What a difference a week makes. Playing Friday afternoon in Evanston, the soccer players and fans were enjoying sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-70s. The previous week had players trying to kick the ball through thick, wet snow. 

For once, the sidelines were lined with umbrellas to protect fans from the sun and not snow.

The Lady Red Devils were looking for their first conference victory and the boys were looking forward to playing Jackson again, after defeating them in Jackson on a cold, snowy day.

The Lady Red Devils took the field at 3 p.m. and it was obvious that defense was going to be the key word of the afternoon.

Evanston fans were out to encourage their teams and braved potential sunburns to cheer on the Red Devils.

Jackson scored with 23 minutes left in the game when Bailey Hills kicked the ball over the hands of Hailey Porter and took a quick lead. 

With a dry field the action was fast starting the second half of the game.

Evanston tied up the score with about 32 minutes left in the second half. Bailey Barton went around and kicked the ball in to tie up the score. She broke her arm two weeks ago and was playing with a cast on her arm, which didn’t slow her down much.

Ashlyn Rhodes went down after rolling off the top of the ball. She stood up with some help and appeared able to put pressure on her knee.

Both teams kept up the pressure and the second half ended with a 1-1 tie.

Going into overtime, the team had put on their game faces and were determined to get their first win before heading to regionals.

With 5:17 in the first OT, the Lady Red Devils got the ball down the field and kept the pressure up until Regan Worley scored their second goal of the game. Their 2-1 lead didn’t change in the first overtime so a second overtime was played to allow Jackson an opportunity to score. 

The Broncos were unable to score again and the Lady Red Devils were excited to win their first conference win, especially since it was senior night.

Boys win 1-0

Evanston’s last road trip was against the Jackson Broncos on a cold and snowy evening. The Red Devils pulled out a 3-0 victory.

Playing in good weather appeared to level the playing field, so to speak and as the game wore on, both teams started showing their frustration. Seth Davis, goalkeeper for Evanston, did a great job keeping Jackson out of the net and good ball control on both sides of the field kept the ball moving but defense was working overtime.

As the second half of the game came to close, the teams were tied 0-0. Evanston had some good attacks at the end of the second half but Jackson’s defense was effective.

After the first ten-minute overtime, the score remained 0-0. They would move onto the second overtime. 

With 6:04 minutes left in the second overtime, a good pass from Brock Rigby to Pablo Escalante gave Escalante the opportunity to kick it past Jackson’s goal keeper and score the Red Devils only goal of the game and that was all they needed. Jackson continued to pressure Evanston but could not score before the end of the game.

The Red Devils won 1-0.It also gave Evanston another three points in the conference standing.