Crawfordsville boys soccer had plenty of reasons to celebrate on Wednesday as they hosted county rival North Montgomery. Not only did the Athenians down the Chargers 9-0, but it was also senior night for CHS who honored their five seniors in Yeison Cifuentes, Luis DeLeon, Andrew Jones, Shota Koyanagi, and Airton Schu. Not only did those five seniors celebrate a win, but the Athenians also captured the county title with the victory.
The icing on top of that large cake for CHS was that with his five goal game junior Patrick Corado now stands alone atop the history books as the top single season goal scorer in school history as he sits at 30 on the season. The fifth and final goal came right at the 20 minute-mark of the second half as CHS celebrated another county championship.
“County is a goal that we have every single year,” Crawfordsville coach Marcus Hale said. “You have to give both North and South for that matter credit. I think their programs are getting better but I’m proud of our guys for getting the result that we wanted tonight.”
At halftime Crawfordsville put up four goals and once the second half began, pestered the goal yet again to score the five more that was needed to put the Chargers away via the mercy rule (nine goal deficit at 20 minute mark of second half). Along with the historic five goal night for Corado, CHS got a hat trick from Ryo Nishina, and one goal from Manuel Olvera who scored the very first goal of the game.
The offensive talent that the Athenians poises a real threat for any team they face, something that Hale and his team aren’t taking for granted.
“We’re really fortunate to be in the position we are with so many talented scorers and players,” he said. “We really took our halftime message to heart and played like we should in the second half. When they play together as a unit, they tend to be pretty successful.”
The loss for the Chargers sees their record drop to 3-11 (0-7 SAC) on the season. Despite the lop-sided county loss, North Montgomery coach Tristain Hall did see positives from the match against the Athenians.
“We started off a little flat, but the guys did a good job adjusting mid-game,” Hall said. “I thought Jacob Lawton played a really good game in goal for us. He saved some tough shots and
he’s a type of guy who never wants to leave the field. He’s made a huge jump from his freshman year until now and kept us in a lot of games.”
Crawfordsville boys soccer has had a its fair share of talented players come through the program in its history. But now Corado can say that he stands alone as the most prolific scorer in a single season. Hale notes how that achievement by his talented junior is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“Patrick doesn’t accomplish this record without putting in the hard work that he has,” Hale said. “What’s most impressive about Patrick is his willingness to share the ball to all of the other talented players we have. That shows a lot of growth in his game. Patrick is a player that understands when its his time to take over a game or also when it’s time to share the ball. The fact that he’s willing to do both on top of being one of team captains is something that I’m super proud of him for what he’s done for our program in his first three years.”
Crawfordsville with the county title victory improves to 7-5 (3-3 SAC) on the season. The Athenians will be back in action at home on Monday when they welcome the No. 1 ranked team in 2A in West Lafayette to the Athenian complex.
