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Indians ready for another run at region title

10/21/2016

By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor

Don’t start counting the reasons why the Montgomery County Indians shouldn’t have won the 39th District Soccer Tournament last week.
The record, the record against teams in the district, playing away from home, injuries, not having the same lineup together very much.

But on the positive side the Indians have Zach Hill. And Brantley Dice. And Brogan Dice. And Dylan Covington. And Zach Culbertson. And Klae Wilson. And Chandler Wyman. And Ben Spence. And Tristan Bromagen. And Dylan Ingram. And some terrific sophomores. And I’m sure someone has been left out. Everyone seems to have contributed. And a great coaching staff.

And Tradition.
Put all of those things together and the Indians topped Clark County 3-2 and Paris 3-0 last week at Clark County to earn the right to host the 10th Region Tournament and defend their regional crown.
That was the Indians’ sixth straight district championship. Let that one sink in a little.

Zach Hill and his fellow seniors were seventh graders when that streak started.

So this week, at Cunningham Field, the Indians will have a chance to win another regional title as they take on the winner of the Bishop Brossart-Mason County contest on Thursday night at 8 p.m. in hopes of earning a spot in the Saturday evening championship match.

“You always go in thinking you’re going to win,” said Coach Nick Pannell. “But Clark County had beaten us during the season and Bourbon County as well. We were looking at having to beat those two teams, we thought, to win the district. And then Paris pulled a surprise, although they’ve done a great job in elevating that program.”
Paris beat Bourbon County in the opening game of the tournament last week, in a shootout.

“That threw things off a little,” Pannell admitted. “We warmed up and then we waited and then we tried to get loose again.”
Pannell thought his team was a little too hyped up for the Clark County matchup and put the blame on himself for that. But after about 15 minutes things sort of leveled out and the Tribe started getting things done.

The Indians managed to score first and Pannell thought that “really took the pressure off” for his team.

Senior midfielder Brantley Dice took a pass from senior midfielder Chandler Wyman and found the net to put the Indians in front 1-0 at the half.

“Brantly had an outstanding game for us,” Pannell complimented the senior. “He had a lot of good runs and kept the pressure on them up top.”

In the second half, Klae Wilson cut in front of the goal, took a through ball by Zach Hill and found the net for a 2-0 lead.
Clark County came back a short time later and scored but the Indians maintained their lead and then with about four minutes to play Hill literally dribbled through the entire Cardinal defense and scored to put the icing on the cake.

Pannell substituted for some of his younger players in the final minutes and Clark added a goal with just 45 seconds remaining in the elimination contest.

“I wanted some more of our young guys to get a taste of being in a district game,” he said.

Senior keeper Dylan Covington, despite the fact that Clark County managed a couple of goals, was outstanding. Senior Zach Culbertson also had another outstanding game.

“He’s our backstop,” Pannell explained. “He cleans a lot of things up for us. He’s just really consistent.”

Junior Brogan Dice was “pretty much all over the field” doing whatever the Indians needed according to his coach.

That put the Indians into the championship match and they were able to control the game against the Greyhounds.

Zach Hill got the Indians on the scoreboard when he took a pass from Brogan Dice, split a pair of defenders and found the net for a 1-0 lead.
Then Brogan Dice beat a defender in the box and was fouled. He made the penalty kick to put the Tribe in front 2-0.

After that the Indians’ defense, led by Covington, junior Culbertson and sophomores Ian King and Jacob Toy.

Sophomore Daniel Shelton, another young player who has logged a lot of playing time, also got some praise from his coach.

Pannell was pleased with his team’s draw.
“We’ve lost to Campbell County and Bishop Brossart and beaten Pendleton County,” he said. “I like being in the opposite bracket from Campbell County but you’ve just got to come out and play.

“To win the tournament we’ll probably have to beat two teams that have already beaten us this season, but this team is certainly capable of that.”
The winner of the 10th Region will be facing the 11th Region winner, possibly Dunbar or Madison Central.

“We’re just glad to be in the position we’re in,” Pannell said. “We now control our own destiny.”