Trinity Lutheran senior Eli Ballard battles Henryville’s Ezekiel Castro for possession of the ball during Monday’s match. Ballard and the other Trinity seniors were introduced before the match.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Coach Todd Jack said very few things went right for his Trinity Lutheran boys soccer team during Monday’s home match against Henryville.
“We didn’t do much of anything going,” he said after the Cougars were blanked 6-0 by Henryville on senior night. “They wanted tonight more than our team did.”
The Hornets scored three goals in each half. Hayden Barbour scored on a free kick at 27:02 of the first half before JJ Young added goals at 17:38 and 8:17.
Levi Pottschmidt had a strong strike for the Cougars with 24 minutes left in the first half but his kick was stopped by Henryville goalie Landon Dobbs.
Essix Drake made it 4-0 at 17:06 of the second half and Andrew Knecht scored again at 15:56 before the Hornets closed their scoring at 3:34.
Trinity’s best chance to score in the second half came with 28 minutes remaining when Andrew Lemming kicked a high ball over the Henryville defense. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced over the net.
Andrew Bell beat the Henryville defense and set a hard strike toward the net with 14:50 remaining but Dobbs jumped up and made the stop.
Before the match, Trinity seniors Eli Ballard, Adam Everroad, Levi Froedge, Bell and Prader Kiel — and their parents — were introduced to the crowd.
Jack said, “Our seniors mean everything. They’re in their last year. This is the last year they get to enjoy the school, they’re who we play for. This is why we celebrate them on this night and hope to go out there and play for them and give them a good sendoff.
“Having five seniors, and three of them (Bell, Kiel and Everroad) captains, they all provide leadership qualities in their own way.”
The Cougars lost to Franklin County 3-2, and fell to Rock Creek 3-1 Saturday in the Cougar Cup.
Everroad and Drew Kerkhof scored goals against Franklin, and Levi Curry scored against Rock Creek.
Trinity finished its regular season at 3-12-2. The Cougars will face Christian Academy of Indiana at 5 p.m. next Monday in the Trinity Lutheran Class 1A Sectional. The Cougars lost 6-0 to CAI at New Albany on Aug. 30
“We’ve got a lot of things we need to work on. We’ve got to find the desire to want to have success,” Jack said. “If we had the desire to have success for these boys, the world is at their feet. I hope to have a good sectional push.”