Delta doubles down

GAS CITY — Kendra Muhlenkamp wanted her team to leave everything out on the pitch.

Despite giving their entire heart to the game, the Eagles proved too much for the Patriots.

The Jay County High School girls soccer team’s season came to a close on Thursday with a 3-1 loss to the Delta Eagles in the IHSAA Class 2A Sectional 24 semifinal at Mississinewa.

With the victory, Delta (14-4) advances to play the Yorktown Tigers in Saturday’s sectional championship game at 1 p.m.

“The way we play should express the passion we have for the game and for each other,” Muhlenkamp said. “They did that for all 80 minutes.”

Even though the Patriots (11-6) battled to the bitter end, the Eagles’ defense held them down, only making one critical mistake for a score.

The Delta back line, consisting of Sarah Bohanon, Brianna Jones and Makayla Thorpe, limited the amount of looks Jay County got at the goal. The times that JCHS did get to see the net, DHS goalkeeper Ruth Sherck made 11 saves to keep the game under the Eagles’ control.

“Their backline was really strong,” Muhlenkamp said. “They had (Bohanon), who was faster than all of our speedsters. That really hurts us, because a lot of our goals are long through balls and we go fetch it and we score. …

“I think we made them work tonight, but we could have made them work more and open up more gaps.”

The one mistake Delta made came with just under seven minutes left in the first half. Morgan DeHoff made a push toward the goal, and got taken out by Aubree Jarrells inside of the box. Aixa Lopez stepped up to take the penalty kick, and put it in the left half of the goal to tie things up at 1-1 with 6 minutes, 40 seconds, remaining.

While Jarrells made the mistake that led to the score, she got her team on the board with a goal at 18:19. The DHS junior picked off a DeHoff pass at midfield and dribbled all the way down the field with Jenna Dues on her hip. Goalkeeper Maleah Parsons came out to try and make the stop, but Jarrells slipped the ball through her hands.

During the regular season, Delta beat Jay County 2-0, with junior Jordan Bunch creating the offense both times. Based on that showing and the first half, Muhlenkamp changed her alignment to try and slow her down and help her team control the ball more.

“(Bunch) controlled most of their ball play in the first half,” Muhlenkamp said of the Eagles’ leader in goals and assists. “I put Raylah (Newton) on her and went to a four-line defense, hoping that would allow us to keep the ball more on the offensive side.

“I did think it shut her down, but I think some of the other players on Delta stepped up and that hurt us.”

While the change decreased the amount that Bunch got the ball, when she could attack, she was successful.

With the game still tied, the junior drove the ball down the right half of the field until she got within 10 yards of the end line. She then crossed the ball to the left, where freshman Shiloh Bunch controlled it with her body before putting it in the net at 27:00.

Seven minutes later, Jarrells started a fast break with a through ball for Jordan Bunch. The junior shot from the left half of the field, finding the bottom right of the net to gain a 3-1 advantage with 19:51 remaining.

“It’s very comforting (to have different players contribute),” said Delta coach Mason Turner. “Something I always tell my girls is, ‘You might only get one or two opportunities during the game and we’ve got to capitalize. They did a good job of capitalizing on those opportunities.”

The loss marked the final soccer game for six Patriots, including scoring and assist leader Morgan DeHoff, midfielder Jayla Huelskamp, defenders Jenna Dues and Sophia Sprunger. Also graduating are Meredith Dirksen and Krishna Flores.

“I’d just want to shout out all the seniors on this team,” Muhlenkamp said. “All of them have brought so much good energy and love on and off the field this year. I’m probably going to say it’s a special group every year, but this group seemed a little bit extra special to me. … But I guess that’s just part of coaching.”