FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon took a 1-0 lead into the half of a sectional semifinal against East Central.
It took just 34 seconds of second-half soccer for it to slip away.
East Central earned a penalty kick almost immediately after the break when Mt. Vernon keeper Noah Whitehouse received a yellow card, forcing the Marauders to sub him out for the ensuing try. Tylin Broaders went into net for the penalty but was unable to keep the ball out, and East Central’s Kameron Siebert tied the game.
“I think that sucked some wind out,” Mt. Vernon coach Matt Mayhew said. “That energized them even more. Not to take anything away from them — they are a great team, B.J. (Black) does a great job with those boys. I always love watching his teams, too. Unfortunately, he got us tonight.”
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It took half an hour and a slew of Trojans chances, but East Central finally took the lead with 9:33 left when Jared Tiemann scored on a shot that deflected off a Mt. Vernon defender and found its way past Whitehouse and into the back of the net for the 2-1 advantage.
With that, the Trojans (13-3-2) knocked off the host Marauders (12-5) and punched their ticket into Saturday’s sectional championship game against Greenfield-Central.
“The refs didn’t determine the outcome,” Mayhew said. “It just didn’t go our way. It’s hard because the seniors have been rocks for us. They will be hard to replace next year, and I don’t really want to think about that right now. Good character boys, and they made the program successful. Good boys on and off the field. I’m proud of them.”
The first half went about as well as it could for the Marauders. Right around the 20-minute mark, one of those seniors, Jonathon Hanson, stepped up for a free kick from midfield, a long way away from the goal.
It didn’t matter. Hanson got the ball into the box, and East Central’s keeper couldn’t hold on to it. Mt. Vernon’s Brandon Johnson was in the right place at the right time, and easily pushed across the first goal of the game 20 minutes into the first half.
The sectional hosts took the early lead against the Trojans, but it wouldn’t hold.
East Central had a chance to take their first lead with 26 minutes left, when Eric Puterbaugh found himself one-on-one with Whitehouse following a long ball into the box. Puterbaugh’s shot got past Whitehouse but hit the bottom of the crossbar, bouncing out and keeping the score tied.
Whitehouse made a great save with 15 minutes remaining on another one-on-one chance for the Trojans, keeping the Marauders alive.
The keeper and his back line defended chance after chance, as the Trojans piled up shots with corners and free kicks in the second half.
Mt. Vernon’s offense never seemed to get in gear, finishing the game with just a few shots on a goal compared to over a dozen — with many more shots sailing wide — opportunities for the Trjoans.
“They kind of took us out of our possession style that we like to play,” Mayhew said. “We were forced to do some different things, and it just didn’t go our way tonight. It’s hard, especially being on our home field.”
The Marauders came into the game without second-leading scorer Jacob Knepper, who got a concussion in the sectional opener against New Palestine.
The sectional hosts came to play though, leading the Trojans at the break and looking to force overtime until the final goal with just over nine minutes left ended their season.
“You can’t hang your heads,” Mayhew said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. We fought the 80.”