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‘He wasn’t 100 percent, but he gave us 100 percent:’ Beldon has goal, assist; Burns also scores for Dragons
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Kenyan Beldon Zac Burns
ARGOS — The Fort Wayne Blackhawk boys soccer team is a different beast. They are undefeated and ranked No. 1. They are the defending state champion.
They had allowed only eight goals all season in 17 games coming into Thursday’s Class 1A regional semifinal against Argos.
And for the second straight year, they knocked the Dragons out of the state tournament in the regional.
Truett VonGunten had a goal and an assist, and reserve William Jehl also scored for the visiting Braves in a 4-2 win at Eugene Snyder Field.
Fort Wayne Blackhawk’s other two goals were own goals that came off set pieces, one a direct kick and one a corner kick.
Kenyan Beldon had a goal and an assist in his final high school game for No. 7 Argos, who finished 15-5. Freshman Zac Burns also had a goal in a game that was more competitive than last year’s 5-0 loss at Fort Wayne Blackhawk in the same round of the tournament.
Fort Wayne Blackhawk (16-0-2) will play No. 20 Morgan Township at Westview at 4 p.m. today in the regional final. Morgan Township won at Elkhart Christian 4-0 in Thursday’s other regional semifinal.
Argos did not allow a goal in three sectional games, and 10 of their wins had been by shutout. Playing against Fort Wayne Blackhawk was different, according to Argos coach Todd VanDerWeele.
Trying to stop senior and Division I prospect James Neebes is only part of the problem in facing them.
“Last year, Neebes was injured,” VanDerWeele said. “He only played 15 minutes, and still, when he came on, he was a difference maker. He’s fantastic. I don’t know how else to explain it. I think he’s grown a little bit. He’s hit the weight room. He is a Division I talent. … I thought that we did as well as we could have against him and them. I think playing them last year helped a little bit. They dominated us last year, and obviously, they dominated big chunks of the game this year.
“But the one thing we did this year that we didn’t do last was we took advantage of some of our opportunities. Ultimately, their pressure was just too much for us to overcome.”
Beldon’s goal was a spectacle. He took a throw-in from Yahir Fajardo from 30 yards away and finally had space to attack. He slalomed over, around and through four Fort Wayne Blackhawk defenders, somehow kept the ball attached to his foot and drew goalkeeper Shelden Klopfenstein out of the net.
He then fired a low shot that beat a prone Klopfenstein. That cut the Fort Wayne Blackhawk lead to 3-2 with 15:52 left.
“In spite of his smaller stature, he’s a very strong kid,” VanDerWeele said of Beldon. “I mean, obviously, these kids are bigger than him, but he handles it well. He gets off the ground, so he doesn’t get hurt. He’ll take a hit, but he’s off the ground, so he’s not locked in like he’s going to hurt a knee or an ankle. He was also battling a head cold tonight as well. So he wasn’t 100 percent, but he gave us 100 percent.”
Just over four minutes later, Fort Wayne Blackhawk reinforced their lead. VonGunten took a corner kick from the right. Caleb Wike flew in and headed it off Argos defender Ethan Samuels’ leg in front of the net. Neither Samuels nor goalkeeper Angelo McMillen could react in time, and the ball went in the net with 11:34 left.
It was an own goal, but it would not have happened without the pressure Wike put on the net.
Fort Wayne Blackhawk led 4-2. Argos never got another shot off.
VanDerWeele said he told McMillen that he did everything he could.
“He is, as far as I’m concerned, almost on par with Neebes,” VanDerWeele said of Wike. “He’s such a physical presence, and he controls the middle of that field for them. Those are two special players that they have.
“But we did relatively well, but it’s just wave after wave. Angelo had 15 saves or something like that. He made a lot of fantastic plays. It’s just that one, we just needed a little bit of luck from above.”
VonGunten scored the game’s first goal with 20:59 left in the half. He took Essay Davidson’s pass inside the 18 from the right flank and immediately turned and launched a heavy left-footed shot into the back corner of the net.
The Braves took a 2-0 lead with 15:40 left on an own goal. Senior James Neebes, a Second Team All-State player last year who scored two goals against Argos, took a direct kick in front of the net that deflected off Argos’ Joel Trump’s leg and flew up in the air and over McMillen’s head and into the net.
But after McMillen stopped shots from Davidson and VonGunten, Argos cut the lead in half on a fast-moving counter.
The play started with a clear from defender Carter Bauman. He sent it ahead to Beldon, who briefly settled it with his knee and one-touched a pass right on the foot of Burns. Burns, a freshman, shook senior defender Gavin Zimmerman and fired a 20-yard shot past Klopfenstein to cut the lead to 2-1.
It was Burns’ 14th goal of the season and his eighth in the last five games dating back to the regular season finale against Bethany Christian.
VanDerWeele knew Argos could not dawdle with the ball in the midfield, and Beldon’s pass was an example of Argos executing the plan for moving the ball upfield.
“We didn’t want to get hung up in possessing in the midfield because I felt like the pressure would dispossess us, and they would just continue to push it down our throat,” VanDerWeele said. “So trying to release to Zac or Kenyan was part of it. Also, they attack with such numbers that we had to have guys back, and that was the other reason for trying to find Zac on the counters. Obviously, it worked in the first half. They adjusted, and that gave Kenyan some openings in the second half.”
VonGunten set up Jehl, who attacked from the right wing and fired a shot that deflected off McMillen and went in to make it 3-1.
Argos won their second straight sectional this year and their 14th sectional in the last 16 years, but they have not won a regional since their state runner-up season since 2020. Now they will have to regroup without their top scorer in Beldon and arguably their top two defenders in Trump and Mekhi Austin, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in August.
Other seniors include Fabion Olivares and Xander Binfet.
“We have another group of eighth-graders,” VanDerWeele said. “I don’t know if any of them are going to step in necessarily next year, but there are eight or nine of them. You get another big class like that. They’re going to work hard and get better, and that just works up through the team, and everyone works hard to try to claim their spot.
“We’re going to miss those guys, but I think we’ve got some pieces. We’ll be OK next year.”
