Saturday night’s match against the Charlotte Eagles marked the final home game of the season for Tobacco Road FC in their first season in the PDL.

Los Toros have two more matches on the road at Wilmington and at Greensboro, but this game stood out as one to remember, as the Eagles fell 1–0 to the mighty Boys in Black and White.

Thursday night’s match against NCFC U23, a 5–3 loss, had been an upsetting one. If the Toros had won that game, then they could’ve been in 4th place and had a chance to make the playoffs. Henry Hannepel received a red card and was suspended for Saturday night’s match. Alan Winn left the match early with an apparent hand injury. It did not go well. We needed to rebound on Saturday night.

I will be frank with you: I was nervous for this game. No Eli Garner and no Alan Winn. Facing the two-time defending division champs. I didn't think we could attack as well with those two being absent, but the boys proved me wrong.

The Eagles came out in the first 10 minutes and boy did they come out with some fancy moves. To me, it looked like Tobacco Road’s defense was too slow to stop them from attacking and just got lucky that the Eagles didn't run up the score in those 10 mins. On our first attack of the match, TRFC was given a free kick, which they used to draw another free kick, which eventually gave them a penalty kick! And of course, Nils Bruening was able to convert the PK to send Los Toros up 1–0 in the 13th minute. We have smoke!!

(Photo Credit: Zack Leischner)

Really cool to see smoke go off after a goal in a PDL match. Shout out to Bright Leaf Battalion for that.

Sam Bissett played a great first half in goal for Tobacco Road. He did everything right in order to maintain the 1–0 lead. The defense played better throughout the match too. I was nervous that the Ealges were going to be able to start dominating, but TRFC was able to respond and even pushed forward to attack in the dying minutes of the first half. The halftime whistle blew for a 1–0 Tobacco Road lead.

(Photo Credit: Matt Feltz)

For the second half, TRFC came out attacking hard and trying to gain a more comfortable lead. They created more opportunities throughout the half, unlike the first. I was on the edge of my seat for the whole match and this team played defense together to stop the mighty Eagles. Even though this lineup was way different then it normally is, they played as a team to defeat one of the best teams in the entire PDL.

Attack of the Cards

Once again, this game had many yellow yards in it. Most were dumb and few were deserved. Los Toros racked up eight fouls and five yellow cards. Yes, five cards. Luckily for TRFC fans the Eagles were able to gain three yellow cards too, but discipline has been a pretty large problem this season.

There were three during Thursday’s night match, and four last week against the Hammerheads. That’s TWELVE in the last three matches. Tobacco Road is currently tied for second in yellow cards with 26 in the entire PDL. They are only two behind Brazos Valley Cavalry FC with 28.

In the end though, the win helped Los Toros stay in 5th place with a one point lead over Tormenta FC. The standings are listed below.

If you’d like to watch the game in full, the video is below.

I will be doing a season review article in the coming weeks to talk about the team’s first season in the PDL. It has been a blast to cover Tobacco Road FC and to write for Soccer ‘n’ Sweet Tea. I hope you’ve enjoyed following our coverage. We will have extended coverage of the PDL playoffs as well.

Tobacco Road does still have two games left, with trips to Wilmington on July 9th and Greensboro on July 13th. Stay tuned to SNST for those games and for all things Tobacco Road FC.