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Foss hat trick snags second-straight sectional title for Greencastle over Northview
BRAZIL — In last year’s boys soccer sectional championship game, Greencastle got out to an early lead and added onto it throughout the night en route to a blowout win over Northview.
It wasn’t nearly as easy for the Tiger Cubs Saturday as the Knights held the visitors scoreless in the first half, but a hat trick for Micah Foss in the second half and a resolute defense meant Greencastle will be headed back to the regional round again with a 3-0 win in the final of IHSAA Boys’ Soccer Class 2A Sectional No. 29
Northview head coach JP Arvin admitted that Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Tiger Cub was even harder to swallow due to the fact that the game was scoreless at halftime and the Knights were using a thought-out game plan – and succeeding with it – only to come up short to the same team in back-to-back years.
“Last year, they got one on us quick. I mean, it was unexpected. It happened before we were even set and they had one on us, so we were working from a deficit the entire time. This year, we were right there. This one hurts a lot worse, honestly,” said Arvin. “I love these boys so much. I wish we could’ve pulled something together better for them.”
What was Northview’s game plan? Doing whatever it took to keep the ball away from Greencastle’s leading goal scorer Micah Foss, who entered Saturday’s championship game having found the back of the net 36 times this season.
Northview had freshman Luke Whitman follow Foss wherever he went on the field. The Knights also implemented a double team any time the ball would cross midfield and get into Northview territory, forcing any of the other Tiger Cubs to beat them.
Greencastle head coach James Sims said he could sense frustration from his sophomore standout and pulled him aside during the 10-minute halftime intermission.
His message? Stay patient and let the game come to him.
“It’s funny because he’s still a kid, so he gets frustrated. We were just trying to encourage him and letting him know that, ‘Hey, every game you play, you’re our main goal scorer, so they’re going to put multiple kids on you. Just be patient and try to get the ball off your foot. Don’t let the frustration get to you. We don’t want you to try to out dribble these kids. We just want you to play smart and move the ball, and when you get your chance, take it.’ He took his chances when he got them today,” explained Sims.
Northview held Foss – as well as the rest of the Greencastle roster – off the scoreboard for the first 47 minutes. But at the 32:51 mark of the second half, Foss broke through to put the Tiger Cubs ahead 1-0.
The game turned on its head the second Greencastle snatched the lead, both coaches said.
Why? Greencastle possesses a defense that gives up an average of 0.5 goals per game and was unblemished in its first two postseason games earlier in the week.
Arvin knew it was going to be difficult to get one past them with the formation they run. He noted the Knights were hoping to knock the ball ahead to Camden Parkey or Matthew Mullenix and let their talent do the rest of the work to knot the game up.
“They literally cut the field in half on you. They leave a full back and winger on the back side and then they stack their other eight position players on whichever side they’re playing to. So, any time you get the ball, now you’re on half of a field and there’s eight players over there. You never have time. They do really well at it. We know what they do well. We were just trying to get one clean look and send it up between their full backs and get Cam or Mullenix that clean look. We just could never get the ball settled when we needed to,” Arvin explained. “It just didn’t work for us today.”
That never happened because of the defensive pressure of the Cubs, which is something Sims said he and his staff know will be there each day regardless of whether the offense is clicking or not.
“I don’t think in the sectional we’ve played our finest soccer, but our defense is the one thing that has been super, super solid,” said Sims. “In conference, we got second place and didn’t allow a single goal to be scored. That’s crazy. How often does that even happen? We hadn’t given up a single going during sectionals, so that was huge for us. We knew if we didn’t play well [on offense], we still had them to fall back on. But I didn’t want to go to PKs or anything like that, so the big halftime speech was basically, ‘Go forward. We can possess it all day in the back, but what good does that do us?’ We had the boys start pushing forward and that created some chances for the offense.”
Foss added onto his strong sectional championship performance later in the second half when he added his second – coming at the 13:14 mark – and third – coming at the 2:31 mark – goals of the game.
Arvin tipped his cap to the sophomore for figuring out ways to overcome Northview’s game plan while Sims credited the second-year varsity player for doing what it took to lead Greencastle’s offense to another title.
“He’s excellent. We had to say ‘good job’ to him afterwards because we felt like we had the game plan to contain him,” Arvin said of Foss. “For close to the first 50 minutes, the game plan worked, and we had it where we wanted. We had it. But we couldn’t finish it.”
“Micah has so much technical ability. He’s such a strong player and he’s only a sophomore. That’s hard to believe. He’s around 60 goals scored for his career, so he’s huge for us. He has that ability to just explode and create openings. And if you give him any sort of inch, he’s going to put the ball in the back of the net,” said Sims of Foss.
Despite leaving the field still searching for the program’s first-ever sectional title, Arvin said he feels like the team took positive steps forward in 2023. He didn’t want Saturday’s loss to be viewed as a moral victory because they were playing in the championship game for the second straight season, but also wanted his group to feel proud of what they’ve accomplished over the last 24 months since he took over the program.
“We just have to keep working at it. There are no moral victories, but there are steps in the right direction. Progress is rarely in a straight line,” said Arvin.
After the game was over, Northview said its goodbyes to its five-player senior class – Parkey, Mullenix, Dakota Knust, Devon Hardey and Andrew Carr – with its season coming to a close. Greencastle advanced onto Wednesday’s regional semifinal where the Tiger Cubs will host Providence, which defeated Silver Creek in the Class 2A Scottsburg Sectional championship Saturday afternoon.
| Greencastle | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Northview | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Gc – Micah Foss, 32:51 2H
Gc – Foss, 13:14 2H
Gc – Foss, 2:31 2H
Next – Greencastle (14-3-1) advanced to Wednesday’s regional semifinal. Northview (8-9) concluded its season.