Jay earns title berth

YORKTOWN — The Patriots built another big first-half lead.
And this time there was no comeback from their Muncie opponent.
Jay County scored all of its goals before the intermission, rolling to a 4-1 victory over the Southside Rebels in the semifinal round of the Class 2A Sectional 15 high school girls soccer tournament.
“We’re excited to go to the sectional championship game,” said JCHS coach Abby Champ, whose team let a three-goal lead slip away against Muncie Central in Tuesday’s opening round before bouncing back to win. “It’s going to be a hard-fought game for 80 minutes.”
The Patriots will play in the sectional finale for the first time in six seasons Saturday at 7 p.m. at Yorktown Sports Complex when they take on the host Tigers, who defeated Delta 5-1 in Thursday’s other semifinal game. JCHS lost 2-0 to Yorktown during the regular season.“We play a different game than how we played them the first time,” said Champ. “We pass better. We space better. That’s the kind of game we have to play.”
The Patriots passed their way through the Southside defense at will during the first half Thursday, getting on the board early to set the tone. Their opening goal came just 2:18 into the game when Alex Loy got to a loss ball in the left side of the box and shot inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.
Jay County pushed the advantage to two goals at the 30:05 mark after a LeAnn Horn shot deflected out of bounds for a corner kick. Nikka Chaney took the kick from the left side, and eventually the ball rolled outside the 18-yard box to a waiting Tiffany Huelskamp. The senior fired away from 19 yards out and connected on her first career goal.
“It was beautiful,” said Champ. “Tiffany has that capability. … I’m really excited she got the goal because that’s going to give her the confidence to do that Saturday because we’re going to need those kinds of shots ...”
Sammi Compton, who scored the game-winning goal with just 2:26 to play against Muncie Central, extended the lead when she scored at the 13:20 mark off an assist from Horn. And Catherine Dunn extended the advantage to four goals as she scored less than two minutes later off of passes from Ericka Reynolds and Compton.
JCHS finished the first half with 12 shots on goal, and rarely allowed Southside to advance the ball past midfield.
“That’s the kind of game we wanted to see. … The first half is exactly what we wanted to see,” said Champ. “We were passing well. We were playing our space. We were moving to the ball. … We got some great looks.”
The Rebels (1-10-2) got on the board less than five minutes into the second half after a long ball gave them a free kick near midfield. Southside senior Allison Dick eventually worked behind the defense and fired past goalie Brooke Reynard for the first goal of her career.
“I’m very proud of her,” said Southside coach Justin Zacharias. “She was having good touches on the ball. She had a good drive and she didn’t hesitate. She saw an open shot and she took it.”
Neither team scored the rest of the way as Jay County earned its first trip to the sectional championship game since falling 3-0 to Marion in 2005. The Patriots also played in five straight sectional finals from 1999 through 2003, but have never won the title.
JCHS (11-6), which has not had a winning season since 2006 and finished just 3-11-3 a year ago, could also match the school record for wins with a victory Saturday.
“It’s different just because of the adrenaline that goes into it,” said Champ, who played in three of those sectional championship games for JCHS. “The girls have never been here. This has been their goal for four years. …
“Words can not describe what it would mean to win, not only with this group of girls … who have worked so hard, but to be the first sectional win for girls soccer after the last two seasons we’ve had.”[[In-content Ad]]