The Allen Community College Red Devils’ pursuit of their first Jayhawk Conference win spiraled out of control after Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to archrival Neosho County Community College.
Instead of shaking hands after the game, the Red Devils and Neosho Panthers players exchanged shoves and threw punches, prompting Coach Gefte Blanc to order his players immediately off the field.
“We were just trying to get out,” Blanc said. “There was so much going on at the end of the game. We tried to avoid all that. Now we need to refocus for the next game.”
Despite the loss and the bench-clearing scuffle, the Red Devils gathered a bit of momentum before Saturday’s home contest against Johnson County Community College. Sophomore goalkeeper Gabriel Nunez stopped 10 of 11 shots. The exception was Neosho freshman midfielder Adam Larkin, who scored off a pass from freshman midfielder Yuki Suzuki just three minutes into the second period.
“It was about passion, and we have a lot of guys who love the game,” Blanc said. “We had a few chances to finish it and that’s what they did. They tried to get an ugly win, and sometimes that works.”
Following Wednesday’s contest, the Red Devils’ losing streak extends to four games as they fall to 3-4-2 overall. Their 0-3-1 is good enough for fourth in the Jayhawk Conference standings. Neosho County, currently ranked fourth in the nation, improves to 8-0-2 and 4-0-1 in the Jayhawk Conference for first place. Johnson County (7-3-3, 2-1-1) is currently 14th in the nation and second in the conference standings behind Neosho.
“Tonight, it was a tough game,” Blanc said. “We’ll sleep on it and get back to work. It means a lot to us. That was the fourth game we’ve dropped in a row. We had so many opportunities.”
Kickoff is 4 p.m. Saturday.
