Life will go on for the 14 seniors on the Center Grove boys soccer team after Wednesday night, even if it may not have felt like it from about 9:30 on.
As head coach Jameson McLaughlin noted, there will likely be doctors, lawyers, senators and the like among the graduating Trojans; they’re going to be just fine. But none of that dulled the pain they felt in the immediate aftermath of a shootout loss to Perry Meridian in the semifinal round of the Class 3A Franklin Sectional.
Falcons goalkeeper Luciano Salemi stopped three Center Grove shots in the penalty kick round, helping his team advance, 3-1, after the two rivals battled to a 1-1 tie through 94 minutes of action.
"I’m not going to be upset to see (Salemi) leave," McLaughlin said, "because that kid has been a nightmare for us for four straight years."
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Salemi gave the Falcons the edge right at the start of the shootout when he stopped Colin Parry’s attempt on the right side of the net. Carter Zuch converted in the second round for the Trojans, but Salemi then turned away shots by Carson Wilhelm and Aaron McDaniel, and Perry clinched it when Bawi Cung Lian converted to close the fourth round of kicks.
It marks the fourth consecutive year that Perry Meridian has eliminated the Trojans from the postseason. The Falcons (15-3) will play in Saturday afternoon’s title game against Southport, which bounced Greenwood in Wednesday’s first semifinal, 11-1.
Fans on both sides seemed on edge as the night wore on, all but certain that whichever team scored first was going to emerge victorious. So when the Falcons got a goal from Lian with just 5:04 remaining — a second-effort shot after Center Grove backup goalie Jacob Humphrey had come in cold off the bench and stopped Lian’s penalty kick — a sense of desperation began to set in for the Trojans.
But that desperation fueled a big push forward, and it paid off with 2:57 to go when a ball deflected by the Perry Meridian defense found its way just in front of the goal, where Trojan senior Colin Parry was there to knock it in and send the Center Grove faithful into a frenzy.
McLaughlin was proud of how his team fought back after falling behind so late in the match.
"The resiliency the kids showed is incredible," he said. "And that’s what I told them — there’s no way they should have their head down, they should be sad, because to go down on a PK that shouldn’t have been a PK, and fight back and score with the heart and attitude that they had is incredible."
The Trojans (13-4-1) had chances late in each of the overtime periods, but neither side could put a decisive goal on the board, setting the stage for Salemi’s heroics.
Emotions were running high, both on the field and in the stands, as the action went back and forth over the first few minutes. Eventually, Center Grove started to get its footing, and the opportunities followed — including two big ones in the 29th minute.
First, Parry turned and fired a hard one-timer to the left side of the net, but Salemi dove and managed to just knock it wide. Seconds later, Carter Zuch appeared to get the Trojans on the board, but he was ruled offsides and the teams went into the break knotted at 0-0.
In the early game, the Woodmen (1-15) closed to within 2-1 early when senior defender Gabe Daugherty converted a penalty kick, and they were just two goals down at halftime. But the Cardinals (13-4) overwhelmed Greenwood after the break, quickly putting the match out of reach.
"That’s us," Woodmen coach Dan Weber said. "I’ve been saying it all year — we have really good first halves, even against good teams. But today we mixed it up and still weren’t able to keep up the pace with them in the second half."
