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The draw and pairings in a sectional are supposed to be random, but members of the Wawasee and Warsaw boys' soccer teams would probably question that.
Nonetheless, for the third straight season, these two Kosciusko County and Northern Lakes Conference rivals drew each other in the first round of the Columbia City Sectional Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Carroll (7-1-3) plays Peru at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The two winners play Thursday at 8 p.m., right after the Columbia City (2-7-3) and Huntington (9-2-2) match. The championship is Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
It will be a rematch of a game won by Warsaw 3-1 earlier this year. Warsaw finished the regular season 9-3-4, while Wawasee is 6-6-1.
"I don't mind playing them," Warsaw coach Corey Rose said. "I enjoy playing them. They keep getting better and better, and my guys are always psyched to play them because they are always psyched to play us. It has been a good rivalry, and thankfully, we have been on the winning end most of the time."
It isn't like the two teams don't want to play each other, but a little change is good now and then.
"The only thing I see different in this year's draw and last year's draw is the starting times. We are just looking forward to the opportunity to face Warsaw again," Wawasee coach Paul Boyd said. "Warsaw is tough. Their seniors have been playing together for several years. They are having a great season. It would be a big feather in Wawasee's cap to get a win against them."
In the earlier matchup between the two teams, Warsaw controlled the play, but Wawasee stayed right with the Tigers until two late goals broke a 1-1 tie.
"I am not going to pin my hopes on one player, but (Brazilian exchange student) Marcello Azenha was only able to play a few minutes before against Warsaw," Boyd said. "We lost him for about three games after that. He has really come on offensively.
"We are playing better than last year," he said. "The intensity is up, and I like that. The skills are slowly coming. That is a never-ending chore. But they are playing with a little more confidence."
Warsaw will also field an improved team for the rematch. The defense has been the key for the Tigers. In its last nine games of the regular season, Warsaw went 6-0-3. By no coincidence, the most goals the Tigers allowed during that streak was one.
"It starts with defense," Rose said. "If they don't score, we don't lose. Our offense will be the key; if we can score some goals, we will win. I don't think we will have a problem keeping people from scoring goals."
Despite the unbeaten streak, the Tigers have had some disappointing results, including a 1-1 tie with Plymouth that cost Warsaw a tie for the NLC title and a 0-0 affair with another member of the sectional field, Huntington North.
"We have been going through a lot of problems, and trying to keep the guys focused is a big key," Rose said. "With them, we need to take advantage of their mistakes and the opportunities we get. We usually have a lot of opportunities, but against them, it is always hard to take advantage of them."
