Patriots back in final

YORKTOWN — For the eighth time in the last decade, Jay County will play for the sectional championship.
Jalen Ryder notched the first multi-goal game of his senior season, and the Patriot boys soccer team tacked on two more goals in a 4-0 shutout of the Delta Eagles in the first Class 2A Sectional 15 semifinal game Monday at Yorktown Sports Park.
Jay County advances to the final at 2 p.m. Saturday against Yorktown. The host Tigers defeated the Muncie Central Bearcats 4-2 in the other semifinal, and Saturday’s tilt will be the third time in four years the Patriots and Tigers will meet in the sectional championship.
“It feels good,” Ryder said of his two-goal game Monday. “I usually never score and I put two in.”
Fellow senior Alex Abbott gave the Patriots (7-8-1) the only goal they needed less than two minutes after the opening whistle, and 102 seconds later Ryder found the back of the net for his first score.
Abbott, who carved through the Delta defense and put a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Dominic Yarger for the opening score, sent a cross from the right corner into the 18-yard box, and Yarger’s clearing attempt hit off Ryder’s chest. The ball deflected behind the Eagle sophomore, and Ryder controlled the bouncing ball off his body and tapped it in to give Jay County an early 2-0 lead.
He added his second goal — the fourth of the game for Jay County — in the final minutes of the first half. Freshman Zaaron Lee passed the ball up to Ryder on the left side of the field. As the ball rolled toward the goal line to the right of Yarder and the net, Ryder kept it from going out of bounds, dribbled toward the middle of the field to give himself a better angle and kicked it between Yarger’s legs.
“I didn’t plan on that happening,” Ryder said of putting it through the five-hole, “but it worked.”
Lee, who had three goals during the regular season, scored with 7:12 left in the first half. He found an opening in Delta’s defense on a pass from Jared Schlosser, and buried a strike in the lower left corner.
The two quick scores and the two insurance goals later in the half was the product of the type of play JCHS coach Alan Bailey wanted out of his squad.
“I told them before the game I wanted to come out and be the aggressor,” said Bailey, whose team has won four in a row after a four-game losing streak. “We got them back on their heels quick, got a couple pops and then settled down.
“The whole 80 minutes we played a complete game.”
Delta coach Kurt Griffis wasn’t pleased with the way his defense played in the opening half.
“Our defensive line sat a little bit in the first 40 minutes,” said Griffis, whose team has only six upperclassmen on its roster. “I think that was a gatekeeper — we sat back and waited for something to happen. It happened, it just didn’t happen the way we wanted to.
“I was hoping the back line would be a little more aggressive.”
In addition to Jay County putting pressure on the Delta defense, it gave the Patriot defenders a much easier time in the first half. The Patriot back line of Zach Chaney, Nathan Heitkamp and David Fernandez kept the Eagles’ offense at bay. JCHS goalkeeper Trevor Moeller had an easy evening, facing only three shots.
“We’ve redone our defense totally,” Bailey said, alluding to the new look in the back. Chaney started the season as goalkeeper but has since moved up to sweeper. “That defensive backfield I have in there now, we’re playing quick, we’re playing heads up.
“This is a totally different team right now and I’m glad to see it.”
Yorktown has won five straight sectional championships, including the last three in Class 2A. The Tigers beat the Patriots for the title in 2011 and ’12.
Jay County, which was in a different sectional at the time, won three consecutive championships from 2008 through ’10, and will be looking to avenge its 6-0 loss to the Tigers in the semifinal game last year. The Patriots beat Yorktown 4-3 during the regular-season meeting Sept. 27.
“We’re playing as a unit front to back,” Bailey said. “They’re passing well, the defenders are passing well (and) we’re working our wings well. We’re working up to Abbott.
“We’re doing all the little things that we’ve worked on all year long.”