Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – It’s the final week of the 2024 regular season and the Seward County Saints play host in their final two games beginning with a matchup against the Coffeyville Red Ravens who came into Liberal and suffered the same result as the last time these two teams competed with Seward County taking the win to secure a winning season in just the second year of the program.
Leonardo Leitao got the scoring started early on for the Saints as he put pressure on the opposing Red Ravens player who coughed up the ball which Leitao quickly shot into the upper left corner of the crossbar to take a 1-0 lead in just the first minute. Seward County had all of the momentum on their side and used that to make multiple advancements down field to try and add to their total as Javier Ruchelli Alvarez and Matheus Ambrozio each sent in shot attempts of their own but could not connect with their lead remaining at just one. That lead however withered away as Coffeyville put themselves on the board in the 15:00th minute as they rocketed in a shot that got deflected past the SCCC defense to land inside the goal to make it a 1-1 score with thirty minutes to go in the half. Despite pushing downfield, a multitude of times with a plethora of shot attempts being launched to regain the lead, the Saint entered the halftime break deadlocked with the Red Ravens at 1-1.
The scoreboard remained tied up throughout most of the second half of action as well with neither side able to find a way to sink in a second shot until a familiar face stepped forward for Seward County in the 85:00th minute. A foul in the box gave the Saints another chance to add to their total with Felipe Cooper Flores appearing as the chosen one to take the penalty kick that soon became a goal with Flores cashing in once again to give SCCC a 2-1 lead with five minutes left. In the final minutes Seward County’s defense shined as bright as they could as they refused to let Coffeyville advance past them as they booted the ball back into Red Raven territory when the final horn sounding to secure a 2-1 win for the Saints.
Seward County now improves to 7-4-5 in the 2024 regular season while moving up to 3-3-5 in KJCCC action. The Saints will wrap up the regular season on Saturday as they honor the 2024 sophomore class before taking on Barton in a possible preview of the First Round of the Region VI Tournament.
