TYLER, Texas — Ahmad Bah is the hero of the Barton Community College men’s soccer team’s first win at the NJCAA national score tournament.
Bah, who scored twice in the game, scored the golden goal in the first overtime period Thursday afternoon, allowing the No. 4-ranked Cougars to claw their way to a 3-2 win over No. 5 Darton (Ga).
The play unfolded in the final minutes of overtime when Kevin Ellis took the ball into the Cavaliers’ box. Ellis was tackled, but Aaron Appel picked up the loose ball and put a shot on goal.
The Cavaliers goalkeeper made the save but Bah was there to place the rebound in the net and end the game with three minutes remaining in overtime.
“This is huge for our program,” Cougars head coach Oliver Twelvetrees said. “We showed the heart of a champion out there today and it was just a fantastic ending.”
The game began with a Cavaliers goal, putting the Cougars down 1-0 just eight minutes in.
Barton answered with a score by Kevin Ellis, who took a cross from Sean Lynk during a free kick and headed the ball into the net and tie the game at 1-1 in the last minutes of the first half.
In the second half, Bah scored his first goal of the game when David Majors crossed the ball into the box, giving the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
The advantage was short-lived. The Cavaliers tied it to force the game to overtime.
The Cougars will play host and No. 1-ranked Tyler today at 5:30 in a rematch of a Sept. 4 game that ended 0-0. The tie is the only game Tyler did not win all season.
“We played Tyler back at the beginning of the season,” Twelvetrees said. “It is going to be a really good game. We are living large right now and we will be ready for them tomorrow.”

Lady Cougars lose national tournament
match to Mustangs

WEST PLAINS, Mo. — The Barton volleyball team lost a close match to No. 2-ranked Western Wyoming on Thursday, falling 25-22, 25-23, 25-20, at the NJCAA national volleyball tournament.
The Lady Cougars kept the first game close, but they actually led a large portion of the second game.
“We led them all the way up to 22s,” Lady Cougars head coach Jaime Cabral said. “After that, we kind of went back-and-forth until they beat us 25-23.”
Barton jumped to an early lead in game 3, but a five-point run put the Mustangs ahead.
Western Wyoming took a 20-13 lead, but the Lady Cougars fought back to 23-19.
“We had a pretty good comeback in the third game when we really started to play strong defense,” Cabral said. “We got aced a lot today. We didn’t really do well with first contact on the ball.”
The Lady Cougars will be back in action today at 10 a.m., when they face the No. 7-seeded Florida State-Jacksonville.
A loss today would send Barton home while a win would put it two matches from finishing in ninth place, which is the highest placement the Lady Cougars can achieve.