STEUBENVILLE — Goalie Joseph Vranish and the Catholic Central defense stood tall for more than 61 minutes, before the talented Big Red offense was able to break through.

Big Red fired shot after shot at Vranish for the majority of the match, however, the Big Red were not able to broke through until Chase Beall headed a shot into the net with under 19 minutes left to play and Cole Bowers recorded an insurance goal less than five minutes later leading the Big Red boys’ soccer team to a 2-0 victory against the Crusaders in the fifth and final match of the day of the 14th Annual Together We Care event Saturday afternoon on Reno Saccoccia Field inside Harding Stadium.

“We had a ton of chance,” Big Red (9-4-1) head coach Greg Bowers said. “Vranish played a nice game in goal. Their defense was also a factor, but it is like I told them, that’s soccer. We were unable to score until we got a long free kick into the middle of the 18 and Chase was able to get a head on it, and it went into the net. The second one, Vranish was blocked, and he did not see Cole’s shot.”

Catholic Central played a strong defensive match against their city rivals.

“We expected to do that,” Catholic Central (7-7) head coach Steve Kopcha said. “Big Red is a very talented team. They have talented forwards who can score goals. We knew we were going to have to concentrate on stopping their offense. We were looking to bend but no break for as long as we could. They were able to capitalize on a couple of their chances, and we were not able to.”

Vranish made 17 saves on the afternoon for the visitors.

Landon Bowers assisted on Beall’s goal, while Cole Bowers’ goal was unassisted.

JJ Lamantia made two saves in goal for the home team.

The game was scoreless at halftime, however, the Blue and Gold had a golden opportunity early in the second half, however, Lamantia came up with a big save on a rocket fired by Brendan Kuebler.

“In the second half, we did a lot better job,” Kopcha said. “We have struggled to score goals all year. Goals are very precious. We have worked hard on it. We just could not finish today.”

Kuebler’s shot could have given the boys in white the lead and forced Big Red to have to play from behind. Fortunately for the boys in red, Lamantia came up with a big save to keep the match scoreless.

“That is the danger when you don’t finish early,” Bowers said. “We had plenty of chances.

“Anytime we play Catholic Central, it is a battle. Today, it was a battle for 80 minutes. Both teams got better today.”

The game was scoreless for nearly 61 minutes when Big Red was awarded a free kick near the sideline on the far side of the field. Landon Bowers took the free kick, and he sent the ball all the way into the box where Beall was able to get his head on it and knock into the net to give the boys in red a 1-0 advantage with 18:58 remaining to be played in the match.

Cole Bowers rifled a shot into the low corner of the net with 14:09 left to play to extend Big Red’s advantage to 2-0.

Big Red is scheduled to return to the pitch at 6:30 p.m. today against Marietta at home. Big Red’s game against Edison scheduled for Wednesday at home has been canceled.

Catholic Central is slated to play St. Clairsville at 6 p.m. Thursday on the road down at Red Devil Stadium.

Earlier Saturday, the Weir girls defeated Edison, 9-0, via mercy rule, the Catholic Central girls defeated Harrison Central, 5-1 and the Harrison Central boys defeated Edison, 4-1, before the Big Red girls defeated Indian Creek, 9-1, via mercy rule.