ST. LEON — Wednesday’s East Central Boys Soccer Sectional semifinal between Mt. Vernon and New Palestine went like most of the recent head-to-head battles between the two Hancock County and Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals.
The matches are hard-fought, close and the Marauders find a way to win.
Mt. Vernon defeated New Palestine 3-1, adding an insurance goal with 12 seconds remaining, at the Trojan Pitch in the first of two semifinal contests Wednesday to advance to Saturday’s 2 p.m. championship match.
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Mt. Vernon has won the last eight meetings against New Palestine. Four of the wins were by one goal and another was won on a penalty-kick shootout. A 3-0 Mt. Vernon win in the 2015 sectional final, the first of the eight straight victories, was the largest margin of victory. The teams have had three shootouts in their last 10 meetings.
“It was closer than that,” Mt. Vernon head coach Matt Mayhew said of the two-goal margin. “It’s always a dog fight. (New Palestine head coach Justin Sass) always has his guys ready and it’s been a rivalry forever.
“Those guys came out with fight and thankfully we were able to match it.”
Mt. Vernon senior Nate Rush scored in the final seconds to get his first goal of the season. The go-ahead Marauder goal came from junior Taylor Lorsung, a defensive back, on a long-distance free kick that he was just trying to get close to the goal.
“I was trying to cross it, but it went in instead,” Lorsung said. “I tried to aim for the back post, but I guess I just hit it differently and it went in.”
Lorsung’s goal came with 27:24 remaining in the second half.
New Palestine had scored early in the second half to tie the match, 1-1.
Off a throw-in by Jon Moore, Dragon junior Colby Sharp found the back of the net at the 37:17 mark.
The lone first-half goal came from Mt. Vernon’s Drew Heitman.
He was in the right place at the right time. The initial attempt came off the foot of senior Gavin Brandon, but when his shot hit off the crossbar, Heitman was there to knock in the rebound to give Mt. Vernon a 1-0 lead with 28:54 remaining in the first half.
“The boys worked hard for 80 minutes, but you have to give credit to Mt. Vernon,” Sass said. “They’re a good team, well-coached. They are very organized so they are tough to break down.
“It’s been that way for years,” Sass added on the close games and rivalry between the two schools. He was part of it as a player also. He graduated from New Palestine in 2008. “Mt. Vernon-New Pal have always been big rivals and we love to compete against each other. We know it’s going to be a great game.”
The Dragons finish the season 3-13-1, but were playing their best at the end of the season. The wrapped up the regular season with an impressive win over conference foe Pendleton Heights, then opened sectional play Monday with a 1-0 victory over Richmond.
The Marauders are over the .500 mark and improved to 9-8 with the win.
They’ll be playing the sectional championship match for the first time since 2016, when they lost to Greenfield-Central in a penalty-kick shootout when both teams were in Class 2A Sectional 23.
“It’s one step closer to the title,” Lorsung said. “If we do that, we’re golden and it will be team effort.”
“I’m just proud of the boys and hope this will be a confidence booster,” Mayhew added. “We were 8-8 on the season, but we kept talking about wanting to still be playing in October. This was one of our goals to get in the finals and see what we can do.”
