GOALFEST: BHS Bruins nets five scores in road tune-up for playoffs

Bartlesville High School’s boys’ soccer team is romping into the playoffs on a stampede of success.

After stumbling early in the campaign to unlock their offense, the Bruins (6-4) have bolted to a 4-1 record their last five games while outscoring opponents, 19-1.

That includes Friday’s thundering 5-0 win at Muskogee to wrap up the regular season.

Ian Belong rustled the nets with two goals, followed by Conner Bastings, Jackson Belong and Oswaldo Aranda with one, to pile up Bartlesville’s points.

Austin Bastings set up more than one score.

Belong ripped his first goal off a display off individual skill.

Connor Bastings dropped the ball behind the goalie as a result of a corner kick that caromed around the box. Freshman jackson Belong then created his historic goal — more about that in a minute — off an Austin Bastings’ assist. He scored off a header.

Aranda also directed a header into the cords, with Austin Bastings setting it up.

Ian Belong’s other goal completed the barrage.

Jackson Belong saw varsity action for the first time all year. He had been recuperating from a torn MCL, Bruin head coach Brandon Willis noted.

Bode Doenges guarded the goal most the match for the Bruins.

“He made some good saves,” Willis said. “He’s getting more confidence in goal.”

Backup goalie Klayton Bastings produced a crucial save to help preserve the clean sheet (shutout),” Willis added.

“It’s always nice when you don’t concede a goal,” Willis said.

In fact he challenged the team at halftime to prevent Muskogee from getting on the board.

The Bruins have simply been dominant down the stretch, including 4-0 win at Tahlequah, a 9-0 home win against Ponca City and Friday’s fricassee of Muskogee.

The only exception during that string was a 1-0 loss at Owasso. But, all things considered, on balance some might consider that to be a positive effort by the visiting Bruins against a district powerhouse.

However, the one main drawback from the loss at Owasso is the Bruins will have to play on the road to open the Class 6A playoffs. They will likely travel to play at an Edmond school on the first Tuesday in May.

Willis is pleased with his team’s goal-scoring explosiveness during the past few weeks.

One of the reasons is Ian Belong, who unleashed a double hat-trick (six goals) against Ponca City and added two more at Muskogee.

Last year, he played a lot of minutes as a midfielder and honed his attacking skills.

“This year, we moved him to the top more as a forward,” Willis said. He also praised the work of Aranda at midfielder.

This is the second-straight year Willis has guided Bartlesville into the playoffs.

—

LADY BRUINS

Bartlesville finished a scrappy girls season by knocking off Muskogee, 2-0, to finish with a .500 record (6-6).

The Lady Bruins opened with win (vs. Cascia Hall, 3-2) and closed with a victory.

In-between they bounced between wins and losses.

Bartlesville displayed a battling spirit throughout — 10 of Bartlesville’s 12 wins were decided by two goals or fewer.

Six came down to one-goal margins.

Bartlesville allowed only 12 goals and produced 18. But, a third of those emerged from the 6–0 win at Tahlequah. In the other 11 matches, Bartlesville and its opponents tied with 12 goals apiece.

Bartlesville finished 3-4 in district games.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville High soccer dominates both matches in district finales