Royal tops Warden for SCAC win

WARDEN — The Warden Cougars boys soccer team took on the Knights of Royal High School Saturday in South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) - East Division competition.

The cross-county rivals battled throughout the contest in a defensive showdown that took two sudden-death overtime periods and a shootout to determine a winner.

After a tightly played contest, Royal was able to prevail 2-1 in the conference match, handing Warden’s first-year head coach Ed Aguilar his first loss in conference competition.

“It’s my first year of coaching soccer,” he said. “I’m still getting used to the team.”

Both teams played through a 0-0 first-half tie and the game remained scoreless until the 50th minute when Warden freshman midfielder Hector Camacho capitalized on a scoring opportunity and blasted a shot past Royal goalie Carlos Barajas and into the back of the net.

Royal fought back 20 minutes later when sophomore midfielder Adam Martinez scored.

With both teams tied at the end of regulation, the game was sent into the first of two five-minute sudden-death overtimes. Neither the Knights nor the Cougars were able to find the net in the first overtime, sending the game into a second overtime period.

Both teams battled fiercely in the second overtime but were unable to score within the allotted time, sending the contest into a shootout.

In the shootout, Warden junior forward Alex Rangel shot the ball past Barajas for the Cougars.

Royal was able to put three shots past Warden goalie Martin Aguilar and the Knights won the shootout to win the contest 2-1.

The Cougars return to the pitch Thursday afternoon when they host SCAC rival Connell at Warden High School. Aguilar said he is excited for Thursday’s game with the Eagles.

“This will be my first game against them,” he said. “It should be a pretty good game.”