Patriots play with pace

GAS CITY — The Patriots beat the Tigers 3-2 Sept. 7.

On Monday, they dominated.

The defense got tighter, the pace was pushed and the offense was flowing.

The Jay County High School boys soccer team attacked early in each half to beat the Yorktown Tigers 5-1 in the IHSAA Class 2A Sectional 24 tournament at Mississinewa.

The win earns the Patriots a semifinal game today against the New Castle Trojans, who beat Centerville 1-0 Monday.

“To be honest, it was easier than I thought,” JCHS coach Bobby Ruiz said. “We came out with energy and we came out with the idea ‘no mercy.’ Two early goals give us the confidence and the security to manage the game.”

The Patriots (10-3-2) got on the scoreboard early, scoring two goals in the first five minutes. By pushing the pace, Jay County was able to keep control of the ball near Yorktown’s goal.

One of the first times the Tigers (4-9-3) gained control of the ball, striker Emmit Reynolds snuck up behind Jackson Cannon to steal it back for the Patriots. Following the takeaway, Reynolds found Levi Muhlenkamp for a pass near the center of the pitch. Muhlenkamp then poked a through ball for Dylan Marentes, who converted the score at 3:59 into the game.

“We're not really used to turf, so when we got here, we were like, ‘It has to be fast, fast, fast,’” said Marentes of the artificial turf field. “That was great. It said the pace showed us that they weren't as hard as we thought they were.”

Jay County quickly took the ball back after the score. Oskar Alart Mateo created a fast break on the right half of the field by passing the ball up to Muhlenkamp, who touched it back to Mateo. Only 77 seconds after the first score, Mateo took a shot that was saved by the Tiger’s goalkeeper, Luke Diebold, but Muhlenkamp crashed for the rebound and an easy score.

The goal was the first of three for Muhlenkamp in the game, earning him his third hat trick of the season.

“I mean, it's a difficult thing to do, but it makes it a lot easier whenever you’ve got somebody like Dylan giving you the ball, giving me the good ones,” Muhlenkamp said. “We're just trying to win at the end of the day and whatever thing I can do to help, that's what I'm gonna try to do. If that means I'm just passing or I'm shooting, that's what I'll do.”

Marentes connected twice in the second half. The first time was on a corner kick at the 7:17 mark. Muhlenkamp’s defender was sagging off of him without too much extra resistance between him and the goal. Marentes’ pass was placed so Muhlenkamp only needed to take a couple of steps before jumping and putting his head to the ball to send it in.

The second time came with 3:05 remaining in the game. Marentes was able to take advantage of the Tigers’ midfielder who was looking to advance the ball by approaching him from behind and swiping the ball away. He dribbled to within about 45 yards of the goal before he sent a ball through for Muhlenkamp who found the net to ice the game at 5-1.

The other Jay County goal came 10 minutes into the second half when Diebold saved a shot from Marentes, but Blake Collins crashed to clean up the rebound.

Despite not scoring for the final 35 minutes of the first half, the Patriots kept the pace up to put pressure on Yorktown and prevent their offense from finding a groove. Overall, the midfield controlled the ball enough to keep the ball off of Jay County’s side of the field and when it did cross the midline, the defensive line was there to meet it.

Many Patriots were a part of the defensive effort, but one player that stood out to Ruiz for his hustle was Mateo.

“It can sometimes get difficult because of course people get tired,” Mateo said. “But if we play together with a good mentality, it’s easy to solve it.

“It’s difficult trying to run a lot but when you think that it’s sectionals — I’m an exchange student too, this is a unique experience for me — I want to give all of me and endure with the team.”

The sole blemish for the defense came midway through the second half. Gavin Redick poked a through ball past Brayden Collins, leaving Trevin Dunnington to come from the opposite side of the field to cover. Dunnington ended up committing a foul in the penalty box.

Riley Marvin took the shot and got the ball just underneath the outstretched arm of Kaleb Coppock in the goal.

Marvin took the most shots for Yorktown with five, most of them coming in the back-half of the second half. The rest of the team only managed five shots, none of them on the goal.

“I thought everyone played pretty good on every single line of the field,” Ruiz said. “I’m proud of them. I'm glad that they are working together and seem like they are pretty solid.”