Boys soccer draw: Rochester, Valley to meet at Wabash

Argos draws Lakeland Christian in sectional final rematch; Culver to face Winamac; Caston gets NM in rematch of PK thriller

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley boys soccer teams will play each other in the sectional, and Argos and Lakeland Christian will meet in a rematch of last year’s Class 1A sectional final thriller, according to the IHSAA draw released Sunday.

Here is a breakdown of the draw for area teams:

Rochester, Valley

This will be the second postseason meeting between the rivals when they meet at Wabash in a Class 2A, Sectional 22 quarterfinal Oct. 6.

Rochester beat Valley 5-2 at the Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex Sept. 17 in the teams’ regular season meeting. Spencer Backus scored a hat trick that night, and Grant Bailey and Jonas Kiser also scored.

Since that win, Rochester has lost three straight games to drop to 3-9-1 overall.

Rochester has not won a sectional game since winning a Class 1A sectional final against North Miami in 2016. Since then, they are 0-8 in sectional games and have been outscored 34-3 in those games. That included a 2-0 loss to Valley in 2023 in their most recent postseason meeting.

Valley is 2-12-1 after a 2-0 loss to LaVille Saturday in the Indiana Northern State Conference tournament.

Five of their losses have been by shutout. Valley has yielded 90 goals in 15 games.

The Valley-Rochester winner will take on Eastern (Greentown), who received a bye, in the semifinals Oct. 8. Eastern is 6-4-1 and has road games against Tri-Central Tuesday and North Miami Thursday before getting five days of rest to prepare for their semifinal game.

In the other half of the draw, Wabash will face Maconaquah, and Peru will take on Northwestern.

Maconaquah beat Wabash 4-2, and Northwestern beat Peru 2-0 in their regular season meetings. Northwestern edged Peru 2-1 in last year’s sectional final.

Argos, Caston, Culver, Winamac

At No. 13 in this week’s Class 1A coaches poll, Argos is the only team in Sectional 36 that is ranked, and they also have the best record in the sectional at 9-2-2.

Lakeland Christian (9-4), who has gone 8-1 since a 1-3 start, will be their opponent in the quarterfinals at Argos Oct. 6. This will be the teams’ first meeting since Lakeland Christian edged Argos 2-1 in last year’s sectional final, giving the Cougars their first sectional title in school history.

Lakeland Christian’s Jashawn Zielasko and Zaiden Miller have combined to score 38 of their team’s 51 goals this season. As for Argos, 15 different players have combined to score their 45 goals. Yahir Fajardo, a sophomore, leads with 11, and junior Kenyan Beldon is right behind with 10.

The Argos-Lakeland Christian winner will take on the Culver-Winamac winner in the semifinals.

Culver is 1-11, and that includes a 6-1 loss at Winamac Sept. 18. Sean Stark scored four goals for Winamac that day, and he has 27 for the season. Stark has five hat tricks or better this season. Kael Buschman scored for Culver in that contest.

Winamac already has more wins this season (7) than they did all of last season (6). Culver’s only sectional title came in 1994 while Winamac’s only sectional title came in 2001.

In the other half of the draw, North Miami and Caston received byes and will meet in the semifinals Oct. 8.

Caston beat North Miami 4-3 in penalty kicks in their regular season meeting at the Comet Crater Sept. 16. Brady Coppler leads North Miami with 14 goals, including two against Caston in the earlier meeting.

Mack Mappin scored all three goals in regulation play for Caston in the earlier meeting against North Miami.

The tournament

Sectionals are Oct. 6-11, regional semifinals are Oct. 15, regional finals are Oct. 18, semistates are Oct. 25, and the IHSAA state finals are Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the Michael Carroll Track and Soccer Stadium on the campus of IU Indianapolis.

Sectional tickets are $8 per session or $20 for an all-sectional ticket. Regional semifinal and regional final tickets are $10 per session, semistate tickets are $12, and state tickets are $15 per person per day.