Tigers Win Weather-Shortened MatchMISHAWAKA — Alex Brown didn’t know it at the time, but the Warsaw senior proved to be a pinch faster than lightning — even with an injured hip.
Brown’s header goal with 4:59 to play lifted the Class 3A No. 11-ranked Tigers to a 2-1 victory over No. 10 host Penn in a boys soccer showdown featuring an abrupt ending Thursday night. A mere 15 seconds of game time after Brown’s goal, the contest was called due to lightning being sighted.
The first flash was followed a minute or so later by another, with huddled officials then declaring that the game would not be resumed.
That left some Kingsmen players visibly stunned and disappointed. They’d already erased a one-goal deficit once and were eager to try again.
According to Penn athletic director Jeff Hart, though, the game officials cited the possibility of ongoing lightning — the delay must reset to 30 minutes by IHSAA rule every time lightning’s sighted — and the fact that the Tigers were about an hour from home.
“Actually, we’ve had it happen a lot of times between travel ball and (high school play),” Brown said of the scenario. “I’ve been on both sides of that spectrum, coming out winning and coming out losing. I’m just glad we won this one.”
Brown’s goal came from about 15 yards out off a precise feed from junior teammate Alejandro Murillo — who also goes by Alex. In fact, the two friends like to call themselves “Alex squared.”
“No one was really marking me,” Brown said. “I had one guy kind of on me, and Alex hit the cross from the front post and I just kind of went up, put my head into it, and it just chipped the keeper on the back post. It was a beautiful ball, so it definitely wasn’t all me.”
Still, it was especially gratifying for Brown. It was his first career game-winner, and it came during a stretch in which his playing time has been limited due to a hip flexor injury he suffered during warm-ups a couple weeks ago.
Warsaw (10-2) was playing the last of six straight games away from home. The Tigers went 5-1 over that span.
“Definitely happy with how we did,” Warsaw coach Frank Courtois said of the road swing. “We’ve tried to play some of the best teams in northern Indiana, and we’ve done well.” When the Tigers (3-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference) host 2A No. 15 NorthWood (7-1 overall, 2-1 NLC) on Tuesday, they’ll do so as the last unblemished team in the league.
That’s thanks to Elkhart Memorial tying Northridge 1-1 on Thursday to drop the Raiders at 2-0-1 in the conference. Every other team has at least one loss.
“We’re definitely ready to go home, especially with it being our Senior Night,” Brown said of Tuesday and the fact that Warsaw has 15 seniors. “I know all the guys are excited. We’re going to try to have a good time with that and play our hardest, like every game.”
Against Penn, the Tigers went up 1-0 on Blake Burns’ penalty-kick goal after the Kingsmen were whistled for a hand ball inside the 18 with 20 minutes remaining.
Penn (3-3-1) knotted the count at 1-1 on Kyle Van Ooteghem’s blistering, left-footed goal from about 35 yards.
The shot ricocheted off the left post and past keeper Harrison Mevis.
That’s all that kept Mevis — who earlier in the week announced he’s accepted an offer to kick for Missouri in football — from notching his team’s fifth shutout in the last six games.
Warsaw aggressively ruled the first half, firing eight shots on goal — a few requiring slick saves by Kingsmen keeper Dylan Cloonan — to just two routine attempts on the mark for Penn. A Jose Lara shot for the Tigers deflected off the post.
The Kingsmen, though, improved after the break, with Warsaw winning the shots on goal in the second half just 3-2.
“We put so much pressure on Penn in the first half,” Courtois said, “but couldn’t get a goal. You’re going to have games like that. Then in the second half, they started pressuring us more. They responded to our score and had their spirit up, but our boys didn’t let go. They kept fighting.”
The Tigers and Kingsmen played to a 0-0 tie in Thursday’s junior varsity game.
