Saturday night at Crawfordsville High School fans saw one heck of a soccer sectional championship battle in the Class 2A Sectional 25 final between Cascade and the host Athenians. Throughout the game there were so many different twists and turns but it was Crawfordsville who dug deep and with the game tied at 3-3 with just a little over two minutes remaining, sophomore Jazier Gil-Herrera delivered the game winning penalty kick as it was pandemonium on the field with Crawfordsville claiming its first sectional title since 2016 in a 4-3 win.
“This game was full of different swings and emotions, but our guys kept their heads down and continued to compete for the full 80 minutes,” Crawfordsville coach Marcus Hale said. “When you do that, good things tend to happen. This group gets along with each other so well and fights for one another out on the field. I couldn’t be more proud for this group of guys.”
In the first half, Crawfordsville was able to build a 2-0 lead as Patrick Corado got CHS on the board with 12 minutes left in the opening half. With the first 40 minutes of play winding down, Manuel Olvera made it 2-0 Athenians as they took that lead into half-time.
Cascade wasn’t going to go down without a fight as just six minutes into the second-half Colson Mendnhall converted a penalty kick to get the Cadets on the board. What happened next looked as if it was going to take the wind out of the Athenians sails. Another penalty kick was converted by Cascade then less than a minute late the Cadets took the lead at 3-2.
Then with 18 minutes left in the Athenians season Gil-Herrera connected on the first of his two PK’s which tied the game at 3-3. With his second one, as previously mentioned, he proved to be the hero that Crawfordsville needed.
“If Jazier doesn’t do what he does, obviously the result probably isn’t in our favor and we’re not standing here with this trophy,” Hale said. “We as coaches have talked about before on how we believe that we have 8-10 different guys that can score on any given day. Yes we have guys like Patrick and Ryo (Nishina) who are more prone to score, but that doesn’t mean that we rely solely on just them. Anyone on this team can step up when their number is called and it was Jazier’s turn tonight.”
Crawfordsville has been so close in years past to claiming that illusive sectional title. A year ago against SAC rival Tri-West, the Bruins scored two goals in the final 10 minutes to break the Athenians hearts. This year with still plenty of players left on the team from a season ago, Crawfordsville wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.
While all teams are special in their own ways, Hale notes how this group has a special place in program history.
“Most of our previous teams that we’ve had have grown up together. This team is not that way,” he said. “While the didn’t grow up together, they’ve all developed great chemistry with each other on and off the field. They work hard and are just really supportive of each other and most importantly they’re just really good kids.”
With their first sectional title since 2016 now secured the Athenians improve to 11-6 on the season. Crawfordsville will now compete in the Regional semi-finals on Wednesday at Brebeuf as the Braves defeated Guerin Catholic 3-0 in their sectional championship. The Braves came in ranked No. 3 in final coaches poll of the season. Hale knows the test that lies ahead for his team.
“While it’s going to be a great challenge for our team, this is the reason that we play the schedule that we do,” he said. “We played West Lafayette (No. 1 team in 2A) well and I know our guys will be ready to go and compete the best that we can and we’ll see what happens.”
The game on Wednesday between the Braves (14-3-1) and Athenians is scheduled to begin at 6 pm.
