj took over while Phillips’ serve was in the air.
“I just saw an opportunity to go up and take a shot against who I think is the best keeper in the state,” Benalioulhaj said.
Jennings, though, didn’t get a chance to save it. Instead, he tried to prevent it by beating Benalioulhaj to the ball. He lost the race and Benalioulhaj’s header was on target.
It turned out to be the only tally the T-Wolves would need. Even if there were times it appeared it might not hold up.
“I thought we went up and down the field with them,” longtime NHS coach Gordon Drummond said. “The one thing we wanted to do is play as a team and I think we did that.”
On a night his T-Wolves got all they wanted from their crosstown rival, North coach Geo Claros left the field feeling better about North’s latest victory than the one the T-Wolves achieved four days earlier, 4-0 over Yukon.
“We knew they were going to come and work,” he said. “I thought they did well, but we did what we had to do to win the game.”
The two teams won’t meet again in the regular season. As for the playoffs, who can know?
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
