After Grand Forks Central cut Grand Forks Red River's lead to 2-1 in the second half, the Roughriders leaned on a team concept stressed by coach George DuBois.
"Our big philosophy is 'five minutes'," DuBois said. "Teams are bound to let down in those five minutes after they score a goal. It's where you can really capitalize."
Red River made the most of those five minutes after Central's goal, scoring twice in the next two minutes. As a result, the Riders defeated the Knights 4-2 on Tuesday at South Middle School.
"You score a goal there and you should have momentum," Central coach Mike Wilber said of Brett Lofthus' goal at 67 minutes, 30 seconds that trimmed the Red River lead to 2-1.
Instead, 26 seconds later Red River senior midfielder Tyler Axtman scored to reclaim the two-goal advantage. Then at 69:29, Alan Zahui scored his second goal to push the lead to 4-1.
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Zahui also scored in the match's opening minute.
"We really just had three mental lapses," Wilber said. "Give credit to Red River because they were able to capitalize on them. It was really a competitive game back and forth, which is what you hope for in this kind of game. We've been trying to figure out different lineups and where to play guys. I think we found some things out today and that's a positive."
Central's Jake Purpur scored with less than two minutes remaining to pull the Knights within 4-2.
But the Riders had already done their damage, dropping the Knights to 4-6-1. The Riders improved to 6-3-2.
"The key was the fast start," DuBois said. "We were able to put pressure on their backs and that pressure made them turn the ball over."
Red River also took advantage of its depth advantage.
"Central is a skilled team, but their numbers are down," DuBois said. "Our goal was to pressure hard and tire them out. We wanted to do a lot of subbing with our bench."
Red River goalkeeper Andrew Butkowski finished with 10 saves, while Central's Ben Lofgren had 11 stops.
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Zahui led Red River with two goals, while Axtman had a goal and an assist. Matt Verke also scored for the Riders, which gave Red River a 2-0 edge at 33 minutes. DuBois also said Cody Jennewein played a key role from his midfielder position.
Spencer Dusso had two assists for the Knights.
