SEYMOUR — The Columbus East boys soccer team found itself down at the break, and it looked like the Olympians were heading for defeat.
The Olympians made a second-half charge.
East picked up two quick goals midway through the second half to claim the sectional title with a 2-1 victory over Jeffersonville Saturday night in Seymour.
The Olympians (9-2-7) will face Terre Haute South, which was a 2-1 winner over Bloomington South, at 10 a.m. Saturday at Seymour.
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This is East head coach Josh Gonsior’s first sectional title at the helm. Gonsior said a lot of the credit goes to his assistant coach Buster Copas for having the team prepared physically and mentally for the championship game, especially against a Hoosier Hills Conference foe.
Jeffersonville struck first in the 17th minute when Josh Walters dribbled down the right side of the field, and his pass across the field landed right at the feet of Konnor Kimmel, and his shot from the left side of the box landed in the back of the net by the near post for a 1-0 lead.
Gonsior said the message to the team at the half was to “control what you can control,” and it was a message that was brought to this program from Gonsior’s coaching predecessor Brad Barber, who took the team to the state semifinals a year ago.
“You can’t take control of the referees and can’t control the other players, but you can control what you do on the field,” Gonsior said. “Coach (Barber) really preached that. I think ultimately, that was what we needed to do to be successful in that game and not worry about the referees and not get caught up in what the other team was doing and just play our game … when we bring it, we’re a hard team to beat.”
That message became loud and clear for the Olympians.
In the second half, East found the equalizer in the 52nd minute when Branson Young took a shot from the left side of the box, and the ball slowly trickled on the right side of the net by the far post to level the game at 1-1.
Less than four minutes later, the Olympians broke through to take the lead for good when Brody Copas took a shot down the center of the goal box that found the net for a 2-1 lead.
From there, the defense of East did its job to preserve the victory.
“We knew that (Jeffersonville) was going to come out strong. They’re a team with 17 seniors, and we knew that they thought this was going to be their opportunity to go far,” Gonsior said. “We knew we had to come out and weather the storm and then take the game to do, and that was what we were able to do.”
The Olympians took 16 shots, with 12 of them on goal. Goalkeeper Pete Coriden recorded six saves.
“We’ve shown throughout this season that we’re resilient and able to battle back and comeback,” Gonsior said. “A lot of those results ended up in a tie, but we were able to finish the job tonight.”
