Staff Reports
If there are to be rematches of last year’s title matches in the local Class 3A boys and girls soccer sectionals, they’re going to take place before the final round.
Ninth-ranked Center Grove and No. 8 Columbus North are set up as potential semifinal opponents in the girls brackets released Sunday evening by the IHSAA. Likewise, if the Trojan boys see the Southport team it defeated in a championship-game shootout last fall, they’ll do so in a semi this time.
Center Grove’s girls, the sectional host, open up with a first-round match against Franklin; Columbus North, which recently lost All-America senior Jenna Lang to a season-ending knee injury, takes on Greenwood. The two winners of those matches will meet in one semifinal, with Columbus East playing Whiteland in the other.
On the boys side, the Trojans drew a first-round bye and will play the Southport-Franklin winner in one semifinal at Whiteland. On the other side of the draw, Greenwood takes on No. 17 Perry Meridian and the host Warriors face Roncalli.
In Class A, the Greenwood Christian girls play International in one semifinal, with host Covenant Christian meeting Speedway in the other. GCA’s boys were also deposited right into a semi at Southwestern; the Cougars will face Oldenburg Academy in the top half of the bracket, while the 10th-ranked Spartans await the Morristown-Hauser winner.
Sectional play is set to begin Oct. 4.
