Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
COLUMBIA CITY -ÊThe Wawasee Warriors and the Warsaw Tigers traveled to Columbia City for the boys soccer sectional Wednesday night, and the games had two very different outcomes.
Wawasee defeated the Central Noble Cougars 4-1 to earn its first postseason victory in the history of the program. Warsaw fell to a strong Carroll team, 3-1.
Wawasee and Central Noble kicked off the first game of the evening.
Central Noble appeared to take the early lead with 30:01 left in the first half, but the goal was negated because of goal-keeper obstruction, so the game remained scoreless.
Wawasee scored the first official goal of the match at the 24:40 mark when Alex Hernandez kicked the ball to Tomir Denton. Denton then kicked a cross pass to Tyler Bell who kicked the ball past the keeper to put the Warriors up 1-0.
Fourteen minutes later, Wawasee struck again as Hernandez slipped a goal past the keeper on an assist from Bell. The Warriors scored once more before the end of the half when Sam Shipley put the ball in the net after another assist from Bell with just 19 ticks left on the clock.
Central Noble struck early in the second half as Drew Gallmeyer kicked an unassisted goal with 32:41 remaining in the half to spoil a Wawasee shutout.
The Warriors scored the final goal of the evening with 12:37 on the clock as Bell connected with Hernandez to give the Wawasee squad a 4-1 victory.
"This was a good team effort," said Boyd. "I think we could play better. But this is special because it's our first sectional victory. It's neat that our first win could put us in the championship game."
Warsaw and Carroll took the field for the second game of the evening, and the Chargers wasted no time in scoring their first goal. Just 1:40 had ticked from the clock when Carroll's Matt Ramsay assisted Jon Corwin to put the Chargers up 1-0. Then with 26:16 left in the first half, Carroll struck again as Rick Smith kicked in a pass from Brad Stout. Carroll scored once more when Corwin assisted Smith to give Carroll a 3-0 lead at the half.
Warsaw scored its lone goal of the evening in the second half. Matt LaFountain scored on a penalty kick with 15:02 left in the game.
"We made several mental errors in the first half," said Warsaw coach Scott Bauer. "Those errors allowed them to exploit us with their speed."
The Tigers (6-5-4) held the Chargers (15-3) scoreless for the entire second half, but they could not overcome the 3-0 deficit of the first half. In the end, Carroll came out on top 3-1.
"We tightened up considerably in the second half," said Bauer. "We kept playing hard."
"Of course this is not the outcome we would have liked, but Carroll is a good team with good senior leadership," said Warsaw assistant coach Ora Freeman. "They have a good program year in and year out. They are a tough and very talented team."
"I have to give credit to Carroll," said Bauer. "I can't say enough about how their guys played."
Wawasee (7-7-3) will face Carroll in the sectional final game Saturday at 3 p.m. in Columbia City.
Central Noble ended the season 5-4.
WAWASEE 4, CENTRAL NOBLE 1
Wawasee 3 1 - 4
Central Noble 0 1 - 1
First Half
24:40 -ÊTyler Bell goal (Tomir Denton, Alex Hernendez assists), 1-0 W
10:51 -ÊAlex Hernandez goal (Tyler Bell assist), 2-0 W
0:19 -ÊSam Shipley goal (Tyler Bell assist), 3-0
Second Half
32:41 -ÊDrew Gallmeyer (CN) goal, 3-1 W
12:37 -ÊAlex Hernandez goal (Tyler Bell assist) 4-1 W
CARROLL 3, WARSAW 1
Carroll 3 0 - 3
Warsaw 0 1 - 1
First Half
38:20 -ÊJon Corwin goal (Matt Ramsay assist), 1-0 C
26:16 -ÊRick Smith goal (Brad Stout assist), 2-0 C
11:20 -ÊRick Smith goal (Jon Corwin assist), 3-0 C
Second Half
15:02 -ÊMatt LaFountain goal (Warsaw) (on penalty kick), 3-1 C
