No. 2 Blackhawk blanks Argos in regional semis

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

FORT WAYNE — Argos boys soccer coach Todd VanDerWeele thought his team matched host Fort Wayne Blackhawk’s intensity during their Class 1A regional semifinal game Oct. 15.

He added it was the technical side of the game and Blackhawk’s athleticism in which the Braves proved their superiority.

James Neebes scored twice, and Isaiah Davidson, Caleb Wike and Will Jehl also scored for the Braves in a 5-0 win played on Blackhawk’s home field on Fort Wayne’s northeast side.

Fort Wayne Blackhawk improved to 16-0-4. Argos finished 12-5-2.

Argos had three shots on goal – two by Kenyan Beldon and one by Yahir Fajardo, but Blackhawk goalkeeper Isaac Stayton stopped all three, including a nifty leaping stop to his right on Fajardo’s shot in the second half.

Blackhawk had a 14-3 advantage in shots on goal. Sawyer Crace had eight saves in goal, and Angelo McMillen had one after he replaced Crace when Crace had to leave for nine minutes in the second half due to an injury.

“They utilize every inch of this field,” VanDerWeele said. “They’re so good at using their width, and they always seem to find feet. There were balls in the first half that looked like they were going to sail out of bounds, and those guys knew exactly what was going on. They had a very good sense of the field.

“So I think that we dealt with that, but it put enough pressure on us that the most minuscule mistakes we did make, they punished us for, which is what a good team will do. And they did.”

Davidson, a fleet-footed freshman, scored the first goal while running the left flank and taking a Neebes feed and nailing a left-footed shot into the back right corner of the net on Crace with 23:34 left in the first half.

Crace had a great diving stop on a Blackhawk rebound attempt less than two minutes later, and Argos survived another scoring opportunity when a Neebes bicycle kick attempt hit the crossbar.

But Blackhawk made it 2-0 with 9:59 left in the half when Neebes redirected a header off a Jehl pass over Crace’s head.

Neebes drilled a shot to the back left corner of the net off a Theo Rolf assist with 4:53 left to make it 3-0. It was a lead that the Braves took to halftime.

“That’s part of it, getting spread out,” VanDerWeele said when asked if Blackhawk’s speed and ability to stretch the field made it difficult for defenders to communicate with each other. “Trying to keep who’s running around you. That is hard. I thought we did a really good job. I thought when number nine (Neebes) was introduced, things got a little more rough for us. We did change what we were doing when he came on, but he’s so active, and he’s so strong and fast, and he’s got such a nose for the goal (that) he changed the game as soon as he came in.”

Wike made it 4-0 with McMillen in the net with 32:26 left as he dribbled around McMillen and scored into an empty net.

When Jehl scored off a Truett VonGunten assist with 13:25 left, the lead was five, and the rest of the game was played with a running clock, per the IHSAA Mercy Rule.

Still, VanDerWeele complimented Crace given the heat that Blackhawk put on him.

“I think he did really well,” VanDerWeele said. “I mean, he was under fire a lot of the day. He kept his composure. He was communicating well with his defenders when needed, and for his last game, I thought it was a very good game for him.”

Crace is one of five graduating seniors along with forward Ioan Petz, midfielders Keagan Stanley and Kyle Penn and defender Corbin Rex.

They had to rebound from last year’s sectional final loss to Lakeland Christian, which they did in a 1-0 win in the sectional quarterfinals Oct. 6. Then they followed with two more shutouts against Winamac and Caston to win the sectional. They increased their win total from four to six to nine to 12 in their high school careers.

“Very important to what we did,” VanDerWeele said of the seniors. “They came in, and their freshman year, we won two regular season games, and it looked a little bleak, and they’ve worked hard for four years. There have been ups and plenty of downs, but they’ve kept up with it, and they got a sectional championship. They won conference two years in a row. … It’s been a successful group as far as I’m concerned.

“They took it upon themselves last week to make a point to play well. I don’t think I’ve had a team in my 18 years that has gone through a sectional and shut everybody out. … That was a special effort. It comes down to them setting the tone and everyone following them.”

Fort Wayne Blackhawk collected another 5-0 win over Andrean at Westview in the regional final Saturday. They will play top-ranked Covenant Christian in the semistate at Kokomo at 5 p.m. Saturday.