FENTON — The Fenton Tigers edged out the Brandon Blackhawks 3-2 on a rainy Monday night in the Flint Metro League opener for both teams.
Will Dickens broke a 2-2 tie with 9:43 to play when his long shot skipped on the wet grass and snuck past the goalkeeper for what proved to be the winning goal.
The game had gone up and down the field, for the most part, as the teams generally dealt well with the wet grass, although there was some inevitable slipping and sliding out of both players and the ball.
Fenton had the better of possession overall. More importantly, the Tigers did a better job of creating shots, especially once they made a formation change at half time. It took the Tigers less than five minutes after halftime to break a 1-1 tie and take the lead on a transition goal from Dickens.
The trio of Dickens, Patrick Hamilton, and Tyler Hahn was really clicking in the second half. One was always supported by the others, and the combination play among the three created numerous second half chances for Fenton.
“They’re all really technical players. They bring a lot for us to the table. I think they’re going to do a lot of good work for us this season, especially once they get on the same page and start clicking and start moving the ball,” Fenton head coach Shel Kunji said. “I think the second goal is a great example. We found some openings and moved the ball quickly.”
Photo gallery from Ortonville Brandon at Fenton boys soccer
Still, Brandon ground away at the game and took advantage of the opportunities it created. The Blackhawks tied the score 2-2 with 23:49 remaining on a great individual play by Brandon Mendoza who stole the ball from a defender and slotted a shot past the goalkeeper to get some momentum back for Brandon after Fenton’s strong start to the second half. . But ultimately, the Blackhawks just could not generate enough shots down the stretch to get the lead back.
“We’re young. I fully expect as the season progresses that it gets better and better. That’s what’s good about having potential, we can keep working on it. Those guys are young, and they’re nowhere near what they are going to be. And I’m excited to see how they develop, for sure,” Brandon head coach Shawn Lovelace said.
It had been Brandon which opened the scoring early on when Ben Querio launched a 65-yard free kick that bounced once in the box and sprang into the top left corner of the Fenton goal with 32:43 remaining in the first half.
Fenton would fight back. The Tigers pulled even with 14:46 remaining in the half on a free kick goal by Hamilton, who bent a ball around the wall and into the lower right corner from 22 yards out to make it 1-1.
With the win, the Tigers remain unbeaten at 3-0 on the young season. They are 1-0 in the Flint Metro ahead of a Wednesday road trip to Swartz Creek.
“It feels pretty good. We’ve had a couple of close games with Goodrich and with (Brandon) tonight obviously. It was a real nail-biter. We know this group has a lot of character. So to see them come back in these games and not let those early deficits get us down was good to see,” Kunji said.
Brandon is now 2-2-1 overall and 0-1 in the Flint Metro League. The Blackhawks host Clio on Wednesday in another league game.
“We definitely had a couple of mistakes when we got tired tonight. That’s something we’ve been working on is focusing as the game goes on doing even the little things right when you’re exhausted. And when you play teams like Fenton, you’ve got to go all out the whole game and if you have any kind of mental lapses it can bite you,” Lovelace said. “They’re always motivated for Fenton. It’s become quite a game. They look forward to it, and it was a good game.”