Closing time: Dragons down Purples for District 14 title
Published 10:40 am Friday, October 16, 2026
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Warren Central’s Daudi Kaburu reacts to scoring a goal during Warren Central’s 2-0 win over Bowling Green at Warren Central High School in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
(Caleb Lowndes)
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Warren Central’s Glorie Kihusa (6) celebrates after Warren Central’s 2-0 win over Bowling Green at Warren Central High School in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Warren Central’s Andrew Menjivar (8) attempts to keep possession while Bowling Green’s Kai Dizgun (8) defends during Warren Central’s 2-0 win over Bowling Green at Warren Central High School in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
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Bowling Green’s Mishack Mkandama (11) and Warren Central’s Daudi Kaburu (10) battle for possession during Warren Central’s 2-0 win over Bowling Green at Warren Central High School in Bowling Green, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes/Daily News)
(Caleb Lowndes)
Warren Central twice scored the first goal in regular-season matchups against Bowling Green, and twice couldn’t finish with a win.
In Thursday’s District 14 Boys’ Soccer Tournament championship, the host Dragons got a third chance and this time closed the deal with a 2-0 victory.
“Close — all we did was close,” Warren Central coach AJ Ray said. “We had a lead all three games, we scored first all three games and this time we just paid more attention to closing and not making mistakes.”
Top-seeded Warren Central (15-3-2) created most of the pressure Thursday night against the Purples and senior Daudi Kaburu twice provided breakthrough moments with a goal in each half.
Kaburu’s first came with 19:01 left before the halftime break when he connected on a corner kick – one of six in the first 40 minutes for the Dragons – and the ball threaded through the defense, struck the far post and bounced into the net.
Kaburu struck again late in the second half. The senior had left the field for a brief stretch after receiving a yellow card, but made a dramatic entrance on a restart a few minutes later by stealing the ball and rocketing down the field for a one-on-one chance against Purples goalkeeper William Swietek. Kaburu slipped past the charging keeper and poked the ball into the net for his second goal of the night with just 2:23 left in the game.
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“The first goal I didn’t mean to score,” said Kaburu, who earned District 14 tournament most valuable player honors. “I was finding my players, but it went in. The second goal I put pressure on the back and I won the ball and I went to score.”
Ray said that yellow-card penalty may have been just the thing to re-energize Kaburu.
“Daudi’s been great for us all season and just to give him a little bit of a breather, sometimes that’s all you need just to get your second wind and go back in and make another amazing play,” Ray said. “That’s just a credit to his hard work and kind of what we expect from him at this point in the season.”
After getting outshot 6-2 in the first half, Bowling Green (7-8-2) created more scoring chances in the second half. Joshua Centeno Luben nearly got the tying goal midway through the second half on a header off a corner kick, but the ball clanged off the crossbar. Then with 16:42 to play, Mpaji Issa slipped free for a breakaway attempt that Dragons keeper Maombi Wilonja foiled with a sliding block before covering up the loose ball.
Mostly it was the Dragons on the attack – Central finished with a 14-7 shot advantage, with Swietek tallying six saves for the Purples.
“The last two games (against Bowling Green) we got too comfortable and we let them back into the game after going up a goal,” Warren Central senior Andrew Menjivar said. “But this game we stayed (focused), listened to coach AJ’s tactics and followed the game plan – get in front, but hold it, stay together and play as a team.
“ … Today I thought we were clinical, buried our chances when we needed to and the results show for itself.”
Bowling Green coach Benjamin Mujcic said the Dragons are tough to rally against – Bowling Green twice managed to do just that during the regular season, but not on Thursday.
“They have a strong back line – Glorie (Kihusa) is able to hold down the spine of the team and they’ve got a strong spine all the way to the top with Daudi, their MVP, being able to make such an impact against our back line,” Mujcic said. “But our front line didn’t make much of an impact for us tonight. But we’ll work on it and we’ll come back stronger.”
Bowling Green will face District 16 tournament champion Russell County in a Region 4 tournament first-round match on Sunday at 3 p.m. at Franklin-Simpson.
Warren Central gets District 16 runner-up Monroe County on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.
If the long-term trend in regional play holds, the two District 14 rivals may well be meeting up one final time in the championship next week with a spot in the state tournament on the line. Ray thinks Thursday’s win against the Purples could be valuable for his team in a potential rematch.
“It’s great for the team confidence,” Ray said. “We’ve known that we can beat them all season just because we had the lead and just made silly mistakes at the end. So to actually have something on paper that says hey, we beat them, it’s just going to boost morale and hopefully the next game will be a little bit more intense with that confidence behind us.”
Joining Kaburu on the all-tournament team were Menjivar, Kahusa and Darwin Murillo from Warren Central, plus Bowling Green’s Ermack Ramos, Shukuru Shibani and Benjamin Arauz, South Warren’s Aid Becirovic and Aldin Atic, and Greenwood’s Isaac Drake and Micah Nyah.
About Jeff Nations
Sports Editor, Bowling Green Daily News
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