Tri-County North’s Garner Parlett (white) battles with Preble Shawnee’s Landon Ronto for possesion during a first round Division III sectional soccer game on Tuesday, Oct. 17. North, which had lost twice to Shawnee during the regulart season, upset the Arrows 4-0.
Tri-County North’s Clint Barnes (19) and Preble Shawnee’s Ethan Fields (25) battle for possesion of the ball during the first round of the boys Division III sectional soccer tournament on Tuesday, Oct. 17. North pulled off the upset, knocking off the Arrows 4-0.
CAMDEN — The saying ‘It’s tough to beat a team three times’ in a season proved to be true during the opening round of the boys Division III soccer sectional between Preble Shawnee and Tri-County North.
Shawnee had beaten the Panthers 5-1 and 4-3 during the regular season and entered the game as the No. 12 seed. North entered the contest as the No. 14 seed.
After playing a scoreless first half and dominating play for a majority of the half, North exploded for four second half goals on its way to a 4-0 upset win on Tuesday, Oct. 17.
With the win, North, now 8-6-4, will travel to No. 1 seed Troy Christian for a sectional final match up on Saturday, Oct. 21. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m.
Shawnee concludes its best season in a long time at 11-5-1. The 11 wins, according to coach Jason Lucy is a school record.
“They played strong. Played a good game. A little slow start but I think there at the end they just took off and went with it,” North coach Allen Bell said. “I told them that we need to set and run our pace. And the boys have two levels when they play different teams. It’s either up here or they play the team, and they play them down here. Then I told them the last game against Fairborn you have to stay up here from now on and they’re doing it.”
Preble Shawnee had a breakaway with just under 28 minutes left in the second half but the shot was off the mark to the left.
Less than a minute later North broke the scoreless tie with a goal by Wesley Boyd with 27:02 left in the match.
The Panthers extended their lead to 2-0 off a header from Travis Williamson on a corner kick with 20:52 remaining.
North made it a 3-0 game on a goal from Clint Barnes with 15:45 left.
The final goal came from Boyd with 4:47 remaining in the game.
“Second half was basically I told them you can’t give these kids (Preble Shawnee) space, “Bell said. This is a good team. You can’t give them space because if you do, they can make choices and they can make a lot of critical decisions and really hurt us.”
For Lucy and the Arrows, besting North a third time proved difficult.
“We came out flat. The unwritten rule in sports is it’s tough to beat a team three times. That’s what we did. We just didn’t look comfortable the whole night,” Lucy said. “And then I mean, zero-zero (at half), Okay, that’s fine. We had a couple of good runs, but I figured once we put one in the net the floodgates would open.”
Lucy told his team to try and move on from the defeat, but it might be difficult.
“I told them to have a short memory, but this is going to hurt,” he said. “I said, and for seven of you it’s going to hurt for probably a couple years and saying, ‘what if’ but the Sun still comes up tomorrow.”
Shawnee got off 16 shots with six of those on goal.
“I tried to make some adjustments and move some people around and we got our chances, just couldn’t find the back of the net,” Lucy said.
The Arrows will lose seven seniors to graduation – Xavier Deaton, Case Roell, Jaydin Fields, Reichen Prenat, Jackson Weber, Ricky Mondello-Garrett and Bryce Gevedon.
“Seven seniors. It’s rough on them. I was just talking to them, I decided back in June I was going to be done this season, after the season,” Lucy said. “But I didn’t say a word, didn’t talk to the AD. But because of the way those seven seniors played and the season we had I’m not leaving. Might be in trouble at home but I’m not leaving. And it’s because of them.”
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
