Greenwood Christian’s Colton Flint stops a penalty kick during his team’s regional championship win.
Gary Brockman | For the Daily Journal
KNIGHTSTOWN
Colton Flint felt mixed emotions about his team’s most important match of the season coming down to penalty kicks.
Greenwood Christian’s starting goalkeeper would be on an island of sorts. Time to either sink or swim.
The senior more than stood his ground, helping the sixth-ranked Cougars defeat No. 2 Covenant Christian in Saturday’s championship match of the Class A Knightstown Regional.
With the teams tied at 1-1 through two halves and a pair of seven-minute overtimes, GCA’s postseason dreams came down to making as many attempts as possible.
And, of course, having Flint stonewall as many of the Warriors’ shots as he could.
“I’m definitely a little nervous going into it, but it’s more like I practice them. I know what to do,” Flint said. “A lot of times I’ll look at (opponent’s) hips because they’ll open them up to which way they’re going.
“But, also, sometimes, they’ll tell by their eyes which way they’re going. I kind of look at a mixture of both.”
GCA freshman Caleb Amador made good on his kick, which was followed by Flint’s diving stop of a boot from Covenant Christian senior midfielder Josh Byrd.
Junior Caden Camden then found the back of the net for the Cougars, only to be matched by the attempt of Warriors junior Caleb McCrory. Sophomore Bo Campbell, Greenwood Christian’s top goal scorer this season and last, was true on his effort, with Flint then again hitting the ground to knock away a shot from CC’s Nathan Afolayan.
Needing just one more penalty kick to send his team to semistate for a second consecutive season, sophomore Trey Dobson aimed left, slipping the ball past Warriors goalkeeper Henry McNeil.
And the celebration was on.
“By nature, I’m a football player, so I took the field goal steps, and I just knew I was going to kick left the entire time,” said Dobson, who had quarterbacked the GCA football squad in a game in Michigan on Friday night. “I knew I had a solid kick going to the left. I just did what I was going to do.”
Juggling the two sports and being so proficient at both isn’t easy, but Dobson doesn’t go it alone.
“Whatever questions I have, the coaches help me. All the players, I just ask them questions, like where I need to be, and they help me,” Dobson said. “I’ve got to give all the credit to them.
“I couldn’t have done what I did today without them.”
The match wasn’t even eight minutes in when Byrd booted in the first goal after Covenant Christian was off the mark on a header. Greenwood Christian countered with Camden’s sliding kick off a Dobson assist only 6.7 seconds before halftime.
By the end of regulation, Covenant Christian held a slim advantage in shots on goal, 14-12. However, inside the final 5:12 of the second half, the Cougars managed three quality looks at a go-ahead goal, starting with McNeil going horizontal to snuff out a Campbell attempt. Dobson went just right with his attempt with 3:51 on the clock, and was high with one final kick a split second before time expired.
GCA (15-4) now faces Forest Park (14-7) in the semistate round for a second consecutive year, this time at Evansville North. That match will kick off at 1 p.m. on Oct. 21.
First-year GCA coach Steve Campbell sensed weeks ago that this squad could grow into something special through hard work, camaraderie and a collective belief.
Now they’re one of only four Class A teams still playing.
“We knew coming into this that (Covenant Christian) was a tough team,” coach Campbell said. “We played them before (a 3-0 loss in August), and after we played them and watched them throughout the season, we knew we were playing the best team in the state.
“We told the guys to be patient, and our goal was to defend, defend, defend, and counterattack, and we did that at the end of the first half. We just wanted it a little bit more in the second half. The boys came through.”
