By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – The Hamilton Southeastern boys soccer team defended its Class 3A Sectional 8 championship on Saturday, Oct. 11 with a 1-0 win over No. 17 Fishers.
It was an intense championship game, as all rivalry games are. Both teams were playing very strong defense, which No. 10 Royals coach Chris White said was necessary this season.
Cooper Perez scored the Royals’ goal on a penalty kick. (Julie Brown)
“We’ve done a nice job creating (scoring) opportunities this year but putting balls in the back of the net’s been a struggle,” said White. “We’ve relied on our defense. Fishers’ strength is the same thing, defending. They do a really nice job getting numbers in behind the ball.”
Southeastern got the goal with 5:55 left in the game when Cooper Perez made a penalty kick. The junior said after the game that he thought the championship would be decided by a penalty-kick shootout.
“It was a big scare, but we’ve been practicing for it,” said Perez. “All it takes is one goal and we got it.”
“Very proud of how we attacked the ball there late, create the opportunity,” said White. “We always talk about, luck is something you create. And we created it and got a nice finish from the PK.”
The Royals claimed their eighth sectional title in program history. It was the first time HSE had defended a sectional crown since its string of four in a row from 2015 to 2018.
Southeastern is 11-3-5 and travels to fifth-ranked Harrison Wednesday for Regional Semifinal 4. Fishers finished its season 10-5-4.
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Carmel triumphed at Class 3A Sectional 9 at Noblesville, beating Zionsville 2-0 in the championship game Saturday, Oct. 11 at Hallmark Orthodontics Soccer Complex.
Two seniors scored goals for the third-ranked Greyhounds. Troy Enslin put in the first goal, then Gavin Fleming scored the second goal. Carmel claimed its 18th sectional title and it fifth in a row.
“I thought the boys played well,” said Greyhounds coach Shane Schmidt. The coach said that his team’s defensive play has been fantastic.
Fishers’ Pierce Haynie (19) controls the ball as Southeastern’s
Alexander Moss (16) defends. (Julie Brown)
“It was fun,” said Schmidt. “Zionsville was a good team and played well.”
Carmel improved to 14-1-3 and hosts Lawrence North for the Regional Semifinal 5 game on Wednesday. Start time is 6 p.m.
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Guerin Catholic returned to the winner’s circle by winning Class 2A Sectional 24 on Saturday, Oct. 11.
The host and No. 2-ranked Golden Eagles beat No. 3 Park Tudor 3-2. Christian Zermeno, Eli Megel and Conner Klen all scored goals for Guerin Catholic, with Ryan McGrath, Zermeno and Will Scheu each making one assist. McGrath had six goalkeeper saves.
The Golden Eagles won their seventh sectional title in program history and improved to 14-4 for the season. Guerin Catholic plays Regional Semifinal 12 at Delta on Wednesday, with the game beginning at 6 p.m.
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University fell to No. 1-ranked Covenant Christian 2-1 in the championship of Class 1A Sectional 40 at North Putnam.
Bruno Lukin scored the goal for the Trailblazers, who finished the season 11-6-2.