The Aberdeen Central boys’ soccer program shook off a host of obstacles for a 2-0 victory over Rapid City Central Friday evening at the Brownell Activities Complex.

A couple rounds of lightning delays in the preceding girls’ game pushed back the start of the boys’ game, but that was just the beginning. The Golden Eagles weathered a mid-game rain shower, but when that cleared, a veritable plague of insects moved in.

Through it all, the Golden Eagles were able to create a nice selection of scoring opportunities, finding the net once in each half for the win.

“I told them before the game, whatever happened the last two hours, you guys just need to let that go,” said Central coach Lance Mohr of the pre-game upheaval. “It’s just wasted time and wasted energy. Just let that go and let’s start new just like this is a normal kickoff. And once they heard that, they moved past it.”

Central put together a handful of chances in the opening half, but couldn’t tack one on the scoring column until just before the end of the period. Linus Johnson collected the ball in the corner and sent a crossing pass into the center, where it ricocheted off a number of players before finally bouncing off a Cobbler and into the net for an own goal.

While Johnson did not get credit for the goal, Mohr said it was nice to see his squad creating opportunities on the offensive end of the pitch.

“Every game you’re looking for something better, something that’s working,” Mohr said. “I thought from Tuesday to today … we were able to connect and find each other and have some creative moments to create some exciting chances.”

Tyler Bain then tacked on an insurance goal midway through the second half, blasting home a long shot into the upper corner of the net.

“It felt great,” Bain said. “Personally, I missed a lot of chances before that, and it felt good to finally get one in.”

“He’s such a talented player,” Mohr said of his senior striker, “And he wants to do so well for the team that sometimes he’s trying too hard and it works against him. He can change the game at any moment and just because he doesn’t think it’s up to his standards, which they weren’t, he can just let those go and know that the team is going to create chances for him and they’re going to support him.”

Meanwhile, another senior did his part to preserve the shutout, as Zander Kuhfeld stopped everything that came his way, including a sterling save in the closing moments of the first half. The Cobblers laced a shot at the net, where Kuhfeld gathered in the save amidst a bit of traffic.

“We expect that from Zander to deal with the challenging moments and the awkward balls and how many times he comes out to prevent and communicate to prevent those chances that never get registered as saves,” Mohr said. “When you have his leadership and experience, he makes some of those situations look very simple and straightforward and they’re not.”

Despite the late start to Friday’s game, the Golden Eagles will have little time to dwell on the results, as they are back in action Saturday to face Rapid City Stevens at noon.

“We just showed up today and put in a good effort and got a win,” Bain said. “And (Saturday) we’re going to do the same thing.”