Published: October 12, 2008 01:16 am            

SOCCER SECTIONAL: Providence dethrones Jeff for sectional crown

JEFFERSONVILLE — An amazing comeback, high emotion, a slew of yellow cards and, of course, penalty kicks.

In this rivalry, all of it is to be expected.

The drama simply marked another chapter in area soccer’s most heart-stopping series, as the Providence boys’ soccer team unseated host Jeffersonville on penalty kicks in the championship game of the Jeffersonville Sectional on Saturday, 3-2.

The win gave the Pioneers a measure of revenge after the Red Devils ended their season last year in a semifinal shootout.

“I was hoping for something else,” said Providence coach Adam Giovenco, “but I was not anticipating it.”

The two took very different paths to the finals, and it showed.

Fatigued by a 2-1 semifinal win over Christian Academy of Indiana early on Saturday, Jeff came out flat and fell into a quick hole.

Providence, buoyed by an easier 11-0 domination of Charlestown in its morning semifinal, wasted no time in peppering Devil goalkeeper Daniel Salazar with shots, at one point building a 14-4 edge in shots-on-goal.

It took less than eight minutes for the Pioneers to hit the scoreboard, as senior Ben Hughes scored with 32:31 left in the opening half. Twenty minutes later, Keenan Sparks made a nifty move to split two Jeff defenders and fired the ball over Salazar’s head for a 2-0 Pioneer lead.

“The bottom line is that with as tough a game as we had in the morning, there was no way we were getting 80 minutes of solid pressure,” said Jeff coach Ryan Bixler. “The plan was to slow it down in the first half, and then give it everything we had in the second half. We did that, but unfortunately we got down 2-0.”

While it looked like Providence might duplicate the success of its 4-0 win over Jeff during the regular season, Bixler’s plan soon began to pay dividends.

A throw in went to Scott Meneou, who had both Jeff goals in the win over CAI, with 33:34 left to play. He played the bounce perfectly and lofted a shot over the head of Pioneer keeper Spence Kraft, and from there the match took a dramatic turn.

Jeff kept up the pressure throughout, nearly breaking through for the tying goal on more than one occasion. The opportunity finally came with just 2:21 left to play, when Gavin Leavell outran his defender and slid a shot past Kraft into the right corner.

“I told the guys at halftime that they were going to come at us and they did,” said Giovenco. “Once they got that first goal, the momentum was with them.”

The emotion of the match finally began to boil over during 14 more minutes of fruitless overtime, as Zev Crawley and Jim Curd drew yellow cards for Providence. Jeff’s Tyler Miller also picked up a yellow late in second extra session.

It all served to set up the shootout, which had as many twists and turns as the previous 94 minutes.

Dylan Abrahamson netted Jeff’s first goal, which Providence’s Nathan Marshall immediately matched. Meneou then misfired, while Brad Orem delivered to put Providence up a goal in the best-of-five format.

But Jeff stayed alive when Miller beat Kraft and a shot from Sparks got past Salazar but bounced off the goal post.

It all came down to Salazar, who stepped out of the goal for Jeff’s fifth and final shot. His attempt went too high and into the crossbar, while Providence’s Omar Salguero calmly beat the Jeff keeper on the next shot to finish a matchup that dragged long into a warm October night.

“Win or lose, I hate that we had to settle it that way,” said Giovenco, whose team will begin play in the Seymour Regional against the winner of the Madison Sectional on Wednesday. “But that’s the first time we’ve gotten the better of a penalty-kick shootout in several years.”

It all left Bixler, who coached Jeff past Providence for sectional titles in 2004, 2005 and 2007 — and to a regional title in 2005 — filled with pride at a valiant comeback that fell just short.

It was also the end of the line for Jeff’s decorated eight-person senior class, who were freshman during the run to the semistate in ‘05.

“We’ve been through a lot with these guys — sectionals, regionals. You name it, we’ve been through it,” said Bixler. “But I have never been prouder of a group of guys.”

        

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