Patriots win first championship (10/09/06)

HARTFORD CITY - In 40 minutes, more than a decade of work came to fruition.

After playing to a 2-2 tie in the opening half, the Jay County boys soccer team got a pair of Mason Shreve goals after the break Saturday to win the Blackford sectional 4-2 over the host Bruins.

It was the first sectional championship for the Patriots, who began play in boys soccer in 1994.

"It's the best feeling in the world," said JCHS coach Alan Bailey, who took over the program in 2001. "I'm so proud of the kids. They're playing hard.

"Our season wasn't really what we wanted, but the kids stayed focused. ... When things got a little gnarly out there we stayed focused and we took it to them.

"They definitely earned what they got today."

Shreve's second-half scores earned a berth in the Blackford regional, where the Patriots will play Anderson Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Anderson defeated Anderson Highland 2-1 and the host Tigers 2-0 to win the Yorktown sectional. The other regional semifinal match will pit Delta (4-12) against New Haven (13-5) Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., and the winners will play in the championship match Saturday at 11 p.m.

Seniors Scott Bruggeman of Jay County and Tyler Schache of Blackford (8-8-1) each scored a pair of first-half goals Saturday, leaving the game to be decided in the second 40 minutes.

Shreve has often been referred to as a "trash man" this year, his job has been to rush the net, pick up loose balls and rebounds and putting them away. And he has done so to the tune of a double-digit scoring season. But his deciding score was anything but a garbage goal.

After more than 35 minutes of scoreless play, Shreve gained control of the ball in the center of the field. With no defender immediately in front of him, he fired a line drive shot from 25 to 30 yards out. The ball zipped over the hands of the Blackford goalie and just under the cross bar to give Jay County (9-6-1) a 3-2 lead with 27:21 left in the contest.

"I just heard somebody behind me yell, 'Shoot it,'" said Shreve, who had a hand in all four Patriot goals. "So I shot it. It went."

"We've been talking a lot in the last two weeks about the kids being unselfish," added Bailey. "We told them to be selfish and take those shot opportunities. ... It's something that we've been focusing on - getting down and getting good shots quickly - and it showed up today."

With the one-goal lead, Bailey moved Bruggeman back to defense and the Bruin scoring opportunities were few and far between the rest of the way. They had one good shot to tie it about nine minutes after Shreve's goal, but goalie Derek Mills made an overhead save on the shot from freshman Gavin West.

The Patriot defense continued to hold strong, and Shreve secured the championship with 6:29 to go.

Jay County had several shots, the first coming from senior foreign exchange student Lucas Karpe. His attempt was knocked away to the right, where Isaac Poole followed for a second try. He shot was also deflected, but the third time was the charm as Shreve was in his usual position to pick up the rebound and put it into the net for a 4-2 advantage.

Mills, who finished with five saves, credited the defense in the second half after Schache was allowed a pair of breakaways down the left side for his goals in the opening 40 minutes.

"They played a whole different game the whole second half," said Mills. "They only let about three balls get to me. They played awesome."

The game was much different from the regular-season meeting between the two squads, which Jay County dominated for a 7-2 win.

The Patriots scored the first goal Saturday after Shreve was fouled in the box and Bruggeman knocked the ensuing penalty kick off the right post and in.

Schache scored back-to-back goals over a two-minute span just four minutes later to give the Bruins the advantage, and Bruggeman tied the game with 25:00 to go in the opening half when he put home the rebound off of a shot by Shreve.

"It's the sectional championship," said Bruggeman, who had five goals in the two sectional games. "Whatever you did in the regular season doesn't matter, it's just how well you play during the tournament. In the sectional championship everybody wants it equally."

"I think they know they were in a game this time, and last time they didn't get a good idea of what we are," said Blackford coach Jeff Slusser. "You can't take anything away from them. They're a good team.

"I think we played a lot more physical this time, which is more our style. I definitely believe that we were a lot more offensive minded. ... We knew at halftime it was going to be a matter of who scored the first goal, and that was going to be the momentum shift. And it was that exactly."[[In-content Ad]]