Bowie High School boys' soccer coach Richard Kirkland had a sense of déjà vu during Tuesday's 4A South Region quarterfinal game against Parkdale.
The Bulldogs had just taken a 2-0 lead into halftime and watched as Parkdale rallied to tie the game at 2-2 midway through the second half. It was the exact same scenario his team faced the first time it played Parkdale, which ended in a Parkdale victory.
But the defending 4A state champions scored two goals in the second half to walk away with a 4-2 victory. Bowie advances to face top-seeded Bladensburg on Friday at a site and time to be determined. The Mustangs defeated Northwestern, 3-1, in another 4A South quarterfinal.
Kirkland said at halftime he reminded his team of how the first meeting between the teams ended.
"I told the guys at halftime about the last meeting and reminded them that there are two halves," he said. "There was another 40 minutes before this game was over."
It was a frantic 40 minutes by both teams, as Parkdale tied the game midway through the second half, but watched the game slip away.
Bowie's Adesuyi Adewale got the scoring started for the Bulldogs with the first goal of the game. Graham added a goal off of a free kick to give Bowie a 2-0 lead in the first half.
Erick Perdomo got the Panthers (9-3) on the board in the second half when he headed in a ball off an assist from Carlos Canales. The Panthers tied the game when Junior Rivas-Bonilla scored on another header.
Parkdale coach Dalitso Chinkhota said he knew the momentum was on the Panthers' side and felt his team could win the game.
"We felt that we could execute against Bowie and get the job done," he said. "We knew we had been in this position before and we could come back from it."
But this time Bowie had an answer for the Parkdale rally, and the Bulldogs got some help from Parkdale.
Bowie's Brian Graham had a throw-in from the Bowie sideline, which he sent toward the Parkdale goal. Players from both teams jumped into the air to try and head the ball, but a Parkdale defender accidentally headed it into the Panthers' net.
That mistake gave Bowie the lead, which it never surrendered. Bowie's Josh LeMaster added a goal minutes later to put the finishing touches on the Bulldogs' victory.
"We just fell apart out there," Chinkhota said. "We stopped playing defense and we didn't communicate well. We didn't see what was happening out there and we didn't prepare ourselves. We just didn't take advantage of the time we had left and didn't get the job done."
The Bulldogs (10-6) now turn their attention toward a Bladensburg team that beat Bowie 3-1 in a regular season meeting.
"The kids are coming together and we got a big one coming up," Kirkland said. "We've got some guys back that are getting healthy and are playing well together."
E-mail Joshua Hudson at
jhudson@gazette.net.