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Binkley, Alcorn coach Dragons in place of ill VanDerWeele
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ARGOS — Luke Stults scored three goals, and Kenyan Beldon scored twice to lead the Argos boys soccer team past Culver 8-0 in a Class 1A, Sectional 37 semifinal at Argos’ Eugene Snyder Field Wednesday.
Ethan Petz scored a goal and also assisted on younger brother Ioan Petz’s tally. Austin Owens also scored in the second half on an unassisted run down the middle of the pitch.
Argos improved to 4-13 and earned a meeting in the sectional final with North White, who shut out Caston 5-0 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
Argos played without coach Todd VanDerWeele. VanDerWeele told RTC last week that he had a “medical issue.” Argos later announced a fundraiser before the game called “Tailgate for Todd,” where for $10, one received a farm fresh burger, chips, dessert and a bottled water. On a flier promoting the event, it said, “All proceeds will go to their fight against cancer.”
Damon Binkley and Jon Alcorn served as interim co-head coaches. Andy Petz and Joe Kindig were the assistant coaches.
“I think our togetherness to work as one unit tonight,” Binkley said when asked what the most impressive aspect of the game was. “We had some things we wanted to work on, some goals we wanted to achieve, and I think we achieved them, not only with our older guys but when we brought younger guys on, the energy and level of play didn’t drop. I felt tonight that we were one unit, so I was really impressed with that.”
Culver finished 1-10. The Cavaliers lost their first nine games before handling Oregon-Davis 3-1 in their regular season finale on Sept. 27.
“They did a great job on the flanks tonight,” Culver first-year coach Adam Neace said. “We tried to put a couple guys down there to try to help out a little bit later into the game. We just couldn’t execute there. Guys were in different spots tonight. Again, playing with 12, 13 guys, it’s a tough battle.
“Again, great soccer program over here, something we want to get to. Something we want to build. … Anytime we see a good program like that, it’s a good thing for us.”
Neace was asked what the team’s top priority is for the offseason.
“Weight room,” Neace said. “We started this summer with two kids. When we finally got to that 13, 14 threshold, it was probably a week or two into the year. So we’ve really only been together as a soccer program for eight weeks. So that’s a big thing I want to hit going into the offseason.”
Culver fell behind 1-0 in the fifth minute when Luke Stults flicked a pass with his right toe to Petz, who beat Culver keeper Landon Stevens to his left.
“Ethan has the ability to be our engine offensively,” Binkley said. “He has quite the load on his shoulders and bears that weight pretty well. He’s a great player and a good leader as well.”
Beldon scored on a penalty kick with 29:39 left in the half after a Culver handball inside the 18-yard area on Beldon’s initial shot.
Argos’ third goal came after a dribbling display from Ethan Petz. He worked around the perimeter of Culver’s packed-in defense and centered to Ioan Petz, who one-timed a shot to Stevens’ right as he dashed to get back in the play.
Beldon’s nifty move to settle a bouncing pass and then create space inside the 18 before firing a bullet into the left corner of the net made it 4-0 with 7:42 left in the half.
“Kenyan’s a freshman, very talented player, very dynamic, can play on both sides of the ball very well,” Binkley said. “Early on, he had a little bit of a culture shock playing against older guys. … There’s a big difference between a 14,15-year-old kid and an 18-year-old kid.”
Just 84 seconds later, Beldon sent a through ball to Stults, who tucked a left-footed shot inside the right post to make it 5-0.
A Stults goal on a rebound off a Stevens save of a Sean Richard shot made it 6-0, Owens’ individual effort for a goal made it 7-0, and a Stults finish off a Kyle Penn set-up completed the scoring with 13:33 left.
Binkley was asked if VanDerWeele’s health issue has unified the team even further than what they were.
“I’d like to think so,” Binkley said. “I think we’ve got several outside, non-soccer motivators this season. It’s odd not having ‘The Gaffer’ here, but I think we’ve got a really good coaching staff, and the guys respect the rest of the coaches, and I think they’re out here not only to win it for themselves but win it for Todd and the other factors we’ve got going this season.
“So I would say with the absence of Todd is a big motivator for the guys because he’s a great coach and a great guy, and everyone’s got a ton of respect for him.”
