THS lost the Frontier League clash, 4-0, Thursday at Ottawa, but defeated Hayden Catholic on Sept. 22 at Beatty Field.

“Our game Thursday was a series of unfortunate bounces,” THS coach Jon Orndorff said Monday. “The guys will regroup and prepare for a tough week coming up.”

Tonganoxie played Cair Paravel Latin School on Tuesday after The Mirror’s print edition and will be at home again Thursday against Bonner Springs. Cair Paravel is 4-2 on the season, while Bonner Springs is 2-1-3.

Against Hayden, THS scored first in the second half when Mason Benedict found Jaxon Albert, who put in the goal and Tonganoxie was up, 1-0.

Hayden challenged Tonganoxie often in the second half and had opportunities to tie the match, but “Ivan Franco came up huge for us in goal,” Orndorff said on a Blast Athletics website recap.

“He made some big saves when wee needed them and helped keep Hayden off the board,” Orndorff said in the recap.

The Chieftains scored a second time late in the second half. Albert scored again on a Thaddeus Hileman assist. Albert led the team in goals with five on the season heading into play this week.

Tonganoxie was 4-4-1 entering this week’s play with seven more regular-season matches left.

Mason Sparks sustained an injury against Baldwin on Sept. 17 and is out indefinitely as the season hits the home stretch of the final month of the regular season.

“We are adapting on the fly and (have a) next-man-up mentality,” Orndorff said Monday. “Freshmen and sophomores are getting more playing time and getting more confident on the ball.

“We saw that Tuesday against Hayden.”