Eagles Beat Yellow Jackets For First Time in Five Years

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By Paul Frommelt

Prince William Content Editor

For the last four years, Osbourn boys soccer senior captain Travis Pittman has been constantly teased by his two older brothers about the Eagles’ inability to beat neighborhood rival Osbourn Park. Both his brothers were stars for Osbourn â€” notching wins over the Yellow Jackets on more than a few occasions. That’s not to say that Pittman hasn’t been successful during his time with the Eagles. His brothers never lead the Eagles to a state tournament berth as Pittman â€” a West Virginia University commit â€” did last year. But never beating Osbourn Park? That’s a cardinal sin in the Manassas-area rivalry between the two schools and worthy of some teasing.

After the Eagles 2-1 overtime win over the Yellow Jackets’ on a wet Monday night, Pittman’s brothers are going to have to come up with some new material to use against their younger brother. It was the Eagles’ first victory over the Yellow Jackets in five years, long enough for Osbourn head coach Dave Larson to lose track.

“I don’t know how long it’s been. When we first came into the district, it was kind of back and forth,” said Larson.
“They’ve had some really nice players come through. They’ve had some
really good teams that went to states a couple
of times. We had some good teams but we just weren’t able to keep up with them.”

When Osbourn Park junior Nicholas Surkamp scored in the 44th minute to put the Yellow Jackets up 1-0 â€” and that score remained midway through the second half, despite constant pressure by the Eagles â€” it looked as though the Eagles were doomed to suffer another defeat at the hands of their rivals.

That all changed when junior Nelson Almendares positioned himself under a feed from Pittman at the far goalpost and headed it past Osbourn Park goalkeeper Dylan Leygraaf to tie the game up in the 61st minute. Almendares started the season on the back line for the Eagles, but was moved up to the wing for the Eagles’ game against the Yellow Jackets.

“We changed quite a few things tonight just for them to see how they would work out,” said Larson. “We know that they have a lot of speed on the wings. Sometimes the way
to counteract speed is with speed. We felt that if we could get some
speed on the corners, we could keep the ball down there a little bit
and keep their speed away from our end.”

That change in the lineup not only helped the Eagles tie the game, but helped them score the game-winner early in the first overtime period. In a play that mirrored his game-tying goal, Almendares headed in the game-winner at the far post on a cross from junior Tyler Cook to put the Eagles up for good.

“Knowing that I scored the two goals to win the game, I feel so pumped up,” said Almendares. “It means a lot to me. I feel so great right now.”

After scoring the game-winning goal, Almendares was mobbed by his teammates. The first player there was Pittman, who planted a kiss right on Almendares’s cheek.

“Finally, we won,” said Pittman. “Finally, I can say that I’ve beaten them.”

Email: pfrommelt@digitalsports.com