Panthers prove too much

INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots knew they needed to play a near-perfect game to take down the Panthers.

Despite a first-half mistake, they found themselves tied with their opponent at the intermission.

The second half didn’t go the way they wanted. With three injuries and three goals given up, the Patriots saw their season come to an end.

The Jay County High School boys soccer team couldn’t keep up with the No. 6 Park Tudor Panthers in a 4-1 loss during the IHSAA Class 2A Regional 12 opener on Thursday.

With the win, Park Tudor (16-3-1) moves on to play West Lafayette in the Regional 30 championship game on Saturday hosted by Concordia Lutheran.

While the Patriots (14-3) didn’t manage to pull off the upset, coach Rodney Reynolds and his team were able to hold their heads high.

“I’m super proud of these guys,” Reynolds said. “I don’t think we came out and played our best game today. I think we can run with them.

“I think some injuries got in the way, so that really hurt. It seemed like when Ashton (Castillo) came out the momentum changed and we crumbled back there.

“Still, nothing to hold our heads down about. We got to the regional, played Park Tudor at Park Tudor. They’re No. 2 in the class (per MaxPreps) and we gave them a run for their money. We hung with them and just came up short.”

The Panthers took a 2-1 lead after Miles Dubie found Elliott Scotten on a fast break 2 minutes, 25 seconds, into the second half. Just over five minutes later, Castillo went down with an injury after the referee signaled for the assistant referee to withdraw his flag for offsides, determining Jay County had advantage.

Within minutes, the JCHS defense was calling for him to come back into the game, but he wasn’t cleared to reenter.

“It’s huge because when you take him out, you have to move somebody back,” Reynolds said. “That slows things up a little. He has speed, he’s level headed and knows how to run it back there. That’s a huge loss.”

The defensive line held strong for 23 minutes without Castillo, but eventually, Lorenzo Nofrini managed to score by crashing a shot by Connor Kacena-Merrell that Peyton Yowell batted away.

Two minutes after the third Panther goal, Jay County lost another defender, Brendan Runyan, and Yowell. The two collided while trying to stop a fastbreak, causing problems for Runyan’s leg and Yowell’s back. Freshman Rockland Beiswanger stepped in as goalkeeper for the Patriots, managing five saves and only giving up a penalty kick to Bennett Ford with 1:38 left.

The Patriots were held down in most of the first half, but started to control the ball a little bit better in the second.

“I feel like we picked up the pace in the second half,” said senior midfielder Dylan Marentes, who also commented on how Park Tudor’s spacing and passing made them a difficult team to deal with. “We were attacking a lot better, but when they scored those two goals, I think our team just shut down.”

Jay County had a handful of opportunities where they found Levi Muhlenkamp, the Patriots’ career leader with 82 goals, but he couldn’t convert as Gabe Sanich managed to make saves on the fastbreak tries. Sanich even saved two shots back-to-back after the score by Nofrini.

“There was a few where I (got where I wanted), but the goalie just made some fantastic saves,” Muhlenkamp said. “And the defense were able to get up and get on me to make me feel pressure on the shot and they just did a great job with that.”

While the Panthers held Muhlenkamp and Marentes down in the second half, the duo managed to score with 4:37 left in the first.

    Jay County High School’s backup goalkeeper Rockland Beiswanger jumps up to stop a free kick from Park Tudor’s Connor Kacena-Merrell. Beiswanger came in and made five saves after Peyton Yowell left the game with an injury. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

Down 1-0, Alan Ortiz threw the ball in to Muhlenkamp as Marentes raced ahead of the play. The seniors connected for a final time as Muhlenkamp executed a touch pass to Marentes, who put the ball in the right half of the net for the score.

“Levi and Dylan gave us a handful,” said PTHS coach Andrew Kiernan. “We did some homework on them beforehand and everyone knew what they had. They were legit.

“I think my defenders did a pretty good job with Levi. Dylan probably gave us some more struggles in the middle, but either way those are both great players.”

Park Tudor’s first goal came 18 minutes into the game. After receiving a pass from Alex Cheng, Daniel Peyton sent a ball towards the net. Yowell geared up for Scotten to intercept the ball and redirect it, but the ball bounced past the PTHS senior and another defender to roll into the right corner of the net.

The 4-1 loss improved upon the 6-0 loss the Patriots had the last time they made it to the regional in 2022. They will lose seven players from the 2024 season, including five starters in Castillo, Marentes, Muhlenkamp, Cayden Buckland, Runyan and Iker Nelson and a rotation player in Osmar Gonzalez.

Both Muhlenkamp and Marentes were able to take a moment post game to reflect on their careers and being able to finish out with a sectional championship and regional appearance.

“It was great going to regionals,” Marentes said. “It was a great feeling, but sad that it had to end this way.”

“It’s been a great season,” Muhlenkamp said. “I’m just lucky enough to get these accomplishments, between the record, ACAC and then sectional wins. It’s amazing. We always want more and more and we weren’t able to get that tonight.”