Gonzalez scores twice, Raiders defeat Hoke County

RAEFORD — Patience paid off for the Richmond Senior High School boys’ soccer team Wednesday.

Trailing for the majority of the second half in their Sandhills Athletic Conference match on the road at Hoke County High School, the Raiders never quit and managed to even the season series with the Bucks.

Netting two unanswered goals in the final 7:03 of regulation, Richmond completed the 2-1 comeback victory.

Senior Gonzalo Gonzalez netted both of Richmond’s goals, giving him three scores in his last three matches.

A physical first half by both teams led to a 0-0 draw at halftime. Starting in net for Richmond was senior Adrian Padron, who played the full 80 minutes despite dealing with a nagging injury.

Just 40 seconds into the second half, Richmond was whistled for a foul in the box. Taking the penalty kick for the Bucks was Jose Vazquez De La Cruz, who slotted his shot to give Hoke County a 1-0 lead.

As the game clock wound down under 10 minutes, the Raiders received a penalty kick opportunity of their own. Senior Noah Gil was fouled by a defender in the box.

Gonzalez was tabbed to take the PK opportunity and he lined a low dart inside the right post to make it 1-1 with 7:03 to play.

Getting some momentum from that goal, the Raiders scored the game-winning tally just a few minutes later.

Hoke County (8-7-2, 2-5-1 SAC) committed another foul, this one roughly 35 yards out. Senior center back Daryan Mendez took the free kick and put it in the box.

Making a run behind a wall of defenders, Gonzalez jumped and used his head to flick the ball into the net with 4:23 remaining. Mendez was credited with the assist.

“We were able to get a burst of energy after Gonzalo’s first goal and that really helped us find the back of the net again,” head coach Chris Larsen explained. “Coming to Hoke County is always a dogfight, but the guys never gave up.

“The biggest thing tonight was getting back to playing our style of game. This is our first big road win of the year and it was great to score two goals in the finals seven minutes.

“Our defense was able to hold on for the last three or four minutes,” Larsen concluded. “We were still fighting through some injuries but we had a lot of guys step up off the bench. Cole Thrower played well tonight and Kimahri Johnson and Cole Lambeth both played more minutes than usual and did a great job.”

The Raiders (4-10-2, 3-4-1 SAC) have two more SAC matches next week, one home and one away. Up first will be a road match Monday at Union Pines High School (6-8-2, 3-3-2 SAC) at 7 p.m.

JV Raiders drop second straight match

The Richmond junior varsity boys’ soccer team couldn’t complete a comeback in its second straight match Wednesday.

Trailing 2-0 at halftime to the JV Bucks, the JV Raiders lost 2-1. Scoring for Richmond was freshman Ari McLendon off a header, assisted by freshman Allen Franco.

The JV Raiders (7-6-2, 4-2-1 SAC) are also set to compete at Union Pines Monday, starting at 5 p.m.

Sports editor’s note: Chris Larsen, Bennie Howard and Andy Summerlin contributed information and video to this article.