Fontainebleau blanks Mandeville

Fontainebleau senior captain Peyton Adkins drilled home the game-winning goal Tuesday night six minutes into the second overtime to propel the Bulldogs to a thrilling 2-0 road district victory over the Mandeville Skippers.

FHS (8-0-1) remained unbeaten at 3-0 in District 7-I play. MHS (7-3) slipped to 2-1.

Goals were definitely at a premium in a closely contested match, which was scoreless after 80 minutes of regulation play.

The teams also battled to a stalemate in the first 10-minute overtime.

It wasn’t until the 96th minute of action that Adkins finally found net as it appeared the game would go on to be decided by penalty kicks.

With six minutes gone in the second overtime, FHS’ Brett Duncan worked himself free in the right corner with a nice combination of speed and agility. He lofted a cross to Andrew Paulsen at the back post. Under pressure from the Mandeville scrambling defense, Paulsen unselfishly knocked the ball down into the path of Adkins, who had a much better angle for the shot.

Adkins said things happened quickly on his goal.

“I was just at the right place at the right time. The ball came to me off of Paulsen’s little chip. I was just there and put it in. I turned and went lower right. Andrew did all the work to get the ball to me,” Adkins said.

“It was the biggest goal of the year for me, and it felt really good. This is a huge win for us. It was big against one of our rivals, and it was very good to put it away,” Adkins added.

Adkins said it was just two goods teams beating it out with us coming on top in the end.

“Both sides had multiple chances to put it away.”

With Mandeville deflated by Adkins’ late goal, Fontainebleau was able to net another tally with just two minutes remaining in the second overtime. Team captain Brad Montreuil blasted in a powerful shot from 30-yards out on a direct kick to finish off the scoring.

FHS coach Budd Ditchendorf named Adam Cookmeyer his top defender. FHS senior goalkeeper Matt Harris collected the shut out with two saves.

Mandeville put on a gutsy performance to hang with the talented Fontainebleau squad.

MHS junior keeper Hall Lyons was credited with nine saves, including a couple of well-timed diving saves. MHS coach John Moss selected Lyons as the Skippers’ top defender. “Hall made some critical saves at important parts of the match. He had some fantastic saves to keep us in the game. Fontainebleau is one of the best teams in the state. I was really proud of my team’s performance. I told them to keep their heads high,” Moss said.

In the 58th minute, Mandeville had a scoring opportunity with Antoine Buchard finding Aaron Noelke on a cross from about 12 yards out on the left side, but the Fontainebleau defense closed on the play to clear the ball.

Fontainebleau returns to district action tonight, hosting the Slidell Tigers, while Mandeville travels to Hammond to battle the Tornadoes.