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Clarksburg junior Akuro Akum played soccer at Kennedy last year. Yet well before he transferred, he understood the rivalry his new school had with Northwood.

When he scored the lone goal of their Tuesday night matchup, it showed.

"I started tearing up, man," said Akum, whose brother Ketch additionally transferred to the Coyotes from Wheaton. "Even when I was at Kennedy, we knew this was a big game. … It was just unbelievable."

Akum's header in the 72nd minute, off a free kick from junior Howie Fischer, proved the difference in the Coyotes' (2-0-1) 1-0 victory. In a game dominated by defense, it was one of the first terrific chances by either team, occurring shortly after Clarksburg's Julio Arjona was stopped on a breakaway by Northwood goalkeeper Carlos Mendez (7 saves).

The action turned frantic after Akum's putaway. With five minutes remaining, Gladiators (2-3) forward Mario Ovalle right-footed a rocket that required a diving save by goalkeeper Austin Fiedler. Seconds later, a long ball found the foot of Arjona on a breakaway, who juked Mendez before easily putting home an apparent goal; it was disallowed, however, when officials convened and decided he got controlled the pass with his hand.

"I was mad; I've never seen them take a goal away that long after the play," said Arjona. "But it's all good. We won so that's all that matters."

The victory wasn't secure until the final minute, when Northwood got one more chance. Junior forward Daniel Caballero got free on the right side of the box and aimed a shot lower right side. But once more, Fiedler was up to the task, diving to his right to slow and eventually secure the shot to his clutches.

With it, its streak was still intact: in their four years of varsity soccer, Northwood has never scored a goal against Clarksburg.

Unfortunately for the Gladiators, they had to play their arch-rival without arguably their most dynamic player. Junior center midfielder Dallas Aminzadeh was red-carded in a weekend tournament against Winters Mill (Carroll County) on a call head coach David Edlow called "extremely questionable."

"But you know, we were right with them," said Edlow. "We both had our chances and we just couldn't get one to bounce our way. I'll say this though: We haven't been at full strength yet and at 2-3, I don't think there are a whole lot of teams that are going to want to play Northwood."