Marentes leads Jay

YORKTOWN — Cristian Marentes kept finding himself in one-on-one situations with Blackford’s goalkeeper.

And he kept delivering.

Marentes racked up four goals — two on penalty kicks and two more on breakaways — as he powered the Jay County High School boys soccer team to a 6-1 victory over the Blackford Bruins in the opening round of the Class 2A Sectional 24 tournament at Yorktown Sports Complex.

“He was the best player out there on the field tonight. He took command of it,” said JCHS coach Brad Horn. “He understands the game so well, whether he has the ball on his foot or he’s away from the ball.”

The Patriots advance to the second of tonight’s two sectional semifinal games at Yorktown to take on the New Castle Trojans, who knocked off Delta 2-1 Tuesday. 

JCHS (10-6) went into the game as a heavy favorite after defeating Blackford 5-1 during the regular season and, after a relatively quiet first 15 minutes, Marentes made sure there would be no let down.

His first tally came after Shaden Morrow was called for a handball inside the 18-yard box with 23:03 on the clock. Marentes promptly took the ensuing penalty kick and sent it to the upper left corner of the net for a lead the Patriots would never relinquish.

Seventeen minutes later, he broke free to track down a pass from Gavin Muhlenkamp behind the Bruins’ defense and beat goalkeeper Gabe Foster for his second tally.

“The second goal that I had, I anticipated the ball,” said Marentes. “It was a one-on-one goal and I just placed it.”

Marentes was on the way to another potential score at the 2:43 mark when Foster caught him with a knee to the chest in a scramble for the ball. Foster was called for a foul and Marentes cashed in another penalty kick, this time to the lower right corner, for a 3-0 lead.

His fourth goal came just over six minutes into the second half when he took an assist from Alex McFarland and then won another one-on-one with the goalie — this time Ian Reed, who took over net duties for the Bruins (1-14-1) at halftime.

“His speed,” said Brad Batman in reference to the biggest challenge of handling Marentes. “Last season we graduated a lot of guys, a lot of our defense. So those guys, only one of them is a returning defender. They just weren’t able to keep up with him. That’s really what it was. He had some great shots. … He’s just a good player.”

With the four tallies, Marentes took over the team lead in goals with 12, surpassing Muhlenkamp’s nine. It was just his second multi-goal game of the season — he scored twice Sept. 21 in a 7-0 win at Centerville — and third of his career. The other came with three goals in last year’s 11-0 victory over South Adams.

He also assisted on the fourth Patriot goal of the game, working the ball on the right side of the field before sending a pass across to Hunter Shumaker at about 20 yards out on the left side of the goal box. Shumaker converted the opportunity to the upper right corner of the net at the 1:35 mark of the first half.

The assist extended Marentes’ team-high total to nine.

“He sees the field so well,” said Horn. “A lot of times we just kind of move the ball and just kind of kick it wherever it’s going. But he has a purpose when he has the ball. He sees what’s going on. His vision of the field is pretty incredible.”

Gio Perod recorded the Patriots’ final goal at the 13:44 mark before Blackford got on the board a minute later when Brayden Smith got his foot on a loose ball in front of the net.

The win was Jay County’s first in the tournament since 2015, when it topped Muncie Central 2-1 in the semifinal before falling 4-3 to Yorktown in the championship game. Yorktown had handed the Patriots opening-round defeats in each of the last three seasons.

After coming into the opener as a heavy favorite, the Patriots will be in the opposite position tonight. They dropped their regular-season meeting with New Castle by a 5-1 tally on Aug. 28.

“We had them 1-1 at halftime and then they put a couple goals in, our heads kind of just dropped,” said Horn. “Hopefully we can learn from that. It’s a game we can win … but we’ve got to come out and be ready to play and we’ve got to play the right way.”