Any heated rivalry is bound to bring with it some controversy and the Douglas-Carson boys' soccer match-up Wednesday afternoon in Minden didn't disappoint.
Each team played physical but fairly evenly-matched soccer, trading blows on the scoreboard before Carson's Edgar Gomez tapped in his second goal of the game off a partially-blocked shot from Ernesto Ayala with about a minute and a half left to claim the 3-2 victory.
"That was a barn-burner," said Carson assistant Landon Roser, filling in for Senator head coach Jason Koop who had to miss the game because of a previous red card. "Our guys played great and it was a good win for us."
The game, however, was marred by some extremely questionable officiating calls on both sides of the ball.
Douglas appeared to tie the game back up with less than 30 seconds to play after a ball rolled away from Senator keeper Bud Kop and the Tigers' Myles DeLaurentis put the ball home. But Kop was making a play for the ball and collided with a Douglas player on his way to it. The referee called the goal back drawing a strong reaction from the Tiger bench.
Less than five minutes before, Carson had a goal called back on a similar play.
Perhaps the most eyebrow-raising call of the game came just 30 seconds into the second half after Douglas' Iani Dunbar brought the ball down to the left corner.
He lofted the ball backward to DeLaurentis who headed the ball in for the apparent score.
But the referee ruled that Dunbar had been offside on the play, something that theoretically he could not have been since he brought the ball down field himself and also since the ball was not played forward.
"I don't know what to tell the guys," Douglas co-coach Phil Sheridan said. "We just couldn't seem to get a call today."
The loss marked the third late loss in a row for the Tigers. It was also their fourth league loss of the season and all four have come on late goals.
"We could easily be undefeated right now but we just can't seem to find a way to get a win, a call, a goal, anything," Sheridan said. "The kids are working their tails off, they practice hard and they are a great group.
"We were the better team today, Carson hardly had any shots, their first two goals weren't even real shots, they were goalkeeper mistakes. We outplayed them the whole game and came out with a loss again. That's all it comes down to."
Royal Good got things started for the Senators, lofting a high ball from more than 30 yards out that Douglas' Chris Aguilar couldn't get a handle on before falling into the back of the net for Carson's first goal at 14 minutes.
Douglas answered in the 34th minute when David Sturgess, standing at the top of the penalty box, bounced a shot in off the left post.
Carson came back late in the second half as Gomez redirected an entry pass in the penalty box before a Douglas defender got tangled up with Aguilar as the ball rolled into the net.
Sturgess tied the game up at two in the 54th minute, punching home a loose ball after a Colten Mellows header bounced around in front of the net for several seconds.
With less than five minutes left, Douglas' second-half keeper Steve Done made three consecutive outstanding saves, initially blocking a shot from Ayala and then coming out of nowhere to deflect two rebound shots.
DOUGLAS JVS 2, CARSON 1
Douglas scored twice in the last four minutes of the game - including the game-winner on a penalty kick with no time left in regulation - to win the junior varsity game. Seth Bartlett scored and Oscar Gonzalez scored on the penalty kick to give Douglas the win.
Alex Kaskie scored on an assist from Matt Tillit for Carson. Goalie Donovan Sanchez made 16 saves and defender Andrew Hill also played well for Carson (5-2-1 overall). Goalie Jose Alcaraz, Josh Vega and Geoff Rahe all played well for Douglas (4-1-1 in league).