— Fifteen years following the end of the American Civil War, Union general Lew Wallace, leader of the 11th Indiana Infantry Regiment, wrote the acclaimed novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.”

Friday, the latest film adaptation of Wallace’s Ben-Hur was released into theaters to lackluster reviews. Saturday, the NASL-leading Indy Eleven, which derives its moniker from the 11th Indiana Regiment, similarly stumbled. Indy gave away two leads before allowing an added-time goal to Omar Bravo to hand the Carolina RailHawks a 3-2 victory. The win snapped a five-match winless skid for Carolina; the loss snapped Indy Eleven’s four-game win streak.

“We’ve stood here a few times over the last month or two, and things haven’t quite gone our way,” said RailHawks manager Colin Clarke. “But I thought we got what we deserved tonight. We were the better team over the 90 minutes. I was delighted for the players, and it was a superb turnout from the crowd—they’ve been wanting this. Now we have to make sure we build on this.”

In the 20th minute, Indy Eleven kicked off the scoring when team captain Greg Janicki outleapt a cast of RailHawks defenders and nodded in a Brad Ring corner kick for a 1-0 lead. The RailHawks equalized just three minutes later, when forward Matt Fondy accepted an assist from Nazmi Albadawi, then whirled inside the half-moon and fired past Indy goalkeeper Jon Busch to even the scoreline at 1-1. It was Fondy’s fifth goal since joining Carolina after the spring season, tying him with Brian Shriver for the team lead. It was also Albadawi’s NASL-leading seventh assist.

In the 29th minute, Carolina center back Drew Beckie was dispossessed by Souleymane Youla, then compounded his error by yanking Youla to the ground in the area. Eamon Zayed converted the ensuing PK—his 12th goal this year—to reclaim Indy’s lead, 2-1.

The RailHawks found a whoopsy-daisy equalizer in the 54th minute. A Busch punch-out found fullback Steven Miller on the right wing. Miller’s volley missed its mark, but the curler sailed over Busch an Janicki before nestling into the far net to knot the match at 2-2.

“To be honest, we’ve been working a lot on balls to the opposite side of the field,” Miller said. “I’m told to get high and push in on their outside midfielder. Da Luz played a phenomenal ball across, got punched out by the keeper and it bounced out to me. I kind of lit up and tried to put it in a dangerous spot. I’m not going to say if it was a cross or shot. I just tried to put it in a dangerous spot, and luckily enough it went in.”

In the 63rd minute, referee Mark Kadlecik whistled a penalty against Janicki for taking down Tiyi Shipalane atop the area. But after consulting with the linesman, Kadlecik waved off the penalty and instead awarded a free kick.

As a draw appeared inevitable well into second-half added time, the law of averages saw a return penalty whistled against Indy Eleven. Ring put hand to a Jonny Orlando dribble, prompting Kadlecik to point to the spot. After an apparent attempt to freeze the keeper, Bravo buried the PK to send the RailHawks’ partisans into hysterics and Carolina to a 3-2 victory.

It was Bravo’s fourth goal in five games, and gave him a result over Indy’s Gerardo Torrado, his old Liga MX foe. Moreover, Saturday was the RailHawks’ third consecutive attendance over 6,000 since Bravo arrived on loan.

“Everyone thinks of Omar coming in and scoring goals,” Clarke said. “He brings so much more to the table, just as a leader. He’s a quality person, very humble, but he wants to win trophies. He’s had his talks with the boys and made his comments, and they sit up and listen. It’s coming from someone who has won at every single level he’s ever played. He knows what it takes to win.”

Indy Eleven manager Tim Hankinson said his players hit a fatigue point because of both the humidity and the larger WakeMed Soccer Stadium pitch.

“I was disappointed with how the final goal came about,” said Indy manager Tim Hankinson. “All it takes it one more possession play and being smart. Down the stretch, we weren’t good enough to deal with some of the things coming in at us.”

After consecutive draws against the bottom two teams in the league, Carolina found an unlikely, and much-needed, victory against the league-leading Eleven, which hung a 4-1 win on Carolina to clinch the NASL spring championship in early June. The RailHawks reportedly held a team meeting earlier this week, which Miller said focused on “staying the course.”

“We wanted to know where we were in the league,” Miller said. “We’re not that far off. We haven’t been playing great, but we haven’t been playing terrible. We just haven’t been getting results. We thought we could do better, especially at home.”

The victory pushes the RailHawks (7-5-7, 26 pts.) into the sixth position in the overall NASL table, five points shy of fourth-place Minnesota United with a game in hand. Carolina hits the road to face the New York Cosmos next weekend. Carolina then returns to WakeMed Soccer Park on Saturday, Sept. 3 to host the Jacksonville Armada.

BOX SCORE

LINEUPS

CAR: Fitzgerald, Black, Beckie, Tobin, Miller, Shipalane (Shriver, 70’), Albadawi, Watson, da Luz (Orlando, 90’), Fondy, Bravo (Daly, 90 + 4’)

INDY: Busch, Palmer, Janicki, Miller, Vukovic, Smart (Gordon, 66’), Ring, Torrado, Mares (Lacroix, 66’), Youla (Paterson, 78’), Zayed

GOALS

CAR: Fondy, 23’ (Albadawi); Milller (54’); Bravo, 90 + 4’ (PK)

INDY: Janicki, 20’ (Ring); Zayed, 29’ (PK)

CAUTIONS

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INDY: ---

EJECTIONS

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INDY: ---

ATTENDANCE: 6,106