FORTVILLE — As the final seconds sped off the clock on Monday night, the Mt. Vernon Marauders’ bench players hugged the soccer field’s lines in anticipation.
As soon as the siren sounded, there was no stopping them.
With arms raised and their voices echoing in near unison, the Marauders rushed their teammates in celebration.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Though the Marauders (8-8-1) could only muster one goal on five shots total through 80 grueling minutes, it was more than enough.
One goal to defeat rival Greenfield-Central, 1-0, in the Sectional 12 opening round that finally ended their drought.
Unable to defeat the Cougars, which had won four straight sectional championships, since the regular season in 2016, the Marauders relished some revenge after losing to Greenfield-Central in a penalty-kick shootout (6-5) on the same field at home on Sept. 10.
All they needed was one goal.
“I’m as proud as I’ve ever been of these guys with the season that we’ve had,” Mt. Vernon head coach Matt Mayhew said. “We talked about how we had five games where it’s been decided by one goal or less. Two of them were PK shootouts. It was our time, and we needed to fight through that and these boys did.”
Their win on Monday was the payoff after a trying 7-8-1 season and a 3-4 record for fifth in the Hoosier Heritage Conference prior to the postseason.
A four-game losing streak in early September — three against HHC teams and two potential sectional opponents — conjured doubt.
Junior Jordan Small’s massive goal erased it all in the game’s 34th minute.
Earning a free kick after a Cougars’ foul in the first half, Small setup from 20 yards out and laced a near crossbar-skimming shot into the back of the net past a diving Abraham Busecher, who finished with one save.
“(Jordan) came up big for us. We moved him into that position. He had been doing really well for us in practice other than just that free kick. He did a lot of controlling for us to get the ball up tonight,” Mayhew said. “He played a big effort for us.”
The defense and goalkeeper Noah Whitehouse handled the speedy Cougars as they increased their attack and pressured the Marauders for a majority of the second half.
The Cougars had 16 shots in the game, 10 in the second half and 10 shots on goal.
Whitehouse swatted away and corralled six of those shots on goal, including a handful from Greenfield-Central’s Jackson Findley, who peppered the net at every opportunity.
“With Noah, you’re always in games,” Mayhew said. “The seniors really stepped up today. All of them played their part. It was awesome.”
It was a 180 from almost a month ago when the Cougars (5-8-1) rushed the field for a key HHC victory en route to a 5-2 league record for second overall.
With a revamped roster in 2020 after the graduation of most of their defending HHC and sectional championship roster, the Cougars’ holdovers never quit.
“That’s been the hallmark of this team. They find it in their heart and they just play. They just keep going and going until the last possible second,” Cougars assistant coach Matt McConnell said.
“Mt. Vernon played a great game, but for us, it’s bigger than soccer. It’s what happens with this crew outside of soccer. Sure, the wins are great, but I’d rather lose every day of the week with this team than win any other day of the week with any other team.”
Whitehouse posted his fifth shutout win and fended off more than five intense moments where the Cougars found creases to test him in the final 20 minutes.
“My defense was great. They held the back line really well. They made my job easy most of the night,” Whitehouse said. “(After we lost to them), I went home and re-accessed that game in my mind. I broke down what I could have done better, went home and trained hard. I really focused after that game.”
Whitehouse will have a new focus on Wednesday when the Marauders face East Central in the Sectional 12 semifinals at 5 p.m.
The Cougars opened the season 0-4-1, but as they have in the past, the program refused to back down.
With a chance to vie for another HHC title late this season, they battled eventual champion Shelbyville to a shootout, and out shot Yorktown and New Castle behind more than 60 combined shots to claim two of three wins.
“There’s a high bar to live up to, that’s for sure. If there’s been any hallmark for these seniors is they set the bar pretty high for those that follow them,” McConnell said.
