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Argos, Culver receive byes, to play each other; Caston gets Winamac
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
The Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley boys soccer teams have never played a postseason game against each other before, but that will change.
The Zebras and Vikings drew each other and will meet in a Class 2A, Sectional 22 quarterfinal at Fort Wayne Concordia at 7 p.m. Oct. 3.
Those were among the revelations of the IHSAA draw Sunday.
Here is an outlook for the six RTC area teams.
Rochester, Valley
Valley defeated Rochester 2-0 in their regular season meeting at the Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex on Sept. 13.
Gio Arriaga scored both goals in the second half.
Arriaga and Eric Eikenberry have combined for 42 of Valley’s 51 goals. Eikenberry, a senior who is in his second year at Valley after transferring from Rochester, scored six of his 16 goals in a 10-1 win over Oregon-Davis last week.
Rochester is 4-9 and coming off a second-place finish at the four-team Winamac tournament Saturday. Rochester beat Winamac 3-1 in the first round before losing to Maconaquah 6-0 in the final.
Valley coach Trevor Brown is in his second season. He was the Rochester coach from 2006-20 and remains a Rochester faculty member.
The Rochester-Valley winner will play the winner of the Fort Wayne Concordia-Wabash game in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Oct. 4.
Both Rochester and Valley own regular season wins over Wabash. Neither plays Fort Wayne Concordia (6-4-3) during the regular season.
In the opposite half of the bracket, Fort Wayne Dwenger received a bye and will await the Manchester-Culver Academy winner in the semifinals. Fort Wayne Dwenger is ranked No. 10, and Culver Academy is No. 12 in this week’s coaches poll.
Culver Academy is the defending sectional champion.
The sectional final is set for 2 p.m. Oct. 7.
Caston, Argos, Culver, Winamac
Argos has won 11 sectional titles in the 12 years of multi-class soccer, including last year. They received a bye and pulled out a sectional title last year with wins over Winamac and North White despite winning only two regular season games.
Once again, they received a bye in Class 1A, Sectional 37 and will play Culver in the semifinals, and the teams will meet at Argos on Oct. 4.
Argos has garnered three regular season wins so far this year. They have games against Culver Academy Thursday and Bethany Christian Saturday before beginning postseason play.
Culver is winless on the season under first-year coach Adam Neace. They have regular season home games against Rochester at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Oregon-Davis at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Culver’s only boys soccer sectional title came in 1994.
The Dragons and Cavaliers do not meet in the regular season. With Argos joining the Hoosier North, they will become conference rivals next year.
In the other half of the draw, Caston will play Winamac, and North Miami will play North White in the quarterfinals at Argos on Oct. 2.
The Caston-Winamac regular season meeting will occur at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Winamac. The sectional meeting will follow four days later. Caston is 3-7, and Winamac is 4-8 so far this season.
Caston defeated Winamac 5-1 on Sept. 29, 2022, in their most recent meeting. The Comets also edged the Warriors 1-0 on Oct. 9, 2021, in the sectional final in their most recent postseason meeting. That marked the only sectional title in Caston history.
North Miami is 10-3 and riding a five-game winning streak, but one of their losses was a 2-1 loss to North White on Sept. 2. North White also beat North Miami 2-1 in the 2022 sectional quarterfinals at Argos.
The sectional final is set for 2 p.m. Oct. 7.
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