Bunnies win yet another close battle with Oakwood/Salt Fork

OAKWOOD — With just a few minutes left in Tuesday’s battle of area boys’ soccer powerhouses, David Hull decided to have some fun.

Fisher/Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley led Oakwood/Salt Fork 2-0 in the 72nd minute, and the Bunnies had another chance coming up. Senior Gaines Parsons fed Hull, another senior, a “beautiful” pass from the right side, and Hull left his feet to break out the bicycle kick.

“Sometimes, we get to mess around a little bit before practice, and I hit one in practice one time,” Hull said with a smile.

“I saw the ball in the air, and it looked exactly the same, so I thought I might as well try it. I hit it pretty pure, but I guess it was a little too high.”

The ball clanged off the crossbar, and a collective gasp surrounded the field behind Oakwood Grade School as countless jaws dropped in disbelief of what Hull came inches away from accomplishing.

“Oh my God, that was insane,” Fisher/GCMS senior Sid Pfoff said. “That was the greatest hit I’ve ever seen.”

The Bunnies played keepaway for the final few minutes to secure the 2-0 victory, their 14th shutout of the year, which tied the program’s single-season shutout record for the third year in a row.

Senior goalie Parker Baillie’s three saves also added another clean slate to his career shutout record, which he set in their last game, a 6-0 win over Reed-Custer on Saturday.

Fisher/GCMS coach Robert Dinkins played defense in college.

So it’s only natural that his teams adopt that mindset, and he’s loving what he’s seeing.

“We have a lot of soccer players putting in a lot of work,” Dinkins said. “They’re putting in that extra work, and when you do that, you see success because they’re hungry. It’s awesome to see that hard work paying off and reaping the reward of building it over the years.”

And to do it against a team as talented as O/SF (19-3), that made it even more special.

The Bunnies (15-3-1) have now won their matchup with O/SF in each of the last three years, going down the wire every time. It’s becoming a rivalry, and it stems from how successful both teams have been in recent years. Fisher/GCMS has compiled a record of 73-12-3 over the last four seasons, and O/SF’s is nearly identical at 74-23-3.

“Just two great programs,” Pfoff said. “Every time we play them, we know it’s going to be a battle until the end. That feeling when you get that first goal is the best feeling you can possibly get because then you know you have an edge on them. I think it’s a rivalry. It’s one of the biggest games we have all year.”

Hull got that first goal Tuesday in the 37th minute, finding himself wide open in front of the net after receiving a pass from senior Spencer Kleist and firing it past O/SF goalie Jakob Rupp, who saved four shots in the loss.

“The first goal is always so exciting,” Hull said. “No matter who scores, it’s so exciting for everyone. You see that ball hit the back of the net, and it’s surreal.”

Pfoff added the insurance in the 69th minute, rifling a penalty kick past Rupp to give the Bunnies a two-goal lead, which felt like a lot more.

“With the way our defense was playing, it just gave us a second to breathe,” Dinkins said. “I looked up at the clock in the second half and was like, ‘Really, it’s only been six minutes? It feels like it’s been 20.’ With the players they have, they could score at any second.”

O/SF coach Eric Fenton gave similar praise to the Bunnies.

Both teams have shown their depth over the last week or so.

O/SF all-time leading goal-scorer Ethan Merritt has been out with a back injury, and Fisher/GCMS All-State talent Zack Zbinden served a suspension after a card situation during the Rivals Cup. In their absences, both teams have cruised to more wins.

Before that run, O/SF took back-to-back setbacks to Rantoul/Paxton-Buckley-Loda and Uni High in mid-September.

After that, it went on a 12-game winning streak. While Fenton said he would have loved to keep that rolling Tuesday, he’s confident his team will bounce back.

“It would have been nice to win it to get a little more confidence rolling into regionals. In the end, we can learn from that,” Fenton said. “If we can respond well to this, we should be in good shape heading into the postseason.”

That’s where these teams could get another shot at each other. O/SF and Fisher/GCMS are the top two seeds, respectively, in the Class 1A Monticello Sectional and could meet in the sectional semifinals on Oct. 26. Of course, they need to get there first, but they’d both welcome the rematch.

“As we were going through the handshake line, I said, ‘Great game, we hope we see you down the road,’” Dinkins said. “If we do, that’s going to be in the sectional semifinals, but we’re not looking that far ahead.”