Stark power: Down 2-1 in 2nd half, Winamac rallies to beat Caston on direct kick

Hoover, Jones also score for Warriors; S. McGrew, D. McGrew score for Comets

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

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Sean Stark Asher Jones Simon McGrew Drew McGrew

ARGOS — Sean Stark scored the game-winning goal on a direct kick with 6:43 left, and the Winamac boys soccer team survived a 36:45 span in the second half in which they had to play 10-on-11 to beat Caston 3-2 in a Class 1A, Sectional 36 quarterfinal at Argos’ Eugene Snyder Field Wednesday.

Kannon Hoover and Asher Jones also scored for Winamac, who improved to 8-3-2 and earned a matchup with Lakeland Christian in the semifinals at 7 p.m. today. Lakeland Christian eliminated Culver 3-0 in Wednesday’s other quarterfinal.

Caston, who got goals from Simon McGrew and Drew McGrew, finished 8-4-2 and on a three-game losing streak. They also lost to Winamac 3-0 in the regular season finale at the Comet Crater Oct. 1.

The game’s most contentious moment occurred with 36:45 when Caston’s Kaemen Lee took a hard fall after a rough slide tackle from Winamac’s Logan Schambers. The center official immediately showed Schambers a yellow card, and Schambers ran back to his bench.

As Lee writhed in pain and received medical attention from a trainer and coaches on the sidelines near the stands, a uniformed officer appeared on the field.

Meanwhile, the center official and the assistant official on the near sidelines consulted and changed the call to a red card.

That meant that Schambers was ejected and that Winamac would have to play a man down the rest of the game. Also, Schambers received an automatic one-game suspension and will not play against Lakeland Christian tonight.

Lee would be helped off the field but would later return to the game and even had Caston’s best scoring chance in the final 10 minutes.

Winamac would get another yellow card when Liam Burton was called for grabbing Koltyn Smith with 17:56 left.

A sloppy clearing attempt from Burton would give Mack Mappin a look at a header with just under 13 minutes left, but Winamac goalkeeper Hutch Martin grabbed it.

Winamac got the equalizer from Jones with 9:50 left off a throw-in assist from Rylan Craig. Mappin swung his leg at Craig’s throw and softly deflected it to Jones, who swung his leg and scored a one-touch goal past Caston goalkeeper Carson Harness with 9:50 left.

“That’s huge, but he is a kid that finds a way,” Winamac coach Cullen Ulerick said. “He’s been battling some leg injuries with his shins and stuff. … You could tell it was hurting him. It was bothering him, but in crunch time, he came down and did what he needed to do. He stayed focused and got that good hit for us.”

For Jones, a senior, it was his second goal of the season and the fourth of his varsity career.

Martin saved Lee’s shot. Harness stopped a look from Stark from 20 yards away.

But it was a foul on Caston’s Eli Rush that set up Stark for a direct kick from 40 yards away.

Drew McGrew set up a one-man wall, but Stark steered his kick over McGrew and a defender standing in front of Harness. Harness did not appear to see the kick as it went to the back of the net.

“We’ve recently been practicing it a lot,” Stark said. “That goal, it was amazing. I was far out, and I thought I could put it in the back of the net, and I did. Luckily, Kannon Hoover, he made the run off the ball and got in the way of the keeper, and it went in.”

Caston would get one more corner kick, but Winamac would hang on from there.

“To have a win like this with 10 kids, of all things, and being down a player, no, we have never had anything like that,” Ulerick said. “I haven’t seen anything like that. But this team fights. They don’t give up. They kept the mental focus of what they needed to do, believed in each other, started communicating really well and making those runs and using every bit of energy to make sure we got out on top.”

Stark assisted on Hoover’s goal that opened the scoring with 25:10 left in the first half. The run of play started when Craig accepted a throw-in by sending a nifty heel pass to Stark. Stark then dribbled through multiple defenders and found Hoover in the box. Hoover then got off a left-footed shot in close quarters and potted his ninth goal of the season to give Winamac a 1-0 lead.

But after Harness stopped shots from Hoover and Jaybin Hines, Caston tied the game thanks to hard work from sophomore Drew Douglass.

He pressured Winamac’s Ethan Kruzick into a turnover and avoided a slide tackle attempt from Burton. He centered a pass in which defender Waden Sitek and Martin nearly collided as Martin tried to pick it up.

Instead, Simon McGrew collected the loose ball and drilled a shot past Martin, who was now out of position, to tie the game at the 15:14 mark.

Caston kept the momentum at the 13:02 mark, when Drew McGrew drilled a left-footed shot into the back left corner of the net past Martin. Simon McGrew had the assist after accepting a pass from Reed Sommers.

Caston kept the 2-1 lead into halftime.

“It’s just tougher when you play another team back to back,” Stark said. “It just makes it harder. They know what you’re going to do. They know your play style, so we just had to adjust to that, and I think we did well. We had our moments, but we did well tonight.”