By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM
Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter
The Newport
Central Catholic Thoroughbreds soccer team played its best soccer toward the
end of the season.
Unfortunately
for the Thoroughbreds, they ran into a team that had been playing well for a
longer period of time in the 9th Region title game Friday at St. Henry. The
Boone County Rebels scored twice in the second half to win the regional
tournament 2-0.
The goals
came by Evan O’Hara and Brent Rice. The Rebels (18-3-3) had not lost in their
previous 15 games sporting a 12-0-3 mark during that run. They knocked off 33rd
district rival and 2011 state runner-up Ryle, 3-2 on penalty kicks in the
district title game.
“We played pretty well,” said Mike McDonald, NewCath head coach. “We missed some opportunities in the first
half. If you let a team like that stay in the game, they will take advantage of
opportunities. Boone County is the best team we’ve played this year. They moved
the ball well and were very composed.”
The Rebels
outshot the Thoroughbreds, 12-8 on goal. Nathan Grosser made 10 saves for
NewCath at goalkeeper and Zach Mimms saved all eight for the Rebels.
Grosser and
sophomore Jacob Hensley made the all-tournament team for NewCath. Hensley scored
the game-winning goal for the Thoroughbreds (7-10-5) 9th quarters against Villa
Madonna and scored another against Ryle in the semifinals.
The
Thoroughbreds still had some accomplishments. They won their second straight
district title with a 1-0 win over Highlands in the 36th title game.
“If we can bring the same intensity into next season,
I think we’ll be fine,” McDonald
said. “(The seniors) really stepped up
at the end of the season, which was awesome. They could have packed it in when
we had two wins in 14 games. They came out and really finished the season
strong.”
NewCath
graduates seven seniors. They are Grosser, Sam Barth, Cody Guthier, Graham
Heil, Josh Liles, Kyle Simon and Nathan Tackett. But the Thoroughbreds do return
a solid nucleus for next season.
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