The A&M Consolidated boys soccer team had to overcome a shaky start against Bryan to stay unbeaten in District 12-5A.
An own goal and the heavy shot of senior Ryan Armatys was enough though to settle the Tigers down for a 3-2 victory in the Crosstown Showdown at Merrill Green Stadium on Friday.
Tied at 1, Armatys struck a free kick from 30 yards out that never got more than chest high and beat the three-man wall and the keeper for a Consol (8-7, 5-0) lead.
It was short-lived, however, for Bryan senior Daniel Balke quickly converted on a penalty kick, which was whistled because of hand ball on a shot taken by Balke in the 18th minute.
With the game tied at 2, both teams showed more patience building their attacks, but in the 32nd minute, Armatys took advantage of a giveaway in the Viking third, drove the ball to just inside the box and gave Bryan goalkeeper Jose Montalvo no chance with a left-footed strike for a 3-2 Consol lead.
"It was very hectic, the pace of the first half," Consol head coach Chris Kovacs said. "I thought we did a better job in the second half. They did a good job with counters, and we were lucky our backline played extremely well and we were able to hold on for the W."
The Vikings easily could've led 3-0.
Consol defender Aaron Salin cleared a ball off his line after Alejandro Cruz directed a rebound shot toward what appeared to be an empty net.
Barely a minute later, the Vikings struck with Jordan Freeman sending in a long ball from the right side that got over Tiger keeper Henry Denoux's head for a 1-0 lead.
"We started strong and that was good because all season we've played well to get near the goal and then we can't get it in," Bryan head coach Tommie Allmon said. "So it was like boom, boom, things look good. It was a typical Crosstown game, back-and-forth, back-and-forth."
Freeman nearly put the Vikings (2-9-1, 2-3) ahead by two in the seventh minute with another long-range shot that hit the cross bar.
Instead, Bryan suffered an own-goal about a minute later to tie the game at 1.
Denoux may have been beat in the air in the first half, but he made up for it with just a couple minutes remaining to secure the victory when he stopped a good shot by Bryan's Juan Falcon. Denoux saw the through ball coming that set Falcon free, closed the gap on Falcon and got his body in front of the shot that would've tied the match at 3.
"I walked up to my keeper immediately after the game and told him that last save was redemption for that junk you let in there the first half," Kovacs said. "He gave me a smile because I was on his case pretty hard, but he came up with the big save when we needed it."
Consol did a better job of possessing the ball in the second half while protecting the lead. The Tigers had three second-half chances that they just missed on, the last forcing Montalvo off his line to close the angle and stop a shot by Camilo Claviho.