Patriots fall in opener

MUNCIE — Josh Dowlen graduated from Jay County High School in June.

The Patriots are learning just how much they will miss him.

The Muncie Central Bearcats took control early against the Jay County High School boys soccer team, allowing them to cruise to a 5-2 victory over the Patriots on Tuesday.

The Bearcats had a big first half, scoring four of the team’s five goals.

“They are taller, bigger and faster than us,” JCHS coach Bobby Ruiz said. “I expected something like that, but not that strong.

“They are good on the through balls (plays where the ball gets poked past the midfield). We got killed by the through balls because by the time we tried to adjust, they had a couple of plays where they put us down right away.”

The first time Muncie Central got a through ball was off of a Jay County corner kick.

Off of the kick, one of the Bearcats’ defenders controlled the ball and passed it up to Finn Gruver who was leaking out. From there, Gruver was able to maneuver his way past the two Patriot defenders who came up to contest, to get a good look at the goal. Gruver sent the ball to the back of the net to make it a 1-0 game only 7:13 seconds into the contest.

The Bearcats thrived in transition, creating one-on-one situations where their strikers only had to beat one defender to get a clean shot on the goal.

“You saw us hold the ball a lot more,” said Muncie Central coach Shea Hill, who earned his 100th win at his alma mater. “You saw it sit in our defensive third and we were happy to invite them out to create space for ourselves to pass into. 

“It was clinical passing. A lot of those one-v-ones came from a nice progression up the field and then we’re just looking for that killer pass.”

Ten minutes later, Muncie Central was able to create another one-on-one situation.

The Patriots were drawn onto the other side of the field with most of the defenders hanging out just in front of the line at mid-field. Gruver was given the ball with only senior Brayden Collins between him and the goalie. The senior Bearcat pushed upfield to take on Collins and got the better of him before putting the ball into the left half of the net at 23:14.

“It's pretty difficult when not everyone can keep up,” Collins said. “It wasn't necessarily that I couldn't keep up, but he was good. My foot got tangled in the back of his when he was in stride and just ate the ground.”

Muncie Central got one final transition goal in the first half at the 15:42 mark as Angel Rueda finished it off.

The only other score of the first half came with 13 minutes left. The head referee blew his whistle for the first time in the match, signaling a free kick. Muncie Central’s Josh Sexton took the free kick, but goalie Kaleb Coppock recorded one of his 11 saves of the game. The ball rebounded off of Coppock’s chest to a spot where Ollie Beane was able to swoop in and put the rebound in for the goal.

At the half, Ruiz emphasized two things to his team — staying back to not allow one-on-ones and communication.

“In the first half, we didn’t talk much,” Ruiz said. “I think we came in nervous. So halftime, we talked about communication.”

In the second half, the Patriots started to turn things around, allowing only one goal by Sexton, which the referees considered calling back for offsides but let stand.

JCHS senior Brayden Collins shoots a penalty shot during the Patriots' 5-2 loss to Muncie Central in the season opener on Tuesday. Collins scored the first goal for Jay County on the penalty shot at the 30:44 mark in the second half. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

The Patriots also controlled the ball better in the second half. Their first scoring opportunity came on a penalty kick when Mason Nichols fouled Levi Muhlenkamp in the penalty box. Collins took the penalty kick, and converted it for the first goal for the Patriots. 

As Miller emptied his bench, Jay County found another opportunity to score. Collins threw the ball from the slide line into traffic. Muhlenkamp came out of the group with the ball and kicked it just past the contesting Isaiah Voss to find the right side of the net to make the score 5-2 at 2:56.

“It’s a live-and-learn lesson for us,” Ruiz said. “It’s a wake up call. It’s important to see our deficiencies and opportunities. I think that’s the more important part of this game.”