A Tie O-Kay With Royal, Which Stays in First Place

When it comes to playing Westlake High, Brandon Kay is key to the Royal boys’ soccer team.

Kay, a lanky midfielder with floppy blond hair, headed in a 45-yard free kick by teammate Ryan Walker in the 67th minute of Friday’s Marmonte League match with the Warriors at Royal High.

Kay’s goal, his third in two matches against Westlake this season, allowed the Highlanders to salvage a 1-1 tie and remain in a first-place tie with the Warriors. Both teams are 8-1-1 in league play.

Despite the deadlock, Royal (17-5-2) controlled large portions of the match, outshooting Westlake, 12-3, and misfiring on several scoring opportunities.

The Highlanders were even more delighted with the tie because nine minutes after Kay’s equalizer, forward Jesse Garner was ejected for arguing with the referee and Royal played the final 24 minutes a man down.

Westlake (13-1-2) scored in the 50th minute when midfielder Chris Devine headed in a free kick from sweeper Jeremy Bell.

Energized, the Warriors kept the pressure on for the next 10 minutes before falling back on defense.

Westlake found few ways to counter Royal’s attack, however, as Kay and fellow midfielders Caleb Westbay and Ryan Gesell fed forwards Garner and Kendall Simmonds with pinpoint passes and touches of the ball.

Kay pulled the Highlanders even by outleaping a crowd of players at the right post and heading Walker’s kick down and past Westlake goalkeeper Robert Ackah, who had made a save on a similar play minutes before.

“That’s the play. They put the ball up and I go to it,” said Kay, who scored twice at Westlake on Jan. 3 in a 2-1 Royal victory. “They were pushing me away every time we tried it, but you have to go up in the pack and get over everybody.”