Crossbar costs Rock Bridge goals

Clang! Ping!

For most of the game between Hickman and Rock Bridge, these sounds rang louder than any crowd noise. And the crowd even had a megaphone.

The Bruins hit the post or crossbar six times in their 2-0 win before Michael Ferguson finally got one in the net in the 55th minute.

“It was like all my work paid off,” Ferguson said. “It felt good. I always like scoring, especially against rivals.”

Ferguson’s shot two minutes before halftime got by the Kewpies’ defense, but hit the far post.

“It’s so frustrating,” he said. “Like any other post shot. It gets to you.”

In a tightly played game that was scoreless more than two-thirds of the way in, every ball Rock Bridge sent through was like a magnet drawn to the metal frame of the Hickman goal.

Kyle Reznicek hit the crossbar with an arcing shot in the 28th minute and the right post 13 minutes later.

“It was unreal,” Reznicek said. “On that first shot I even started celebrating before it went in. You can’t win ‘em all.”

Ben Friedman had a unique view.

“I think we should get a goal for hitting the post six times,” he said.

The Bruins kept the pressure on after Ferguson’s goal in case one wasn’t enough.

Adam Reed’s shot across the goal mouth hit the post in the final minute.

“I hit it pretty well,” Reed said. “(Hickman goalkeeper Drew Huckla) dove and got his fingers on it and then it hit the post, barely.”

Reed then assisted on Sam Branham’s goal seconds later to double the lead.

“We felt like we were playing well,” Reed said. “We got tons of shots. We were barely missing, and hitting every post. To finally get it in was a huge relief.”

“It feels so good because last year they got us twice. To fight through it even though we were having a rough night and still score was just great.”

Coach David Graham offered a different perspective on hitting the post.

“I have so many leaders on the team, no one really got frustrated,” he said. “It was just like ‘OK, we’ll keep going until we finally find one.’

“Mike Ferguson has done a great job all year and he finally found the net for us.”