HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER ROUNDUP : Arcadia Beats Hart on Penalty Kick

Hart High’s push-came-to-shove Foothill League soccer match against Arcadia on Friday belonged in the Forum, where boxing and the National Hockey League are often featured.

“It was very much like a hockey game and not a soccer game,” Arcadia Coach Floyd Williams said of his Apaches’ 2-1 victory over Hart at Hart.

Kevin Williams, the coach’s freshman son, scored on a penalty kick with seven minutes left to give Arcadia (14-5-2 overall, 9-4-1 in league play) the deciding goal.

The Apaches were awarded the penalty kick after officials charged Ruban Ramirez with elbowing an Arcadia player in the back of the head.

The checking, however, was wild on both sides.

Arcadia’s Neil Voskeritchian, who scored on a breakaway to give the Apaches a 1-0 halftime lead, was given a yellow card in the second half for colliding with Hart goalkeeper Octavio Benavides.

Two minutes later, Indian midfielder John DePaco was penalized for throwing an elbow at Brad Miller along the Hart sideline after the ball rolled out of bounds.

Four yellow cards--including one given to Hart Coach Robert Benavidez for arguing with officials before the Apaches’ game-winning penalty kick--were issued in the match.

“Brutal? It’s not the word for it,” said Benavidez, whose Indians (13-2-4, 7-2-4) dropped to fourth in the league standings, one point behind Arcadia.

Oliver Germond scored Hart’s only goal seven minutes into the second half. The Indians outshot Arcadia, 10-3.