The Cathedral Green Wave and North Pike Jaguars were finally able to play their key District 6-2A soccer game after two postponements due to bad weather.

And it turned out to have a thrilling and dramatic finish as Jonathan Elliott made the game-winning goal with 2:12 left in the game to give Cathedral a 2-1 victory Friday night at D’Evereux Stadium.

&uot;I’m so proud of them. Our bench won the game for us,&uot; said Cathedral head soccer coach Paul Kettering. &uot;We give a lot of respect to the Jaguars. They’re defense played outstanding tonight.&uot;

Both teams’ defense played hard throughout the game. Neither team was able to score until Cathedral’s Curtis Minor did so with 8:36 left in the first half that would give Cathedral a 1-0 halftime.

&uot;I was not surprised that we shut them out in the first half. I was surprised that we didn’t score more,&uot; Kettering said. &uot;We took 20 shots in the first half and they only took five shots.&uot;

One reason the Green Wave did not score more was the outstanding play of Jaguar goalie J. R. Alexander.

&uot;He stopped 33 of our 35 shots for the game. He ought to be named to the All-District team. I think he should even be the MVP as good as he is,&uot; said Kettering.

North Pike did not score until about six and a half minutes into the second half when Brett Stockton scored on a direct kick to tie the game at one.

One move that did work was starting sophomore Tom Rinaldi at goalie and moving senior Tate Hobdy from goalie to the field.

&uot;Hobdy is the vocal leader of the team. I made a big gamble starting Rinaldi at goalie, but it paid off,&uot; said Kettering.

It appeared that the game was going to go into overtime until Elliott’s goal gave the Green Wave the lead and eventually the win.

&uot;When Elliott made that goal, everyone on the team was so happy for him,&uot; Kettering said. &uot;We’ve started him at three different positions this season. I was so excited. This was the closest game we’ve played in district.&uot;

Cathedral improved to 4-4 overall and 3-0 in district play.

The Green Wave will host Franklin County on Jan. 13 in another district game.

In junior varsity action, Cathedral defeated North Pike 2-0 .

Daniel Gasquet and Nicholas Anderson scored for the Green Wave.