Defense stifles Bearcats

Most of the offense and a bulk of the midfielders returned for the Patriots.

They have a brand new defense and a new venue to play on.

Despite a fresh back line and goalkeeper, the Patriots came ready to play.

Jay County High School’s boys soccer team pulled off a 1-0 victory in the season opener against Muncie Central on Tuesday in the first official game played on the new turf at Harold E. Schutz Memorial Stadium.

“It was very important,” said first-year Patriots coach Rodney Reynolds. “They’re always a strong team. They have so many bodies to put a good team together. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

“We just told our guys they’ve got to play their game, stay level headed, do what we do, come out to fight and scrap and don’t give up whatever we do. They did that and exactly what we asked of them.

“We see there’s still some stuff we need to work on, but it’s just going to make them better. It’s a great first win for me and for the team. It’s awesome.”

The Bearcats (0-1) got the better of Jay County (1-0) the past two seasons. Both were high-scoring affairs with MCHS winning 4-1 in 2022 and 5-2 in 2023.

A new back line changed that.

Reynolds has Aryan Montes as the sweeper — Montes played more as a midfielder or striker in 2023 — Ashton Castillo as the center back, Osmar Gonzalez manning the left half, Iker Nelson on the right side and Peyton Yowell in the goal. The cast only allowed one look at the goal in the first half as Toby Gruver dribbled the distance of the field.

“It feels amazing, because we knew they were going to be a really hard opponent,” Gonzalez said. “We focused on (communication) in summer training. … Coaches were telling us, ‘You need to talk, otherwise you’re going to get scored on.’

“The coaches relied on me to talk more because I have more experience. I was just trying to help them as much as I can so they don’t get in their heads.”

The strong defense continued early in the second half. Through the first eight minutes of the second period, Muncie Central only had one look when Angel Rueda poked a through ball to Lucas Babb. Yowell shifted to the left half of the goal just in time to knock the ball away and out of bounds at the 36 minute, 55 second mark.

Four minutes later, the Patriots’ offense finally pulled through.

In the first half, Jay County midfielder Dylan Marentes tried several times to send through balls upfield for striker Levi Muhlenkamp. The Bearcats often pinched their defenders in to stop the senior, who led the Patriots in goals last year.

In the second half, Marentes decided to take a different approach.

“I was going to do the same thing, pass it to Levi,” Marentes said. “But then I saw the opening on the right. I thought, ‘We’ve tried that and missed them all.’ So I decided to go line and shoot it and luckily it went in.”

Marentes initially got the ball 50 yards out from the goal. The senior drove the right side to appear as if he would pass to Muhlenkamp before taking the shot himself from 25 yards out and getting it to bounce into the left half of the goal at the 32:12 mark.

After the score, MCHS became more aggressive offensively, especially Rueda, who took six of his eight shots in the second half. Of those six, Yowell had to save three — he finished with six total saves — while the others were wide of the goal.

“In the second half we had plenty of good looks,” said Bearcats coach Shea Hill. “We probably should have had two or three goals with the free shots right at the top of the 18, but nothing went uncontested. They were flying to the ball all over the place. Didn’t matter if it was our 18 or their 18.”

Reynolds also noted that he was impressed with the team’s communication in the match, especially from his upperclassmen.

After picking up the first win of the season, the first win under Reynolds and the first win on the new turf, the Patriots will look to build off of the opener.

“These guys gotta show up day in and day out, that’s what it takes,” Reynolds said. “They have to communicate, they have to play, they all have to click. As long as they’re doing that, we’re going to be very competitive.”