By Terry Douglass
terry.douglass@theindependent.com

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Independent/Scott Kingsley Schuyler's Angel Gonzalez gets to the ball before Central Catholic's John Lilley during the Crusaders' 3-2 loss at the Web Road Fields Monday afternoon. Independent/Scott Kingsley Central Catholic's John Lilley heads the ball on net toward the Schuyler defense of Jose Portillo during the second half of the Crusaders' 3-2 loss. Click Thumbnails to View

Unfortunately for the Crusaders, Monday night's latest squeaker came out in Schuyler's favor as the Class B No. 8-rated (Omaha World-Herald) Warriors escaped with a 3-2 road victory. Alex Aguilar's penalty kick goal with 12 minutes left in regulation proved to be the difference.

"We're just getting too many of these one-goal games," GICC assistant coach Jerry Lyons said. "We're playing hard, but not getting many breaks. They're kids are really giving it a good effort out there we couldn't really ask for any more.

"Schuyler is a good and very well-schooled team. We're just proud of the kids and the way that they played against quality competition."

In 11 matches for Central Catholic (4-7) this season, eight have been decided by one goal. While the Crusaders are 4-4 in one-goal games, Lyons said he thinks the team is capable of winning more than it has in the fourth year of the program's history.

"We've just got to learn how to get over that hump," Lyons said. "We've lost four games this year by one goal and we lost in a shootout the other day to Scottsbluff, so we're playing some good teams tough, but we're just not quite there yet."

The Crusaders had to overcome a 2-0 deficit to make it interesting against Schuyler (9-3). The Warriors went ahead 1-0 when Jarod Oborny scored on an assist from Angel Gonzalez and then added to the margin against the wind in the 43rd minute when Oborny scored on a feed from Aguilar.

"We haven't played very well lately, so we tried a whole new offensive system today just to try to get more aggressive offensively and scoring some goals," Schuyler coach Fred Doscher said. "We had some opportunities to score and we didn't put them in the net and that's the way it has been for us all season.

"I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out, but I don't know if it's anything we'll stick with or not."

Despite the two-goal deficit, Central Catholic didn't fold. Erick Ortiz scored on an assist from Austin Witmer in the 59th minute and John Lilley headed home an unassisted goal to tie the match at 2-2 in the 61st minute.

"Our kids never quit," Lyons said. "They've been down before, but they almost always come back. I thought we might have had them when it was 2-2, but then it just came down to a penalty kick."

The match came down to Aguilar's penalty kick in the 68th minute as he came through with the game-winner for Schuyler. Aguilar improved to 5-for-5 converting PKs on the season.

"He hasn't missed one all year, so we felt pretty good about his chances," Doscher said. "He's a really solid player for us."