BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – In an absolute thriller, the Community Vikings (4-1-1, 1-0-1) found a last minute road winner via a free kick from sophomore Alejandro Catalan to break Cascade (1-3-2, 1-1-1) hearts on Thursday, 3-2, and finish unbeaten in the district regular season against the Champs for the first time under Jesse Cooper. 

Despite trailing 2-1 at halftime following an extraordinarily unusual go-ahead goal that last touched Cascade’s Logan Haddock just two minutes out from the break, the Champs seemed to have wrestled all the momentum away from the Vikings.

“The message at halftime was just that we feel like we are the better overall team, we can’t beat ourselves, and as long as we don’t make dumb mistakes and play clean we can win,” Cooper said postgame. “We were disorganized on the second goal. I was proud of how they responded. We played a much better second half; it wasn’t clean by any means, but we got the PK which helped get some momentum and then Alejandro Catalan had ice in his veins to put that free kick around the wall and off the post.”

“Told the boys it wasn’t a pretty win but good teams find a way to win, and we found a way to win today.”

In that second half, Community wrestled control back from Cascade within the first 10 minutes, capped off by senior forward Jacob Graham winning a corner in the attacking third. As Graham delivered the ball into the box, Catalan was shoved to the floor, and Community was awarded a penalty with a golden opportunity to tie things up. 

Graham calmly yet powerfully found the lower-left corner, down to Cascade’s keeper Ayden Woodard’s right side, to equalize at 2-2 for the Vikings. With 29 minutes still to play, Community had found themselves in a new game. 

Graham had actually opened the scoring for the Vikings just five minutes into the game immediately following a goal-saving tackle from a Cascade defender 20 seconds before. Community quickly won the ball back high up the pitch, playing a perfectly weighted ball that split the Champs’ backline and put Graham through on the left side of goal. Graham went with his weaker left foot, but still found a way to slide his shot back across goal past the diving Woodard and into the net to give the Vikings the early 1-0 lead. 

“He (Graham) is a heck of a player. He’s not perfect and he’d be the first to tell you that, but his first goal was with his left foot and I’ve been drilling him that you’ve got to hit it with your weak foot,” said Cooper. “We were actually watching film this week because he had a chance to bury one but he wanted it on his right and lost the ball. Once he’s on and Catalan is on and can pass and move, I told them it makes us a dangerous team.”

Cascade started to grow into the game about 10-15 minutes in, and they narrowly missed a golden opportunity to tie the game in the 11th minute. Off of a corner, Haddock found himself two feet from an open Community net, but the bouncing ball landed on the very top of his foot, sending it well over the crossbar and out of play. 

In the 28th minute, Cascade finally equalized on a gorgeous free kick from Slade Austin to cap off a nice run of play the hosts had begun to put together the previous 15 minutes. 

Nine minutes later, Community nearly took back the lead when Graham played through Catalan to a 1-on-1 situation, but Woodard made an incredible diving save to his right to force a corner instead. One minute later, in the 38th minute of the first half, Cascade came teaming down the field in attack, and after a bouncing ball in the box took three deflections, the ball nestled into the Vikings’ net after last touching Haddock to improbably give the Champs a 2-1 lead at halftime.

Following Graham’s equalizer from the spot, Community continued to assert themselves going forward. Graham won a free kick in the 68th minute, but it was from too far out as his shot attempt careened into the wall and negated the threat. 

Although the Vikings seemed to apply the majority of the pressure, Cascade still found a couple moments in the second half. 

In the 76th minute, Lincoln Gulick nearly found himself a winner against Cody Duff, Community’s goalkeeper, but Gulick dragged the shot just wide. 

Two minutes later, Graham nearly had a hat-trick winner when a perfectly timed run split open the Cascade backline, sending him into a 1-on-1 situation with Woodard. However, a terrible offsides decision from the assistant referee negated the chance, and Cascade seemed to have survived to hang onto the point at home. 

Despite the decision, Community did not relent, and finally, in the 79th minute, Graham won a free kick in prime shooting range just outside of the box on the right side. A yellow card was shown to Andrew Dowell for Cascade, meaning he had to sub out for the crucial set piece. 

After Graham had drilled the wall on his previous attempt from farther out, Catalan stood over the ball this time, and he was less than 20 yards away from goal. Catalan took his run-up and curled it around the outside of the wall and kissed the ball in off the far post, an unsavable shot on Woodard’s end and a dramatic last-minute game winner in the Battle of Bedford.

Community secures its first win in District 9-A this season while Cascade suffers its first defeat in district play. The Vikings are scheduled to host Chapel Hill on Friday, April 11th, with kick-off set for 5:00 p.m.. Meanwhile, Cascade travels to Marshall County on April 4th in a non-district contest with kick-off scheduled for 6:00 p.m. before returning to district play and hosting Chapel Hill on Monday at 5:15 p.m.