3A No. 10 Warsaw Edges 2A No. 3 St. JosephSOUTH BEND — As a defender — and an all-state one at that — Tedros Berelsman doesn’t get plentiful opportunities to contribute on offense for Warsaw.
The senior made the most of a chance Thursday night, and it lifted the Class 3A No. 10-ranked Tigers to a 2-1 victory over 2A No. 3 South Bend St. Joseph in a boys high school soccer showdown at St. Patrick’s County Park.
Navigating from the weak side, a leaping Berelsman headed in junior Ethan Grill’s precise corner kick from the right for a 10-yard tally that broke a 1-1 deadlock just four minutes into the second half.
“That was perfect,” Berelsman said of Grill’s feed. “That was a great ball. I couldn’t ask for a better ball.”
Berelsman said he doesn’t “mind playing in the back at all — you do what you gotta do to help your team — but I do love it when I get a chance to score for us.”
“We really created that play for Tedros to be up there, to be a part of that, because he’s really good,” Warsaw coach Frank Courtois said. “(Assistant coach James Hornaday) will move him up, tell him to get up there (on corner kicks).”
The Tigers (2-1) handed the Indians (1-1) their first regular-season loss in over 23 months. St. Joe had gone 16-0-2 in since falling to Penn in a shootout on Sept. 21, 2017.
Overall, coach Alberto Verteramo’s Indians were 16-1-2 last fall, losing only to eventual 2A state champ Hammond Noll in regional play, 2-1.
St. Joe did graduate its three most decorated players off that club, but still displayed plenty of returning talent, including six senior starters, on Thursday.
“Our guys played a beautiful game tonight,” Courtois said. “They played a hard-fought game last night (beating Argos 3-1 in a contest postponed from Tuesday), and then to come right back after that and beat No. 3 South Bend St. Joe, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Added Courtois, “I thought our defense played very well, and the midfield was very solid, very strong moving the ball.”
Warsaw grabbed a 1-0 lead just 2:08 into the game when senior Blake Burns chipped in a pass into the middle by junior Alejandro Murillo.
The Indians were quick to counter, notching the equalizer less than five minutes later when junior Kyle Smith punched in a close-range ball from senior Luke Hemsey to cap a chaotic sequence at the net.
“We started out slow, but we got into it toward the second part of the first half, and then we got into our groove,” Berelsman said. “We didn’t score a lot of goals with it, but I thought we dominated the game in the second half.”
The Tigers finished with an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal, including 5-1 after the intermission. Corner kicks were even at three apiece.
Just two saves were required from Warsaw senior keeper Harrison Mevis, but one of those was a point-blank dandy barely a minute into the match to keep his team out of a virtually immediate hole.
The Tigers, whose power-peppered schedule this season includes at least four teams in the top 15 of the 3A coaches’ preseason poll and four more ranked in 2A or 1A, return to action Tuesday at Huntington North. They play their Northern Lakes Conference opener two nights later when they host Plymouth.
Warsaw's junior varsity opened Thursday's sweep of the Indians by prevailing 4-1.
