Columbus East’s Eli Ostrom, in orange, defends against Center Grove Tuesday during the Whiteland Sectional.
Anthony Sylvia | For The Republic
By James Horne
For The Republic
WHITELAND — Center Grove peppered the net with three first half goals and cruised to a 4-2 victory over Columbus East in a boys’ soccer Sectional 13 quarterfinal game Tuesday at the Whiteland Soccer Complex.
“After the first 10 to 15 minutes when I thought we were a little timid and didn’t bring the right energy,” Center Grove coach Jameson McLaughlin said. “They’re a senior-laden team and I knew they’d come out hard. But once our first goal came in you could see us kind of wake up a bit. I don’t know what it is about the first game of a tournament. But it always seems like there’s time you can come out sluggish. But once they started getting the juices going, we played better.”
The Trojans (8-6-3) move on and will face Columbus North (7-4-5) in a sectional semifinal game at around 8 p.m. Wednesday.
East (10-6-1) felt it did all it could and did eventually score in the 72 minute.
“They did have a lot of opportunities,” Olympians coach Sam LaVelle said. “That’s a really good Center Grove team, one of the most underrated teams in the state, I think, and they caused us a lot of fits in the first half. We were able to counter some stuff in the second half. But I’m just really happy with the fight from our boys.”
Center Grove had 14 total shots and 10 on goal. One of those put the Trojans up 1-0 in the 13th minute when Cooper Worley knocked it in the left front of the net from about five yards out.
Center Grove got a push in the 28th minute. Evan Hopper then made it 2-0, again from the left side from 10 yards out, thanks to a cross from Owen Kalmas.
East’s foul set up the Trojans next score.
A hand-ball foul was committed in the 38th minute in the goal box. Center Grove’s Bruno Gubert took the penalty kick and found the bottom right corner to make it the 3-0 halftime score.
The Trojans came out in the second half and upped the lead to 4-0 in the 53rd minute when Kalmas blasted in a header off a corner kick.
The Olympians got their two goals late and made it close.
“We had a lot of young kids in, which is great experience for them,” McLaughlin said. “But once they got it to 4-2 I put my guys back in because you can’t let it get to within one. That’s a little dangerous.”
Jonathan Sylva cut it to 4-1 when he scored from the right side in the 72nd minute. Two minutes later, Ronan Maier made it the final with his shot from about 13 yards out.
“We fought to the end which is a tribute to our mentality all year,” LaVelle said. “We fight no matter what. It’s the passion and heart our boys have. They love playing together and I think it showed in the second half.”
