BRADFORD, Pa. – Warren’s second Region 5 soccer showdown against Bradford this season went much like the first.

That wasn’t good news for the Dragons, who came out once again on the short end of a 4-1 decision.

“We came out really flat in the first ten minutes and didn’t play our best soccer,” said Warren coach Denny Flatt. “We weren’t able to string quality passes together and had too many turnovers.”

Bradford made the Dragons pay, as Gavin McGee scored just 7:03 into the contest. Just over six minutes later, Ian Grady scored to make it 2-0 and put the Dragons behind the 8-ball early.

“I give Bradford credit, they came out ready to play,” Flatt said. “We were sluggish, and they put two in on us real quick.”

The Dragons (8-5 overall, 3-4 Region 5) were able to stabilize a bit after that thanks to the play of the defense and keeper Ian Darling, as the 2-0 score held until halftime.

“Ian had a great game,” Flatt said. “He had two penalty kick saves and really kept us in the game. The backline had another good game also, it just took us a while to get our footing.”

The Owls (11-4, 7-1), however, came out strong in the second half and made it 3-0 on a Isaiah Pingie goal at the 53:37 mark.

Caleb Lindell got Warren on the board with his 33rd goal of the season on an assists from Zane Anderson.

“There were a lot of positives the first 20 minutes of the second half,” Flatt said. “But soccer is an 80-minute game. We had opportunities.”

Alex Marrone capped the scoring for Bradford at 66:35.

Flatt also noted the strong play of John Page and Damon Navaroli.

The Dragons will look to rebound when they visit Oil City on Thursday.

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JV: Bradford 1, Warren 0

The JV Dragons battled the Owls all night, ultimately falling 1-0 on a second-half goal by Bradford.

‘It was a nice, back-and-forth match most of the way through,” said coach Chris Darling. “They were able to put one through in the second half.”

Alex Ferry kept the Owls off the board in net in the first half. Alex Nebinski was the keeper of record in the second half.

“I thought our passing was really clean tonight,” Darling said. “We had outstanding play from Ethan Best, Ricky Madril and Mark Lynds.”