By WILL DAVIES / Special to the Reporter

THOMPSON – The Thompson Warriors boy’s soccer team (7-3-0) hosted the Spain Park Jaguars (4-3-2) Friday night in what turned out to be a thrilling game all the way until the final whistle, with Thompson collecting a big 2-1 victory.

After a scoreless and uneventful first half, both teams regrouped during halftime and came out firing in the second half.

“We were trying to force it in the first half and we settled down and were able to work and get forward in the second half and collect some goals,” Thompson head coach Rusty Cowley said after the game.

Thompson’s Diego Gutierrez scored the first goal of the game with 31:31 left in the second half with a beautiful chip shot over the head of the retreating Spain Park goalkeeper. Thompson doubled their lead eight minutes later with a rocket of a goal by Kenneth Rodriguez.

“Once we got those two it was just a matter of hanging on against this really good Spain Park team, who were dangerous up until the last few seconds of the game,” Cowley said.

The Jaguars were not going to go down quietly in the second half and notched their first goal of the game with 15:06 left after Dico Bradley weaved through the defense and cranked a missile that found the back of the net.

The Thompson defense had a challenge on their hands the rest of the game after Spain Park made multiple runs to the net. Thompson goalie Alex Gamble made several spectacular saves down the stretch to hold Spain Park to one goal.

“Alex was really big in the second half with a couple major saves on a couple of break away 1 v. 1’s there,” said Crowley.

One save, in particular, took place with 2:22 left in the game when Bradley fired a shot a few steps outside of the box. Gamble dove to his right, getting parallel to the ground, and barely got his fingertips on the ball to deflect it out of bounds to prevent the 2-2 tie.

Spain Park is back in action on Tuesday when the Jaguars will host Mountain Brook at home. Thompson also plays Tuesday and will play host to the Hoover Buccaneers. Both games are scheduled to start at 7:00 pm.