The Center Grove team celebrates after getting the sectional championship trophy on Saturday.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
By Hunter Tickel
For the Daily Journal
TERRE HAUTE
The moment that resulted in back-to-back sectional championships was a moment of brilliance from Class 3A No. 3 Center Grove.
In a title bout devoid of ample quality scoring chances, junior right back Evan Hewitt had time and space, just inside the Bloomington South half as the Panthers stayed compact, to spray a low diagonal long ball near the top of the box.
Junior Matheus Gubert flicked the weighted ball with his boot to senior Ely Detty just inside the 18-yard box.
With a deft touch to corral it, Detty put his man under pressure, moved to the left side of the box and buried his shot low to the far, right corner of the goal to secure a 1-0 win in the 79th minute.
“After we miss and miss and miss all game, I just felt like (Detty) knew what we had to do and where he had to go and where I had to put that ball,” Gubert said. “It was just perfect. (And) it was an amazing placement from Evan, that ball.”
The breakthrough came with less than two minutes left in regulation as the Trojans (14-2-2) found the winning combination against Bloomington South’s low block.
“What I saw is what those two kids have done all year,” Center Grove coach Jameson McLaughlin, who won a Class 2A state title in his first year at the school in 2015, said. “They played really well. They play off of each other really well. I think if you watched the Terre Haute (South) game, the first two goals (were Gubert) bringing it down and slipping it to Ely. They are just very mentally on it.”
Detty, who will play collegiate soccer at Kentucky, bagged his 34th goal of the campaign to match the school record for a single season.
“You’ve got to be ruthless,” Detty said. “That’s what one of my coaches told me for five years. It’s that one chance that can change a whole entire game. That one chance was with a minute left, which was a little annoying, but it’s how it is.”
The urgency to pounce was instilled by his former club coach Jason Perry, now an assistant at Butler University.
“This is a huge gift,” Detty said. “I did not want to go into overtime.”
South was organized and persistent keeping the ball out of the back of the net. The Panthers (14-2-1) looked to spring offense with counterattacks, but the Trojans kept defenders back in their 3-5-2 formation with two holding midfielders. It didn’t get caught upfield with too many attackers.
For a lot of the match, the outside midfielders tracked back to defend, but in the final 20 minutes, the Trojans consistently pushed five players forward in pursuit of the winner.
The Panthers finished the season with a pair of defeats — both shutouts against the Trojans.
Center Grove, which won its 25th sectional title, is slated to play at Columbus North on Wednesday in a regional semifinal. The No. 10 Bull Dogs knocked the Trojans out last year, 3-1, on the way to a state runner-up finish.
After Saturday’s match, though, Center Grove was still just enjoying the moment.
“It’s amazing. That’s what I dream about, stuff like that,” Detty said of his game-winner. “I’m getting goosebumps right now thinking about it.”
