Tournament time is happening all around the state for different fall sports. The Gibson Southern Titan men’s soccer team started its postseason play against the Pike Central Chargers at The Fort at Fort Branch Community School on October 7. This was the first round of Sectional action. Earlier this season, the Titans beat the Chargers 6-2. In this contest, the Titan men’s squad eked out a 1-0 victory.
The Titans and Chargers were familiar with each other, having faced-off 11 days prior in a regular-season PAC matchup. Although they had played each other not long before this match, Titan head coach Andrew Dunkel does not believe this affected the Titans.
“I think playing them a week earlier didn’t help or hurt us,” Dunkel said. “The first game we played, it was raining really hard and the field was a sloppy mess. We couldn’t tell what Pike Central really had on that night.”
The Titans took on the Chargers in the regular season as Hurricane Helene was just sitting over the Midwest and dropping precipitation. The field was in bad condition, so bad that every time a player stepped, water splashed up.
Dunkel was pleased with the win and his team. They never gave up as he said and he believed this gave them momentum going into the Sectional semifinals.
“Going into [the] Sectional, every team is going to give you their best game,” Dunkel said. “Nobody wants to lose, so both teams were playing their hearts out. I think that’s why it was just a 1-0 win on the night. I couldn’t ask for a better team to go into [it] with than our team. We gave it our all that night, and it carried over into the semifinal matchup against Southridge.”
Undoubtedly, the stakes are much higher in Sectional games. You lose. You go home. The season is over. According to Dunkel, every team will give you their best. Junior goalkeeper Landon Elpers said he could feel the intensity.
“I felt like I had more pressure because if I didn’t save any, that could mean the end of the season if we didn’t score,” Elpers said.
Elpers recorded four saves in the Titans’ 1-0 win over the Chargers.
The Titans’ only goal was scored by senior defensive midfielder Brody Riggs.
“I was very happy to be able to score the goal of the game,” Riggs said. “To help the team out in a very close and important game like this felt really good.”
The Titans went on to beat Southridge 3-2 in the Sectional semifinals but lost to Washington 5-0 in the Sectional finals. The young Titan team, consisting of lots of freshmen and sophomores, finished the season 9-9.
