As a senior captain, Reservoir's Colin Bonner knew what he had to do.
Down 1-0 at halftime against River Hill, the Gators needed something to change the momentum. And Bonner, who found the ball on his foot just across midfield 15 seconds into the second half, was the guy for the job.
"I decided that as a captain, you have to go to goal. You have to be the one to make a play," he said. "Big game, against our rival, we needed something to pick us up and get us going."
Dribbling his way past three defenders, Bonner used his left foot to score into the upper right corner of the net and tie the score at one. That set things up for Gibrill Sheriff to be the hero late, finishing off an assist from Bonner with four minutes left to lift the Gators to a 2-1 victory on the road.
"That's what great leaders do, they take that weight and when they're feeling it they are the one's that make it (happen)," Reservoir coach Paul Linkins said. "The energy built off of him. Once he made that play it was a completely different game."
The win improved Reservoir to 5-1 in county play (6-1-1 overall), helping it bounce back nicely from a loss to Mt. Hebron last week. River Hill (5-1, 7-2), meanwhile, suffered its first county loss and allowed more than one goal for the first time this season.
For Hawks coach Matt Shagogue, it was a case of the one that got away.
River Hill struck first with 3:35 left in the first half when Jake Turney finished off a crossing pass by David Kaiser. That score in transition provided a one-goal advantage at intermission.
But the lead was short lived.
Bonner's score reenergized the Gators and things kept building when Reservoir goalie Ryan Dooley (10 saves) made a diving stop on a Kaiser free kick just five minutes later. River Hill had another prime scoring opportunity seconds after that, but two Hawks fanned on shots in front of an open goal.
"If we don't fall asleep and let Colin Bonner run down the field like that or if we finish those chances, it's a different game," River Hill coach Matt Shagogue said. "But you know what, it is what it is and Reservoir took advantage."
The game-winning goal didn't come without its share of controversy. Bonner had control of the ball in the middle of the field and attempted a shot on goal, but it deflected off a defender and found Sheriff on the right side.
River Hill was screaming for an offside call, but with none made Sheriff calmly slotted one into the left corner past River Hill's diving goalie Nick Voyton (6 saves).
Now just over halfway through the regular season, Reservoir and River Hill are tied atop the county standings, one game ahead of Atholton and Marriotts Ridge. Had the Hawks defeated the Gators Monday, they would have been two games clear of the field.
"This was definitely a big one. Today was about coming out and proving to ourselves of what type of team we could be," Linkins said. "We've really yet to put together a complete game and that was my big challenge at the half to them. They really responded."
Reservoir 2, River Hill 1
Goals: Re - Bonner, Sheriff; RH - Turney.
Assists: Re - Bonner; RH - Kaiser.
Saves: Re - Dooley 10; RH - Voyton 6.
Half: 1-0 RH.
Other scores:
Hammond 3, Oakland Mills 2
Trailing by two goals with just less 20 minutes left in regulation, the Golden Bears staged a furious comeback. Jon Lippit started things for Hammond by finishing off a penalty kick, which was awarded after a Scorpion handball in the box. Just minutes later, Lippit scored again to tie the score on a header off a long throw from Micheal Waters.
The score remained tied until the final minutes when Waters again fired a long throw into the box. This time, with seven minutes left on the clock, Alex Gladstone finished a ball that was bouncing around in front of the net for the game winner.
"We talked at halftime about just getting that first goal, we felt like we had knocked the ball around pretty well," Hammond coach Brett Cutler said. "We just needed to make some defensive adjustments and not let their forwards get to our sweeper one on one, which created a lot of problems for us early on."
Oakland Mills got its two first-half goals from David Bruno and John Joseph.
Goals: Ha - Lippit 2, Gladstone; OM - Bruno, Joseph.
Assists: Ha - Waters 2.
Saves: Ha - Sandish 7; OM - Mustafa 5.
Half: 2-0 OM.
Marriotts Ridge 11, Long Reach 0
Goals: MR - Najib 2, Song 2, Chilcoat 2, Dubinski 2, Applegate, Brown, Kramer.
Assists: MR - Martinelli 2, Corcoran 2, Ryan 2, Dubinski 2, Banta 2, Brown.
Saves: MR - Shepherd 1, Geckle 2; LR - N/A 6.
Glenelg 1, Centennial 1 2OT
Goals: G - VonRautenkranz; C - Bohr.
Saves: G - Haussler 10; C - Sylvia 5.
Wilde Lake 3, Atholton 1
Mt. Hebron 2, Howard 0
Howard 2, Marriotts Ridge 1 OT (Saturday)
Picking up its biggest win of the season, the Lions got a goal from Austin Phillips seven minutes into the first overtime off a free kick to knock off the Mustangs. Phillips, who had scored Howard's first goal 10 minutes into the first half off a feed from Kwame Marfo, had his kick in overtime from six yards outside the box deflect off a Marriotts Ridge defender and into the net.
The Mustangs had tied the game and forced overtime thanks to a goal with a minute left in regulation by Sean Corcoran.
But even with the heartbreaking score, Howard coach Nils Schroder was very pleased with his team's response.
"Normally we would have come in with our heads down, but this time there wasn't any of that," Schroder said. "Our captain Nick Blackburn came in and was really vocal, saying how we deserved to win this game. There was no give up."
Howard's Jake Spalding finished with nine saves to help preserve the victory.
Centennial 1, Century 0 (Saturday)
The Eagles secured their third straight shutout and got a goal from Andrey Pavlov to knock off Century in a non-county game. Jackson Bicknell finished with four saves for Centennial.
The goal came off an assist from Bradley Benson on a play that started with a long throw by Danny Mooney.
Atholton 2, Tuscarora 1 (Friday)
Nick Bellamy provided both goals and Kyle Forbes made eight saves for the Raiders in the non-county victory.
Atholton actually trailed 1-0 early on, but midway through the first half Bellamy tied things up. Then, with 12 minutes left in the second half, he got the game winner.
"Nick is usually an outside midfielder, but we had to move him up with Emilio (Altairano) out," Atholton coach Roch DeFrances said. "Like a senior, he stepped up and had a really good game."