BROOKINGS – With the top spot in the Eastern South Dakota Conference on the line, Tuesday’s matchup between the Bobcats and Aberdeen Central looked to be a showdown.

After a scoreless half, the Golden Eagles took advantage of a Bobcat foul in the box to score on a penalty kick in the 45th minute, and then, added another goal two minutes later for a 2-0 win.

Jesse Margolies went low left to get the PK past keeper Blake Brettschneider for a 1-0 lead, and then, Jacob Hilsendeger found the back of the net off a pass from Blake Nunez for the final margin.

Aberdeen Central, which improved to 10-0 on the season and 6-0 in the ESD, held a 7-4 edge in shots, which included a 3-1 edge in shots on goal.

“We knew, coming in, that they were undefeated and were going to be tough,” said Bobcat head coach Steve Binkley. “I think we felt a lot of pride going into halftime tied 0-0, so in the second half is where they beat us. It was a little physical – in terms of they were a little quicker to the ball – and it was probably a little mental – the composure part (that Aberdeen had).

“They benefit from having a full squad of seniors and having 11 guys that know what they are doing – in a game that’s close like this, it really pays off.

“I think our guys played a great 80 minutes with two little slip ups, so we don’t feel like we have to take a negative from the loss – we’ll just go forward with O’Gorman on Saturday.”

Brookings, which dropped to 5-2-2 overall and 4-1-1 in conference play, travels to Sioux Falls to face the Knights at 1 p.m. at McEneaney Field.