NewCath edges Highlands, 2-1 for 36th championship

 

G. Michael Graham. Highlands Jimmy Penrod (left) and Newport Central Catholic's Gualt Nolan chase the ball in Tuesday's 36th District championship game. The Thoroughbreds won 2-1 to claims their third consecutive title.

 

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

The Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds boys soccer team may have just two wins against the Highlands Bluebirds since 2004.

But those two wins have come at critical times in consecutive 36th District championship games. The Thoroughbreds won their third straight district title with a 2-1 win over Highlands at Tower Park on Tuesday.

“It was a good atmosphere and hard-fought game,” said Mike McDonald, NewCath Head Coach. “That’s what we expect. They (Bluebirds) are a good team.”

Like last year, NewCath reversed what happened in the regular season. The Bluebirds (13-7-1) beat the Thoroughbreds (12-4-1) by the same score at the same location to start the season on Aug. 20. Highlands also won last year’s regular season contest 2-0 before NewCath won the district championship 1-0 on a late goal.

“We worked for 20 games to get to this point,” said Matthew Winker, Highlands Head Coach. “It’s not the result we want, but there’s still time to work to be ready for regionals next week.”

A late goal also decided this contest with 4:06 remaining. Matt Tolle threw in the ball and Connor Hanneken put it in.

“I think we stepped back for about 10 minutes and they took advantage of their opportunity,” McDonald said. “That woke us up. We’d been working on that back man crashing the entire time. Connor Hanneken was calm and composed. He caught that rebound coming in. He did exactly what we asked of him.”

Highlands had just tied the game with l:37 left in the game. Chris Garbig dribbled into the attacking area and found Noah Sellers for the score on the right side.

Tolle finished the game with three points. He broke free on a run-out with 14:17 left in the first half and scored to give NewCath a 1-0 lead. That marked the team-leading 13th goal for Tolle.

“I just wanted to make a good play and hopefully score the ball,” Tolle said. “That’s what happened. It was a good ball played through the middle by one of my teammates. I just kept making the run and ended up scoring the goal. I had to slow down to get enough control so I could get my shot on target.”

NewCath outshot Highlands, 8-4. Paul Grosser made three saves for the Thoroughbreds. Bluebird goalkeepers Nick Breslin and Nathan Tippenhauer made two and four saves respectively in the first and second halves.

NewCath knew it had to contain Garbig and Cole Davis-Roberts. The Bluebirds scored two long goals against the Thoroughbreds in the season-opener.

“I’m so proud of my team to get that goal back,” Grosser said. “We just made sure we marked them. We didn’t let them turn when they had the ball. We played well defensively. We didn’t give them what they wanted.”

The game did get physical. Highlands drew three yellow cards to one for NewCath.

Jacob Hensley received tournament Most Valuable Honors for NewCath. Tolle and Hanneken joined Hensley on the all-tournament team along with Garbig and Sellers for Highlands.

NewCath has won two in a row while Highlands has dropped two straight. The Thoroughbreds finished the regular season with a win over St. Henry while Highlands fell at Ryle. The Bluebirds hope not to end the season on a three-game losing streak like last year when they lost 1-0 at St. Henry in the 9th Region quarterfinals.

“The card we’re dealt right now is we’re going to play a district winner,” Winkler said. “It will be a tougher team out of whatever district we play. We’ve seen all the teams we could potentially play. There are enough seniors that remember last year. We hope their heart comes through where they push through this.”

NewCath earned the right to host a region quarterfinal game. The Thoroughbreds lost to Boone County in the 9th Region championship last year.