For the Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — As the old saying goes, you can throw records out the window for rivalry games. That certainly rang true during Tuesday night’s 2-1 Mt. Vernon victory against New Palestine, as a neutral observer may not have been able to pick which team came in 11-4 and which was 5-10.
None of this surprised Marauders coach Matt Mayhew.
“This was a perfectly typical rivalry game,” Mayhew said. “The intensity (New Palestine) played with was amazing.”
Mt. Vernon took the early lead, as a rebound off the crossbar was blasted in by Tylin Broaders to give the Marauders a 1-0 lead.
That lead would not last, however, as two minutes later a New Palestine long throw from junior Jon Moore caused a scramble in the box that was slotted home by junior midfielder Sam Bravo. After just eight minutes, the score was 1-1, where it would stay for 55 minutes.
In this portion of the game, neither team could build any kind of sustained attack, with Broaders having the clearest chance on goal with a free header he sent straight at the New Palestine keeper.
“I think our guys were just a little bit nervous tonight,” Mayhew said. “But I’ve got to give credit to Brandon (Johnson) in the midfield. He was able to calm things down for us enough out there to let us build back into the game.”
It was Johnson, a junior midfielder, who scored the winning goal. With 17 minutes remaining, after a spell of heavy New Palestine pressure, a rebound fell to him for a put-back goal.
The Dragons didn’t go quietly after that, however.
They forced Mt. Vernon goalkeeper Noah Whitehouse to make some heroic saves in the last 10 minutes of the match. With 10 minutes remaining, Whitehouse challenged a Dragon attacker just enough to see a point-blank header go inches wide.
With four minutes remaining, Whitehouse dove at full stretch to stop a shot from Dragons forward Josh Smith to keep the ball out of the top corner of the net.
“Soccer is a cruel game,” Dragons coach Justin Sass said. “You can play with such intensity and focus and lose a game due to outstanding playmaking, like (Mt. Vernon’s) keeper did at the end of the game there.”
“Noah played an outstanding game and kept us from going home early,” Mayhew said.
With the win, the Marauders advance to the sectional semifinals to face either East Central or Richmond tonight at 7 p.m. Greenfield-Central will face Connersville in the first semifinal at 5:30 p.m.
For the Dragons, they will need to look to this effort to build for the future.
“Our numbers have been down these last few years,” Sass said. “But we are really learning how to play soccer, and I like where this program is headed.”
