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GREENCASTLE BOYS' SOCCER SECTIONAL: Tiger Cubs finish job with rout of Knights
Within 90 seconds, Greencastle shot itself ahead of Northview in the championship game of IHSAA Boys’ Soccer Class 2A Sectional No. 29.
It took until the final 90 seconds of the opening half, however, for the Tiger Cubs to take a goal lead into halftime but once the hosts scored three minutes into the second half, another glut of goals followed as part of a 7-2 win over the Knights.
“We did not expect to be as solid as we were this year having such a wide array of players,” Greencastle head coach JD Sims said about building a title-winning team. “I didn’t expect my freshmen kids to make the impact they did or the guys on the fringes to find their fold in the team, so I’m ecstatic about everything we’ve done.”
The Tiger Cubs wasted little time in getting in front as the home team forced two early corners, the second being turned in by Clay Glessner for a 1-0 lead.
Greencastle poked and prodded the Northview defense as the visitors tried to settle into the contest and were aided in doing so on their first real attack.
Henry Lackey got a step on Ben White down the right side and the latter bundled over the Knight attacker in the box for a penalty, one dispatched by Lackey to level the score at 1-1.
Another Northview free kick hit the side netting as the matched briefly evened out as the Knights flew around and tried to follow up on their goal.
Greencastle soon laid siege to the visiting goal, somehow not coming away with a goal as Robert Styck made several close-range saves in goal while another goal was saved off the line by Logan Morris.
The match appeared to be heading to halftime tied at 1-1 but Seth Kallem changed the flow of the match, forcing Jackson Pittman to haul the forward down in the box before rolling a penalty past Styck for a 2-1 lead heading into halftime.
“Tons of credit to Northview; they came in with a lot of heart and I knew they would because they had some battles to get to this point,” Sims said about the Knights’ tenacity in the first half. “They knew the type of team we were and we knew they were going to play hard; they came out with the kind of energy that allowed them to decide the tempo and at halftime, we told our guys we needed to play our passing game and decide the tempo.”
Three minutes into the second half, Greencastle turned the screw when Jalen Hardman crossed from the right and Foss drilled home to make it 3-1.
Five minutes later a corner was allowed to bounce for several seconds before Kallem settled it and fired past Styck.
The lead remained at three goals until 16 minutes remained when Lackey was able to split the Tiger Cubs defense and rolled a ball past Harris Weltz in goal to make it 4-2.
All the goal did was send Greencastle back on the attack as a Hardman cross was headed home by Kallem 10 minutes from time before the senior added a fourth goal with six minutes to play.
Foss added icing to the sectional cake, rifling a shot in from distance off the back post three minutes from the final whistle as the Tiger Cubs completed a sectional in which it outscored its opponents 25-3.
Greencastle advances to the regional round, beginning with a trip to Providence on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
“We have to focus, play our game, look at film and ultimately work on deciding the tempo of the game,” Sims said about facing the Pioneers. “We need to work every minute of the game.
“At times, we have played at other team’s levels. If we see that (Providence) is not a team just kicking the ball but playing soccer, that’ll give us a good opportunity to play our game as well.”