FORTVILLE — Matt Mayhew calls it his happy place.
The soccer field has always been Mayhew’s source of peace for decades now, both as a club coach and the past six years as Mt. Vernon’s head boys soccer coach.
An assistant coach for the Marauders since 2004 before taking over as head coach in 2014, Mayhew relishes each victory and cringes with each loss, but his measurement of success stems from his inner passion.
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“I hate to lose as much as the next guy, but there are other things we can do as coaches to help mentor these boys and teach them things about life and team work. We’ve always felt that as a staff, if we can build those relationships, the wins will eventually happen and take care of themselves,” Mayhew said. “We’ve always preached the family atmosphere.”
Mayhew’s philosophy led to an 8-9-1 finish for the youthful Marauders this season, highlighted by a late surge to reach the sectional semifinal.
However, it wasn’t the finale that impressed the 2020 All-Hancock County Boys Soccer Coach of the Year most. It was the journey.
“Overall, I was happy with the season. We didn’t get the wins that we wanted, but just seeing them mature was really exciting,” Mayhew said.
Growth was the key for the Marauders, who played a majority of sophomores and juniors to go with their handful of senior leaders.
Seniors Noah Whitehouse, Taylor Lorsung and Aden Cappelletti were crucial to the program’s in-season development and it showed through several difficult stretches.
A tough 4-0 loss to Hamilton Southeastern to open the season foreshadowed the trials ahead, but the Marauders repeatedly found a way to correct course to place third in the Hoosier Heritage Conference and knock off rival Greenfield-Central in the sectional, 1-0.
“Overall, I don’t think, at any point, did the boys lose faith or confidence in what we were doing,” Mayhew said. “We would analyze after every game whether a win or a loss and kind of figure out how to improve each time, and that was good to see, especially with how young as we were.”
Their youthfulness led to many valuable lessons this season, particularly through a four-game losing streak that ran from Sept. 3-19.
Losses to HHC foes Yorktown, Shelbyville and sectional foe East Central hurt, but their 6-5 shootout defeat to Greenfield-Central at home on Sept. 10 was the hardest to absorb.
“We were in the Greenfield game the first time. We took the lead two different times, and things just happened and we had to go to a shootout,” Mayhew said. “You always hate to lose a game like that, but the boys were motivated because they knew that they could play with them.”
Instead of surrendering, the Marauders relied on one another and put together a three-game winning streak before falling to East Central in the sectional semifinals this past October.
Their final win was a result of their fortitude, defeating Greenfield-Central 1-0 to end their sectional championship run at four years and halting a drought against the Cougars that spanned five matches.
“Greenfield had our number for the last five matchups. When you have that you can start losing faith and kind of think you’re going to lose again, but the boys fought hard and you could tell that monkey was lifted off their back,” Mayhew said. “When they got that win, we had a lot of confidence that led into East Central. Getting that win against our top rival was huge for the guys.”
Again, Whitehouse, Lorsung and Cappelletti, who each earned All-HHC honors, were the driving force.
“They would take a group each and help mentor those guys,” Mayhew said. “That’s all you can really ask for from your seniors. They wanted to improve it and they took the initiative to work with those younger guys.”
Much like the program’s former players now turned assistant coaches, the elder Marauders were dedicated to passing along Mayhew’s message.
Just as current assistant coaches and former MV graduates Jarret Whitehouse and Chris Steeno do, in addition to school district educator Alex Leboeuf, alongside Mayhew.
“Everybody wanted that new kind of feel and culture (after the uncertainty of COVID-19) and everybody just bought in. It was really neat to see the growth,” Mayhew said. “The boys are excited for the future. They want to get together as soon as we can and get back at it.
“And, the seniors have already asked if they can come back and help at workouts. I’m all for that. You love to see that when you have the guys willing to keep working with the program.”
