FORTVILLE — He missed his first chance, a golden opportunity off a rebound just in front of the net, minutes into Thursday’s game.
Tylin Broaders wasn’t going to miss his second chance.
Getting free behind the defense 13 minutes into the game, the Mt. Vernon senior took a pass from Jacob Knepper and promptly buried it in the back of the net, giving the hosts an early advantage in a key boys soccer conference matchup against Pendleton Heights.
The Marauders defense made that first goal stand up, besting the Arabians 3-0.
“He’s obviously been our goal scorer throughout the season,” Mt. Vernon coach Matt Mayhew said. “Sometimes he puts a little too much pressure on himself. If he gets that back, he has another chance at it, I would bet on him nine times out of 10. He wasn’t going to let it affect him for the rest of the game.”
Broaders, who led the Marauders (9-4, 6-1 Hoosier Heritage Conference) with 14 goals coming into Thursday’s conference clash, added two more to his total against the Arabians.
After Brandon Johnson doubled the host’s lead 10 minutes into the second half, possessing a rebound in front of the net and putting it around Pendleton Heights keeper Ethan Hunt, Broaders put the exclamation mark on the win with 2:34 left in the game, when Johnson found him in front of the net for an easy one-touch goal.
The Marauders used a stifling midfield and defense, which only allowed a handful of Arabians shots to get to keeper Noah Whitehouse.
“That’s something we’ve been working on a lot,” Mayhew said. “We’ve went through three different shapes in the last week and a half, just to try to figure out what we need to do to get ready for some stuff. Definitely tonight, the boys just really stepped up and bought into what we were trying to accomplish.”
It was a sweet feeling for Mt. Vernon to get a big home win against rival Pendleton Heights (6-4-1, 3-2) for several reasons. They still look back at the Sept. 6 home loss to county rival Greenfield-Central as a sour note on the season.
Add to that the fact the Arabians prevailed in a 2-1 heartbreaker against Mt. Vernon last year, and this year’s Marauders were looking for some payback and a feel-good win.
“We’ve kind of been sour since the Greenfield loss,” Mayhew said. “We just said we’re going to use that as our motivation going forward. We were just focusing on what we could do to put the ball in the back of the net and be a team, and they showed up tonight.”
Thursday was Mt. Vernon’s last conference game of the season. The Marauders finish out the regular season with games Tuesday at Muncie Burris and Thursday at home against Rushville. The Arabians still have two conference clashes left, at Shelbyville on Tuesday and against New Palestine at home Thursday.
Picking up a win against a conference rival, a victory that keeps them in second place, a game behind Greenfield-Central, is a big boost for the Marauders as sectionals approach.
“It’s a fun rivalry. They got us last year, so we had to get the revenge. We didn’t want to get beat on our home field,” Mayhew said. “It’s very important to always protect your home field. We host sectionals this year, so you want to get that feeling of a tough game, and can you gut it out. The boys really did that tonight.”