Bethany Christian boys soccer wins 1A state title thriller for school's first championship
INDIANAPOLIS — Penalty kicks is where Bethany Christian thrived all season.
While its usually a 50% chance a team will win in PKs, the Bruins were 100% this year, going 4-0 in extra kicks heading into the Class 1A boys soccer state title game Saturday.
Make it 5-0.
The Bruins outlasted Forest Park in penalty kicks 3-1 to win the school’s — located just south of Goshen — first state championship in any sport.
More: Highlights: Bethany Christian vs Forest Park boys soccer
Bethany Christian junior goalkeeper Jacoby Reinhardt made three-straight saves, putting his team in position to win. Senior Jayden Schlabach clinched the victory when he buried the fifth PK attempt for his team, sending the Bruins players, coaches and fans into a frenzy at Carroll Stadium on the campus of IUPUI.
“I was feeling nervous; way more nervous than at semistate,” said Schlabach, who also made the game-winning PK last week. “I was getting goose bumps. When I stepped up to kick it, I was like, ‘Oh shoot.’ And then it went in.”
Reinhardt has come up clutch in PKs all season. Along with the aforementioned semistate win, he had two stops in a regional semifinal win over Westview.
“Getting that first save is the best feeling you can ever have, knowing your guy made it and then you get the save,” Reinhardt said. “And then when Jayden hit that last PK — there’s no better emotion that you can have.”
After a scoreless first half, Forest Park (15-8) took a 1-0 lead nine minutes into the second half. A scrum in the front of the net ended with the ball on the foot of Gus Hagedorn, who booted it past Reinhardt with 31:11 showing on the second half clock.
It looked as if the Bruins (16-4-2) were going to fall short of finding an equalizer, as multiple shot attempts came close to going in but missed.
That changed with 2:34 remaining, as Schlabach fired a beautiful cross-field pass to sophomore Sawyer Beachy, who took advantage of the one-on-one opportunity with the Rangers’ goalkeeper to score, tying the game at one. It’s the second-latest goal in regulation in Class 1A state finals history.
“It was just such a great team goal,” Bethany Christian coach Tony Janzen said. “We moved it through the middle, got it out wide. Jayden beat a guy and just played a wonderful ball right across the goal into a dangerous position. And having Sawyer Beachy there for us to put it in. That gave us a lot of confidence.”
Bethany Christian had better scoring opportunities in overtime but weren’t able to finish the game before penalty kicks.
No worry for these Bruins players. They’d been there, done that all season. Reinhardt sensed the confidence from his team — and the lack of it from Forest Park.
“There wasn’t a lot of confidence in their faces; you could see it in their eyes,” Reinhardt said. “Every single one of them, they were looking to the corners. We were way more confident than they were out there.”
It’s been a long time coming for Bethany Christian, which has been playing IHSAA sports for more than 50 years. After finishing as state runner-up in girls basketball in February, the boys soccer team was able to bring home the big trophy for the first time for the school.
“It sounds wonderful,” Janzen said. “Man, it’s been a wild ride these last couple of weeks. I’m speechless. What do you say? I’m kind of relieved that it’s over because it was a long two weeks of the semistate and the state tournament. But it’s such a neat experience for the guys to be down here. I told them to enjoy every moment of it, and other than the goal they gave up, I think they enjoyed every moment.”
The emotions were overwhelming for Schlabach, to the point where he had to censor himself.
“It’s so awesome,” Schlabach said.
He then added with a chuckle, “I cannot say what I’m thinking right now.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Bethany Christian boys soccer wins school's first state championship
