Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – Seward County wrapped up their regular season honoring their 2024 sophomore class before taking the field against the visiting Barton Cougars who came in and unfortunately upset the Saints on Redskin Field in a 2-0 loss for SCCC to end regular season action.
The Saints struggled in the opening minutes to push ahead against the opposing Barton defense with both sides struggling to score through most of the first half. Bruno Mestres continued to show why statistically he is among the top goalkeepers in the NJCAA with a high flying save to keep the Cougars at bay in the 35th minute to remain scoreless at 0-0. A late goal in the first half at the 43:00-minute mark by Barton put the Saints behind heading into the halftime break as they searched for a response to get themselves on the board.
Seward County found a spark offensively in the second half led by a flurry of shot attempts with Javier Ruchelli Alvarez and Chad Haynes each sending in shots of their own but could not connect as they remained scoreless through sixty minutes. In what quickly became a heated matchup between the Saints and Cougars, a controversial call helped shift the tide as Fernando Moura Filho connected at point blank range for a goal but was called offsides to negate the score for Seward County. A second goal by Barton in the 82nd minute grew SCCC’s deficit to 2-0 with eight minutes to go and despite sending in multiple attacks to try and close the gap the Saints could not answer back as they fell 2-0.
Seward County ends their 2024 regular season with a 7-5-5 overall record while finishing conference play at 3-4-5. The Saints now guarantee a winning season in just their second year as a program while also clinching the fourth seed in the Region VI Tournament which ranks as the highest the program as made. SCCC now prepares for a long road trip to open the region tournament as they head to Kansas City Kansas in a battle between the three and four seeds as the Saints look to upset the Blue Devils on Saturday.
