When River Hill and Mt. Hebron get together in boys soccer you can pretty much be assured of two things: it's going to be close and it's going to be physical.
Monday's county opener between the two squads certainly fit the bill.
In a game littered with fouls, yellow cards and physical play in the midfield, River Hill got a goal late in the second half and made it stand up for a 1-0 victory on the road.
"It was ugly, very physical … Mt. Hebron is a tough team. It's never easy over here," River Hill coach Matt Shagogue said. "We made a couple tactical changes at halftime, relaxed a little bit and Jake (Turney) got us a goal."
Turney's deciding goal with 14 minutes left in the second half came after settling a ball at the top of the box played in by teammate Kevin Kim. He took the pass with his back to the goal, flicked it to his right and then finished over Mt. Hebron goalie Drew Staedeli (8 saves).
It was Turney's second score of the year and helped the Hawks get back on track after losing to Fallston, 1-0 in double overtime, the day before.
"Yesterday I had a couple chances and I didn't finish any of them, so coming into today I told myself that the second I get a chance I need to just calm down and make it count," Turney said. "As the ball was coming in I trapped it, waited for the defender to commit, poked it by him and then I finished."
Mt. Hebron had a few chances throughout the game, but couldn't solve River Hill goalie Nick Voyton (6 saves).
River Hill has now posted three shutouts and allowed just one goal in four games. On the flipside, however, the Hawks have scored just five times in those four contests.
"We have to find a way to generate more scoring chances because we aren't going to win all the 1-0 games … we aren't built for that," Shagogue said. "But we did what we did today and our defense is playing well, so hopefully we can get the offense going."
River Hill 1, Mt. Hebron 0
Goal: RH - Turney.
Assist: RH - Kim.
Saves: RH - Voyton 6; MH - Staedeli 8.
Half: 0-0.
Other scores from around the county Tuesday:
Reservoir 2, Howard 1
After falling behind midway through the first half on a goal off a penalty kick by Howard's Ryan Binkley, the Gators needed a comeback to start its county season with a victory. Freshman Carvell Akuffo scored off a pass from Colin Bonner to tie the game at one going into halftime and then Bonner provided the game winner in the second half.
"When they scored and went ahead it was still early. We had fallen behind and come back against Spalding, so there wasn't any panic," Reservoir coach Paul Linkins said. "I was pleased with our composure."
Goals: Re - Akuffo, Bonner; Ho - Binkley.
Assists: Re - Bonner.
Saves: Re - Dooley 9; Ho - N/A 8.
Half: 1-1.
Centennial 2, Wilde Lake 1 2OT
At the end of a nip and tuck game, Centennial got the deciding goal with three minutes left in the second overtime period. Max Yarosh scored off a corner kick from Andrey Pavlov to lift the Eagles.
Yarosh had provided the assist on CJ Marquart's goal 12 minutes into the first half that had given Centennial an early 1-0 lead. Wilde Lake tied the game, though, in the final two minutes before halftime thanks to a goal by Devon McNeel, assisted by Tony Ramelmeier.
Jackson Bicknell finished with eight saves for Centennial and Kiho Park had six saves for Wilde Lake.
Goals: C - Marquart, Yarosh; WL - McNeel.
Assists: C - Pavlov, Yarosh; WL - Ramelmeier.
Saves: C - Bicknell 8; WL - Park 6.
Half: 1-1.
Atholton 3, Hammond 1
Goals: A - Chan, Romeo, Bellamy; Ha - Peppah.
Assists: A - Bellamy, Burns, Chan.
Saves: A - Forbes 3; Ha - N/A.
Marriotts Ridge 1, Oakland Mills 0
Goal: MR - Delaney.
Assist: MR - Martinelli.
Saves: MR - Moore 2; OM - Mustafa 6.
Half: 1-0 MR.