Heartbreaker prevents all-CS8 sectional title game: Rochester wins; Springfield High loses
ROCHESTER — With one Central State Eight Conference team secured in Saturday’s Class 2A Rochester Sectional title game, Springfield High had a two-goal lead with less than 30 minutes to play.
And though the Senators allowed Champaign Central to tie it up, SHS once again took a lead in the first overtime.
Once again, the Maroons forced the tie before winning in the 10th round of a penalty-kick shootout for a 5-4 win over Springfield High in the second sectional semifinal on Tuesday.
Rochester (17-5), with a 2-1 win over Mahomet-Seymour in the first contest, will face Central (19-3-2) on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Rochester Elementary School. The winner will face either Troy Triad or Belleville Althoff in the Jacksonville Supersectional on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m.
Rochester’s win
Rochester took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on a Landon Kutscher goal after a Rockets’ free kick.
“I had some defenders in front of me and I had to check back a little bit in case they might make a mistake and (the ball) might get through to me and that’s what it did,” said the Rockets’ senior. “That’s what happens when you get in the opponents’ box: you’ve got to be ready for things like that because when you get to this point of the year, pretty soccer is not going to win it — it’s going to be the hard, nitty-gritty, the hard work is going to be there. I was just lucky to be there and finish it off.”
Rochester coach Chad Kutscher said his son doesn’t get his ability to finish goals from his genes.
“Landon has been scoring goals all year and I’ve been telling people he must get this from his mom (Megan Kutscher) because I never scored goals like this,” Chad Kutscher said with a laugh. “He’s been doing it and he gets in good spots and I think that’s part of it.
“He’s getting separation, he’s getting in spots where it might look like he gets lucky, but he puts himself in a spot where he’s gotten separation from his defender, he’s in a good spot in front of the goal and yeah, the ball kind of found him but he had to do a nice job putting it away.”
More: Williamsville boys soccer surges in second half to first sectional title since 2013
Technically, Mahomet-Seymour tied the game in the 52nd minute on an own goal but it took an impressive shot from Isaac Warren. Warren fired from about 40 yards away, the ball hit the crossbar and came straight down where it hit off of Rochester goalie Joel Brock and bounced in the net.
“There’s definitely luck involved with that,” Rochester’s Brayden Trello said.
Trello responded six minutes later with the eventual game-winner off a broken corner-kick play.
“(Mahomet-Seymour defenders) read the ball and a kid stepped to it ... and it just rolled out,” Trello said. “I touched the pass to the defender and found that bottom right corner.
“I knew we had to score and I knew it had to be as soon as possible.”
There were five yellow cards issued — including four on the Bulldogs. One Mahomet-Seymour player received a red card after the final horn.
Springfield’s heartbreak
The Senators took a 3-1 lead in the second half on back-to-back goals from Evan Carrell, including his second tally in the 52nd minute.
Senior Ben Wellens was the beneficiary of good ball movement to pull the Maroons within 3-2 in the 58th minute and 12 minutes later, Matthew Winterbottom capitalized on a mistake from Springfield High to tie the game.
In overtime, Vincent Pratt put the Senators up 4-3 in the first 10-minute period but once again, the Maroons knotted the score when Diego Zarco scored with 4:30 left in the second OT.
“Bad mistakes. We made crucial mistakes, unfortunate mistakes,” SHS coach Pat Phillips said. “We let it slip away. We had chances to go up 4-1, 5-1, just didn’t happen. Two big mistakes on their second and third goal and that’s that.
“We go up again and make another mistake. We made four mistakes that led to their four goals. Other than that, we played pretty well. Four big mistakes.”
More: Rochester boys soccer uses hot start, stingy defense to win 2A regional title over SHG
With the shootout at 8-8 after Springfield High’s 10th penalty-kick shooter, Aaron Poetzel sent the Maroons to the win. It was Central’s third win this postseason after trailing.
“We were here (in the sectional semifinals) last year and some of the boys coming back didn’t want to lose again,” Central coach Alex Zarco said. “We just played our hearts out and just left it all out on the field.
“Credits to Springfield: they’re a really good team and they made a few mistakes. We talked about it all at practice this week with the boys that we have to take advantage of those opportunities that we get. I think we only had four opportunities and we scored on all four.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA boys soccer: Trello lifts Rochester into 2A sectional title game
