HELENA -- Both the Helena High girls and boys soccer teams knocked off their crosstown rivals in their second meetings of the season, defeating the Helena Capital squads 5-0 and 3-1, respectively.
The Bengals' Avery Kraft notched two of the goals on the day for Helena High, while Elsa Grebenc, Rachael Plaster, and Lucy Odegard added one each to move their record to 5-1 on the season.
One of the bright spots surrounding the rivalry for both teams is the fact that nearly all of the players know one another. During the game it's mostly business, according to the players, but following the game, many are extremely friendly.
“Especially with soccer crosstown, I feel it so much. All of us support each other and we all want to win, we're really competitive, but at the end of the day, we're all friends, so that's cool,” said Helena Capital's Jaymee Sheridan.
“It's always a lot of fun. There's banter on the field and stuff, and ... it's just fun, because you play with them on Arsenal and then just the competition. It's really fun,” said Helena High's Grebenc.
The boys shortly followed the girls matchup and it too went in favor of Helena High.
The Bengals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half behind goals off the feet of Jacob Demmons and Sean O'Brien.
The Bruins clawed their way back in on a goal by Luke Kailey but couldn't find a rhythm the rest of the match. Helena High's scoring was rounded out by Ethan Hayes to wrap up the match at 3-1.
The Helena High Bengals will have a few days off before they get back to work when they host the Kalispell Glacier Wolfpack on Sept. 23.
The Helena Capital Bruins won't have the luxury of time off as they get back to it on Saturday when they host Missoula Sentinel.
