CPHS Soccer: Luke Jeffus scores hat trick in 4-2 brawl at Capitol Hill
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The Charles Page High School boys’ soccer team (12-2, 5-2) ended the regular season with back-to-back district wins, topping Owasso (8-6, 4-2) in overtime Tuesday, and beating Capitol Hill (5-8, 2-4) Thursday to spoil the Red Wolves’ senior night.
On Tuesday Jack Bratcher recorded his first brace of the season, Cameron Summerton notched his first goal of the season, and Gustavo Saldana also made his way onto the board for a 4-4 tie in regulation. Fernando Saldana kicked the golden goal in the 87th minute of the match in sudden victory overtime.
The final district game started an hour late following a transportation issue and a lightning delay. At one point the boys were in the middle of loading up to leave when they finally got the go-ahead to start the night. They made the most of it, taking a 4-0 lead on the home team before the Red Wolves battled back, and some of the battles were quite physical.
Sand Springs got off ten shots in the first half and took a 3-0 lead. Luke Jeffus was first on the board, scoring on a corner kick from Bratcher in the 5th minute. Bratcher took a pair of shots of his own, scoring a header in the 12th minute to put back a shot from Gustavo Saldana that bounced off the goalpost.
Salvador Castellon took a free kick for the home team from ten yards out in the 20th minute. He kept it low on the ground and got it past everyone, but just a few inches wide of the goal. The Wolves made another run on goal a few minutes later but Kaiden Cox cleared the box for the Sandites and a pair of corresponding corner kicks sailed wide.
Senior Goalkeeper Jose Alvarez made a beautiful save on a shot from Bratcher in the 31st minute, then Miguel Lopez barely evacuated a shot from Gustavo Franco that got past Alvarez and into the goal but didn’t quite make it to the net. The resulting corner kick set up Jeffus for his first brace of the season in the 34th minute.
Gustavo Saldana bounced one off the goal post early in the second half, then Jeffus had a shot saved a few minutes later. Jeffus recorded his first hat trick from 25 yards out in the 45th. Alvarez blocked one shot, then Dawson Quinton nearly scored a putback but sent it a hair wide.
A full on brawl erupted in the 49th minute after a Sandite went down and a Red Wolf appeared to trample him. Both teams combined in a massive shoving match, but thankfully no punches were thrown and only Lopez received a yellow card. Quinton and Alvarez received yellow cards in the 60th minute and Lopez took over in the goal.
The Red Wolves finally began to battle back as Lopez saved shots from Kaleb Brooks and Gustavo Saldana and Jonathan Perez got them on the board in the 70th minute. Brooks received a technical with seven minutes left and Juan Vazquez made a 52-yard sailing free kick just over Xander Quirogas’s outstretched fingertips. Trent Goldman and Missael Hernandez were both carded after a brief shoving match with five minutes to play, but that was the last action of the night.
Capitol Hill will return to action Tuesday in non-district action against Western Heights (8-3) while the Sandites will return in the State Playoffs on April 30th.
