by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond
scontomanolis@digitalsports.com
Patrick Innes wasn’t supposed to play.
A knee injury he suffered this week and then re-aggravated on Thursday against James River should have kept him on the sidelines for the Central Region championship.
But an injury could only keep the Thomas Dale captain down for so long.
Innes came off the bench and scored the tying goal and assisted on Will Bates’ winner in the 73rd minute as the Knights rallied to defeat Deep Run 2-1 on Friday at Atlee High School.
“Ten minutes into the game we were struggling a little bit and I just started to put on my stuff,” Innes said. “And I started running up and down the sidelines trying to get loose and I told [coach Mark] Fowler just let me have a run at it the last 10 minutes of the first half.
“But once they scored that first goal going into halftime I knew I wasn’t coming out and I guess the rest is history.”
Behind Innes Thomas Dale captured their third region title in four years and earned a home quarterfinal match in the state Group AAA tournament on Tuesday. The Knights won back-to-back state titles during the 2005-06 seasons.
The Wildcats, losers in the semifinals of the region tourney the past two years, will have to travel to play their match.
“We’re certainly happy to be in states,” Deep Run coach Steve Chapman said. “But truly we would have loved to win to have a home game so it is a little disappointing.”
Central Region player of the year Brian Ownby, playing with a bandage around his head because of stitches he received from a collision on Thursday, put Deep Run in front 1-0 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.
Senior forward Julian Hart found Ownby with a pass streaking through the box towards the goal and Ownby was able to tap the ball over Thomas Dale keeper Bill Groben for the score.
That was one of the few bright spots for the Wildcats in the whole contest.
“It wasn’t even a good first half. We never got into a rhythm, never possessed,” Chapman said. “There was literally one minute where we connected six or eight passes.”
The Knights went on the attack in the second half as Innes, Bates, Vitto Lauretano and Gage Robertson began to create chance after chance on the offensive end.
Innes, headed to James Madison on a soccer scholarship, knotted the score up with a high, arching header eight minutes into the second half.
“The ball was played in and I remember there were a couple of defenders around me,” Innes said. “Got my head on it and went back up in the air and I just tried to head it towards the goal and luckily the goalie was a little bit off his line and it just dropped right in behind him.”
Deep Run goalie Cameron Murray kept the score even, with a couple of crucial saves down the stretch in the second half, until Innes found Bates for the game-winner with 6:30 left.
“I picked up the ball around half field and just beat one of their defenders,” Innes said. “The keeper cut off my angle really well and I couldn’t have a clean shot so I just rolled the ball far post and Will Bates was there for an easy tap in.”
The Knights, even with only one defeat, may have been unfairly overlooked during the season as Deep Run and Cosby were thought of as the top two teams in the region.
It has become very clear that Thomas Dale, like Fowler’s previous teams, is a force to be reckoned with.
“This is just outstanding,” Fowler said. “I am especially proud of these guys…they are now creating their own piece of history.”
Thomas Dale 0 2 – 2
Deep Run 1 0 – 1
TD: Innes, W. Bates
DR: Ownby
Saves: Groben (TD) 1; Murray (DR) 3
Records: Thomas Dale (20-1); Deep Run (19-2-1)
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