Dodge City and Liberal have dominated the boys soccer in the Western Athletic Conference for the past five seasons, with the Demons winning three of those titles, the teams sharing once and Liberal winning the most recent one in 2018.
On Thursday, Oct. 24, the two powerhouses met in the WAC finale with another title on the line, and this time it was the Red Demons re-capturing the crown with a 2-0 shutout of the Redskins in Liberal.
That provided the Demons with a conference mark of 7-1-0 while the Redskins finished 6-1-1 in the WAC. Third place went to Garden City with a 3-4-1 mark, Great Bend fourth at 3-5 and Hays fifth with an 0-8 record.
Thursday’s pivotal victory was the third meeting between the league rivals, with Dodge winning a non-league match against Liberal early in the season, 3-2 in overtime, at the Titan Classic in Wichita. Then, it was the Redskins’ turn to come up with a win, this one a 3-1 triumph at Dodge’s Memorial Stadium on Sept. 17.
In the biggest game of the regular season, the Demons got two second-half goals, the first from Diego Olivares on a free kick, and the second from Mervedi Nkongolo on an assist from Olivares.
The Red Demons, meanwhile, had then swept through the rest of the league opponents, beating Hays, 4-0; Garden City, 1-0; Great Bend, 4-3; Garden City, 5-0; Hays, 10-0; and then Great Bend, 4-1. That set up the showdown in Liberal to determine the league champion.
The win against Liberal was the Red Demons’ fourth straight and improved their regular season record to 13-3-0 heading into the Class 6A regional play the week of Oct. 28 where they are likely the No. 3 overall seed in the western division of Kansas.
Meanwhile, the Redskins saw their season record slip to 11-4-1, with the one tie coming against Garden City back on Oct. 8 in a 0-0 deadlock. Liberal had toppled WAC opponents in impressive fashion, too, taking down Great Bend, 2-0; Garden City, 3-0; Hays, 8-0 and 7-0; and Great Bend, 2-0.
All-WAC selections, Player and Coach of the Year Awards will be selected on Nov. 6.
