KNIGHTSTOWN
Once again, Greenwood Christian is bringing home some major hardware for its ever-growing trophy case.
The Class A No. 5 Cougars converted on a pair of first-half penalty kicks and a late-second half goal to take a 3-0 win over No. 12 Oldenburg Academy on Saturday afternoon to win the Knightstown Regional.
It’s the third consecutive regional title for the Cougars (13-4-2), who hope to make it to the state finals for the second time in three years.
And it’s possible, with the kind of defense that GCA played against the Twisters. What might not be possible again, at least for a while, is two penalty kicks within 10 minutes of each other.
“That’s never happened before for me as a player or coach,” Greenwood Christian coach Kefil Tonouewa said. “But I’m happy with that and for the guys; they deserved to win this game. I told them if we play the game we’re capable of playing, we’ll do well.”
Both teams started out a bit tentative in the first minute, but just two minutes later, Greenwood Christian soon found itself near the Twister goal — and when junior Bo Campbell was toppled within the 18-yard box, the Cougars were awarded a penalty kick. Campbell sent a shot to the left corner of the net that caught Oldenburg goalie Isaiah Waggoner flat-footed, and the Cougars had a 1-0 lead.
Ten minutes later, the Twisters again fouled within the box and once again Campbell was called upon to double the lead with his second penalty kick. This time, Waggoner was able to move, but Campbell hit this one straight on for his 23rd goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.
Unlike his coach, Campbell said he’d had two penalty kicks in a game before.
“I usually don’t hit both of them, but I did (today),” said Campbell, who kept his perfect weekend going. On Friday night, he hit two extra points and a 31-yard field goal to help the GCA football team beat Shortridge.
In the second half, it was Campbell’s fútbol and football teammate Trey Dobson who scored the final goal. The Cougars’ quarterback bulled, darted and weaved his way past the Twister defense and hit the ball in the back of the net.
It was Greenwood Christian’s 10th shutout of the season. Goalie Preston Van Til preserved it with one nice save.
Oldenburg’s leading scorer, sophomore Connor Holder, missed an outside shot that just missed the right post, then lofted another that appeared to be going in before Van Til stretched out his 6-foot-5 frame and snatched it out of the air. Had Van Til been an inch shorter, the ball would have gone in and the Twisters would have had life.
GCA will now play a semistate game at Evansville North this coming Saturday against Northeast Dubois, which beat Providence on penalty kicks in their regional final.
“There were a few things we will need to work on,” Tonouewa said. “We have to finish our shots, but we’ll be working on that during practice.”
