Published: October 06, 2007 11:20 pm            

Wildkats’ tank runs dry

Marion tops Kokomo in muggy sectional final

Kokomo’s boys soccer team was in agony Saturday night.

The Kats were devastated by a 2-0 loss to Marion in the championship game of the IHSAA Kokomo Sectional, yet before the emotional pain set in, physical pain took a heavy toll.

Kokomo repelled Marion for 73 minutes yet the Kats were progressively more vulnerable as the night wore on. The second half was stopped repeatedly for cramping Kats, Giants, and even the referee.

Kokomo needed overtime to beat Oak Hill in the noon semifinal and paid for it at night. Several Kats cramped and had to leave the field, including Kokomo’s most important attackers — midfielder Oscar Chavez and forward Tim Branyan. Neither was able to play late in the game when Marion broke through.

“We ran out of people,” Kokomo coach Wil Hendrickson said. “That early game [against Oak Hill] I think sucked a lot of our energy.

“I saw a lot of heart and a lot of guts out there. Much credit to [the Kats] for putting up such a good fight. Marion’s a good team. They play very strong, they play very fast, and we were able to match them even after expending that much energy which they didn’t have to do in the early part of the day.”

Marion finally scored in the 74th minute when a loose ball in the box fell to the Giants’ Peter Luttrell, who ripped a shot to the far post. Five minutes later, Marion’s Taylor Stump pounced on a rebound in the box to score the Giants’ second and seal the game.

“Wil does a great job with those boys,” said Marion coach Jorge Berry, whose Giants repeated as sectional champs. “I knew the way they played, they were going to get stuck in and play with a lot of heart. I knew they were tired from the first game so I tried to use some fresh bodies and keep going at them.

“We didn’t falter. We just kept playing hard and it was a matter of time.”

Indeed it was. The first half was fairly even. Kokomo had good possession but lacked the teeth to put dangerous shots on net. Marion had less of the ball but some strong transition play forced three difficult saves from Kat goalie Eric Fluck.

The second half was completely different. Chavez was the first Kat to go down from cramping just a dozen minutes into the half. Fluck, who was injured in the Oak Hill game but played the final anyway, followed though he stayed in the game. Progressively, more players from both teams — usually Kats — and even the referee suffered from cramping. The 40-minute second half took more than 55 minutes due to stoppages.

As the Kats suffered, Marion got stronger, pinning Kokomo back until the Giants finally turned the game their way.

“We had to have something,” Hendrickson said. “A goal would have been nice. If we had a goal, I think that would have brought us up a bit. We’re not getting much on the offensive end because Tim is down, Oscar is down. Those are two big players for us and when we look to the bench, we don’t have a lot of speed.”

Kokomo’s best chance to score came when the game was still deadlocked. Midway through the second half, a slicing pass put Andrew Renshaw through on a break but his shot from just inside the box was going about a foot wide of the post when Marion goalie Caleb Bragg smothered it.

Hendrickson had nothing but praise for his players, noting a strong effort by the defensive group to hold out for so long.

“Especially Ryan Hurst, he did a great job all season and [Saturday] he was spectacular all day long” Hendrickson said. “You’ve got to give him credit for trying to keep the defense together, keep them tight. Eric Fluck plays through a lot of pain. This is a guy who is the epitome of what you want on the team.”

Marion advances to Wednesday’s regional semifinal with a 14-3-1 record. Kokomo finished the season 9-7-2.

“In losing, we still have to feel good,” Hendrickson said. “I don’t feel bad about the effort that we put forth here. I realize the downfall for us was the early game.”

Semifinals

Marion 3, Eastern 0

The Giants scored in the first five minutes off a strike by Devin Randle, and Matt Guy scored late in the first half to take a 2-0 lead into halftime. Guy scored again early in the second half to give the Giants a three-goal cushion. Eastern had a shot hit the crossbar but wasn’t able to hit the net.

“I thought we fought to the end,” Eastern coach Mike Kantz said. “We had the same problem as always — just couldn’t score. We certainly had our opportunities, it would have been nice to score.”

The Giants beat Eastern 5-0 in August and Kantz was glad to see the Comets show improvement over the season, as well as tenacity in Saturday’s semifinal

“Definitely, the fact that we pushed more forward to hold them to one goal in the second half shows improvement,” Kantz said. “Marion’s a good team.”

Eastern ended its season 8-7-1.

Kokomo 7, Oak Hill 5, OT

The Wildkats survived a wild game. Kokomo got up 3-0 with Branyan converting a penalty, Matt Wesche blasting a ball off the post and Chavez ripping a goal in the first 29 minutes of the game. Then Oak Hill stormed back when the Kats relaxed.

The teams traded goals in the second half as Kokomo scored on another Wesche blast from distance and a Branyan-to-Chavez combo netted the Kats’ fifth. Oak Hill’s Chris Trejo finished a give-and-go with 1:04 left to force overtime.

Kokomo took over in the bonus periods as Branyan was put through on goal by Chavez’s accurate deep pass. The Kats closed the scoring with a good three-player sequence as Chavez fed Eric Yeoman on the wing, and Yeoman controlled cross set the table for Branyan’s third goal.

Hendrickson said the Kats were motivated by “I think the fact that we could lose the game, and we know we don’t deserve to lose. It brought the realization that we could go out there and we could do something better than we’re doing right now. We can no longer conserve energy for the later game because this is it.”

Hendrickson praised Chavez and Branyan for setting the tone offensively, lifting the Kats when needed, and he also noted the vital play of defender Hurst, who stopped a shot on the line deep in the second half, saving what would have been a certain Oak Hill goal.

“Ryan deserves a lot of credit,” Hendrickson said. “With him in defense, he understands how to play in crucial times when things are against us he understands how to get quickly at the ball and get it out of our defense.

“Oscar and Tim I thought stepped it up and brought a whole lot to us in overtime. Their intensity — I could feel those two guys really pushing.”

Fluck had four saves for the Kats, who had to use backup goalie Drew Marshall for two stretches when Fluck was injured, and later yellow carded. Marshall made five saves.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.