North Duplin-Rosewood play to 2-2, weather-shortened draw

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 1, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Lucky or unlucky?

Or maybe a muttered curse to Mother Nature.

Rosewood head coach Eddie Maldonado and North Duplin head coach James Foster each displayed at least one of those emotions Wednesday evening.

The Carolina 1-A Conference rivals settled for a weather-shortened, 2-2 tie at Branch Pope Field. Officials called the match in the 46th minute due to excessive lightning.

Neither coach commented on the weather.

"We didn't have a very good practice yesterday," RHS head coach Eddie Maldonado said. "It just seems like the last couple of practices, last couple of games we've just been a step slow ... sluggish. I don't know what's going on."

That lethargic play cost the Eagles two goals -- both scored by North Duplin junior striker Ronaldo Castenada. His first goal occurred in the 22nd minute and his second, which started from a turnover at midfield, put the Rebels ahead 2-1 in the 30th minute.

Castenada boosted his goal total to 19 this season.

"Number seven (Castenada), he's a good forward," Maldonado said. "At the beginning of the game, I said you've got to limit his opportunities. We've got to be able to stay in front, don't go flying in, make it difficult for him.

"(The second goal was) a ball that we should have never turned over. You can't make it easy for players like that. If you make it easy, they're going to make you pay."

Rosewood (8-4-1 overall, 5-1-1 CC) made amends barely 40 seconds on the ensuing kickoff. North Duplin (7-4-1, 3-3-1) momentarily fell asleep and allowed Eagles senior Ethan Chapin to freely dribble toward the 18-yard box.

Chapin passed the ball to Jordan Price, whose one-touch cross led to Zack Barnes' ninth goal of the season -- and a 2-2 tie with nine-plus minutes left before halftime.

It was Price's third assist of the season.

"We leave the middle open every time, it kills us," Foster said. "That's been our thing most of the season where we don't fall back on defense very well. We keep telling them until we're blue in the face, but what can you do?"

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute.

A throw-in from the right side sailed toward the back post and a North Duplin defender accidentally kicked Stalen Massengill in the mouth. The ball deflected to Geo Abril, who ripped a right-footed shot past Rebels keeper Luis Martinez and into the net.

It was Abril's third goal of the season.

The teams continued to move the ball consistently between the 18-yard boxes, but couldn't generate any offense on goal. Of the Rebels' 15 shots, just five were on frame and one attempt bounced off the crossbar of the football goalposts.

Rosewood attempted just six shots on goal.

Martinez notched four saves, while RHS keeper Tucker Chapin stopped six shots.

"I told the boys there's four top teams (in the league) -- us, James Kenan, North Duplin and Lakewood," said Maldonado. "At any time anybody can beat anybody. If you look at the scores, they've been fairly close.

"We've got to continue to take care of business and hope that James Kenan slips up a little bit. If they do, then we've got a chance. If we don't take care of business from here on out, it doesn't matter."