FORTVILLE — New Palestine’s failure to capitalize on opportunities during regulation and overtime opened the door of opportunity for its opponent in Tuesday’s Class 3A Sectional 12 quarterfinal matchup at Mt. Vernon High School.
After a scoreless match for 94 minutes — two 40-minute halves and two 7-minute overtimes — went to penalty kicks, the Dragons boys soccer team lost to Richmond, ending their season under first-year head coach Brett Canova.
Richmond won the five-round PK battle, 4-3.
“We had a lot of opportunities, a lot of opportunities. We should have won the game, but we’re a little young and have a little learning to do,” Canova said. “We’ll get there.”
The Dragons finish the season 2-13 and graduate just one senior, forward Colby Sharp.
The veteran Dragon had a shot on goal saved by Richmond goalkeeper Ross Peacock during the final seconds of the second overtime. He hit the top of the crossbar on another attempt late in the second half.
Peacock had a few key stops in the second half on attempts from both Sharp and New Palestine freshman Elliot Canova.
Tied 3-3 on PKs, Richmond freshman Yael Garcia-Gomez hit the decider to end the match and send the Red Devils to tonight’s semifinals.
The teams traded goals on the opening cycle of the five-round pressure cooker, with both New Palestine’s Ethan Windham and Richmond’s Justin Casanova finding the back of the net.
NP’s Garrett Canova’s try went wide left and the Red Devils answered with Julio Rojas-Santos to take a 2-1 lead. Peacock saved a shot by the Dragons’ Josh Lambdin and Darius Hogg, who had a few good opportunities of his own in regulation and overtime, connected to give the Red Devils a 3-1 advantage.
Sam Bacon put the Dragons back on the board before Dragons goalkeeper Blake Bobrow picked up a crucial save on a try from Sam Reising.
Sharp knotted things up on the Dragons’ final attempt, but the Red Devils punched their ticket to the next round off the foot of their freshman.
“You have to give them credit. They hit their shots and put all their shots on frame,” coach Canova said. “Give them credit. That’s just the way it goes. I knew where our boys would shoot. I had them out there because I knew they could hit, they just missed. There’s no shame in that. They gave it a good strike. It just shouldn’t have come down to PKs.”
Richmond improved to 4-8-2 and delivered a very happy homecoming to its young first-year head coach.
The Red Devils head coach, Carson Jones, is a 2017 graduate of Mt. Vernon High School and part of the Marauders 2016 sectional championship team.
A 21-year old secondary education student at IU-East in Richmond, Jones had been an assistant coach with the Red Devils the last two years and played one season at IU-East.
He was glad to pick up his first sectional win as a head coach at his alma mater.
“Two years ago I was an assistant and we lost 10-0 (to Mt. Vernon),” Jones said. “We got destroyed. It feels pretty good to come back as the head coach and get my first sectional win with the team at where I used to play every game and practice.”
Both teams had decent opportunities in the scoreless first half, too. Following the first of three first-half corner kicks, 12 minutes into the opening period, New Palestine freshman Drew Potter knocked an attempt off the cross bar.
Richmond’s best chance to score came in the final two minutes of the half when Hogg hit the right post. The Red Devils had one first-half corner kick.
It was the second straight year the Dragons and Red Devils have met in a first-round sectional game. Last year, in St. Leon at East Central High School, New Palestine defeated Richmond 1-0, before being knocked out in the semi-final round by Mt. Vernon.
Richmond will take on the winner of Tuesday’s second quarterfinal matchup, between Shelbyville and Connersville, today in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal. Mt. Vernon plays East Central in today’s first semifinal at 5:30 p.m.
The championship match is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday.
