Bridgeport’s Jared Contreras netted the Bulls’ lone goal in a 3-1 4A Region I quarterfinal loss to Diamond Hill-Jarvis Tuesday at Weatherford’s Kangaroo Stadium. MICAH MCCARTNEY | WCMESSENGER
The Bridgeport Bulls were unable to stampede their way back to the regional tournament for the first time in six seasons.
Trailing Diamond Hill-Jarvis 2-0 at halftime Tuesday at Weatherford’s Kangaroo Stadium, the Bulls could only find the back of the net once, as the Eagles flew away with a 3-1 win.
The Bulls finished 19-4-1 in their first season under association coach Howard Putter.
“We just didn’t get it developed in the back end tonight,” Putter said. “There was a little bit of obstruction and pushing from behind, which knocked us off the ball. We probably should have set them up and flopped like they did . The referee was getting run by flops all night long. Two of their three goals came off of them flopping and acting hurt, but that’s part of soccer. — if you get a referee that’s going to go for that, you’ve got to play that way, too. It should have been a lot tighter than it was.”
Putter, a former state championship coach with Byron Nelson (2014), said the Bulls exceeded his expectations this season.
“I’m so proud of my guys this year,” he said. “We’re such a young team with only three seniors. This is the youngest team I’ve ever been around — we have five 14-year-olds on the team this year. They just kept fighting all year long, and unfortunately we played against a very physical team tonight in a game where it felt like most of the calls went their way on not ours.”
The Eagles came out aggressive in the first half. Diamond Hill-Jarvis broke the scoreless stalemate with a goal at 22:13, and added a second score with 6:47 remaining to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.
“We were hoping to play with the win and not into the sun,” Putter said. “But since we didn’t we had to drop in and play more defensively. But then the wind dropped and the sun went away during halftime, and there was no advantage for us in the second half like there was for them early on.”
Jared Contreras scored the Bulls’ lone goal at the 14:28 mark in the second half. The Bulls continuously peppered Diamond Hill-Jarvis’ goal with shots, but could not put the ball in the net again, while the Eagles added their final score with 6:21 left.
“Jared’s just a freshman, but he’s got a great shot — he can shoot the ball from left to right,” Putter said. “He’s still growing, but he’s or second-leading scorer this season with 16 or 17 goals. I wish he was older, but I’m glad he’s younger because he’s got three more years to play.”
With Bridgeport’s head coaching job currently posted on the district’s website, Putter believes the Bulls’ next coach will have a strong team next season.
“If every kid that comes out next year commits from Day 1, they’re going to be a really good team,” he said. “But they’ve got to buy in immediately. If they do, they’re going to have plenty of opportunities to do well.”
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