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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – The Montevallo Bulldogs came out victorious over the Helena Huskies, taking the county battle over their Class 6A opposition in a tight matchup.

Montevallo emerged from a 1-1 deadlock to score a late goal and earn the 2-1 win on Tuesday, March 19 at Montevallo High School.

The Bulldogs started the game strong thanks to the man who scored both of their goals in the match: Alexis Lopez.

In the third minute of the match, Lopez set up with a free kick outside the box and took a direct shot on goal. The ball sailed into the back of the net and put Montevallo up 1-0.

However, Helena had the last word in the half. The Huskies equalized before halftime and sent the teams into the break tied 1-1.

The Bulldogs had more adversity to overcome from the first half as Erik Angel, who made three big saves in the first half, suffered an injury before halftime.

That left Jesus Munoz to step up in his place for the entire second half, and he delivered in key spots for his team down the stretch.

Munoz earned a pair of saves in the final 40 minutes to keep the game tied up at 1-1.

Those saves were crucial to Montevallo holding Helena scoreless in the entire second half, which set up the Bulldogs with a golden opportunity to earn a win.

In the 68th minute, the Huskies committed a foul inside of the box to award a penalty kick to Montevallo, and Lopez went to the spot looking for his second goal of the night.

He then converted the spot kick to give himself the brace and put the Bulldogs up 2-1 with 12 minutes to go.

From there, Montevallo brought the same effort they had throughout the half and saw out the 2-1 win.

The Bulldogs will look to make it back-to-back wins over Class 6A opponents as they host Chilton County on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m.

As for Helena, it has a massive match of its own on deck as it hosts Pelham at Helena High School. Kickoff is also set for Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m.