Rochester Adams Justin Wineke leaps over Rochester goalkeeper Chris Stewart after making a save in first half action at Rochester High School.

ROCHESTER HILLS — Rivalry games are viewed with great importance for good reason. They are games of the highest intensity, and the results are not soon forgotten by either team.

The Rochester and Rochester Adams soccer rivalry was in full swing Tuesday night, as Adams (5-3-2) defeated the Falcons, 3-0, in what was an intense and downright physical contest.

“Today we knew it was going to be a big fight,” Adams head coach Josh Hickey said. “This was a cross-town rivalry, and there’s a lot more testosterone than their is skill in a game like this, but we worked hard and were able to get out on top this time.”

Both teams played tough and physical for 80 minutes, and at times even exceedingly so. There were a total of seven yellow cards given in the contest.

“This game is a true example of a situation where you can throw all the records out,” Rochester head coach Chris Purgatori said. “It’s the classic cross-town rival, they don’t like us, we don’t like them, and that’s the way this game has always been played.”

Purgatori — who played his high school soccer at Rochester and has been a part of the Highlanders and Falcons rivalry for a long time — was disappointed with how his team played in this game.

“In a statement game like this, we’ve got to come out and play up to our fullest potential. Tonight we came out flat, and just didn’t play well,” said Purgatori.

Rochester (6-5-1) had just one shot on goal the entire game.

“Defensively, I thought our guys played really well,” Hickey said. “We’ve got some leaders on our defense, and they’ve really stepped up and taken ownership of it this year.”

The Highlanders got their first goal when Alex Czirmer scored on an open net in the 13th minute of the first half. Rochester goalkeeper Christ Stewart was taken out of the play after a collision with an Adams player, leaving the net wide open for Czirmer to score.

Adams took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

“I actually don’t think that first goal was too much of a factor, we just didn’t create enough chances for ourselves throughout the game,” Purgatori said.

The Highlanders took a 2-0 lead in the 22nd minute of the second half, when Tom Carrio beat the Falcons defense and placed a shot into the far corner of the net. Adams had several other chances to add to its lead in the following minutes after their second goal, but Stewart turned away three point-blank range shots to keep the game within reach.

“Their keeper played great, I would say we’ve got to do a better job of finishing but he just made some outstanding saves and kept them in the game,” Hickey said.

Adams finally was able to add another goal onto the scoreboard with eight minutes remaining in the game. Much like the first score, the last goal came under unfortunate circumstances for the Falcons. Highlanders captain Morley Burns fired a shot from about 14 yards out that deflected off the shin of a Falcon defender, and lofted over and out of Stewart’s reach for a goal.

“It (the outcome) was disappointing,” said Purgatori. “We’ve shown that when we play the way we’re capable of playing, that we can beat just about anybody in the state. But if we come out and play like we did tonight, we’re not going to have as many opportunities to win games.”