NEW PALESTINE — For both Mt. Vernon and New Palestine, there was a lot on the line on the New Palestine High School soccer field Tuesday night.
The Hancock County Rob Thomas Cup was up for grabs, the Hoosier Heritage Conference traveling bell was on the line and the opportunity to grab a pivotal conference victory was there.
More than anything, it was a chance for one rival to defeat another.
“It’s always a big game against New Pal. We used to come out here and there would be fans everywhere and it would be a crazy atmosphere. That’s still there and so is that competitiveness between the boys,” Mt. Vernon head coach Matt Mayhew said. “They all play on the same club teams, so they want to go back having that win in their column. That rivalry is always there every year.”
In this year’s battle between the county rivals, it was the Marauders (4-2-1, 3-0) defeating the Dragons (3-4, 1-1) by a score of 3-1.
“(New Palestine head coach) Juan (Diaz de Leon) has them playing great and we know him from club, and he knows a lot of my guys as well. It’s always just a chess match of who’s going to do what they can,” Mayhew said. “We started firing again just like how we wrapped up against Fishers. We played really well against them, and that was our message to the guys all week. We wanted to keep that momentum and chemistry going, and they did that.”
Mayhew has seen the rivalry firsthand for the last 20 years as either an assistant or head coach of the Marauders. On the other side, Diaz de Leon, in his opening year as the Dragons head coach, was getting his first experience of the highly anticipated matchup.
For him, the game was a learning experience for both him and his team.
“Our depth isn’t where we want it to be. It’s going to be one of those learning seasons because a lot of these guys don’t have that experience of playing in a game like this against a big rival and dealing with those nerves,” Diaz de Leon said. “It’s a big thing when you play a top rival, and we just don’t have that experience. We need to be able to recognize that these are huge moments and learn from them.”
Someone not new to the rivalry or the big moment – Mt. Vernon junior Charlie Cole – played hero for the Marauders once again.
Cole scored in the matchup as a freshman and now two years later, scored twice to fuel the victory.
After a slow start with limited scoring chances, Cole broke the stalemate with a low shot past New Palestine goalkeeper Jake Wells at the 16:29 mark.
On a three-on-two break, Luke Alka found Colin Cress who found Cole in the middle of the box for the go-ahead goal.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to do. We want to see how quick we can play and when it’s there, we want to go,” Mayhew said. “They played into our style a bit and like we’ve said a few times now, Charlie is Charlie.”
The goal seemed to be the first of many Mt. Vernon first-half goals, but each time they threatened again, Wells was there to deny them.
Two minutes after the opening goal, Drew Lynch sent a shot just wide of the net, a few minutes later Wells made the stop on an Alka shot, and in the closing minutes of the half, Wells made an acrobatic save with his leg and then saved a Rylan Vinard header on the ensuing corner kick.
“Jake’s just a stud and phenomenal goalie. He continues to save us and keep us in games. We expect that and he knows that,” Diaz de Leon said. “Most of the time, we know we can give angles because we know he’ll make a save if we need him too.”
He was nearly as good in the second half, but the Mt. Vernon attack, spearheaded by Cole, never let up.
A minute into the second half, Alka had two good looks on net but was denied by Wells and then a sliding Hector Medrano.
On the next Mt. Vernon attack, Alka was successful in helping the Marauders extend their lead.
He created space and found Cole wide-open for a shot on goal that beat Wells to his left to make things 2-0.
The goals were Cole’s sixth and seventh of the season, with all seven coming in the team’s three conference games.
“We didn’t specifically target Charlie, we just knew that if we defended and did the right things we would be fine,” Diaz de Leon said. “Unfortunately, they just kept coming and we couldn’t find our rhythm on the outsides.”
The big night for Cole didn’t end there. With 4:28 remaining, and after the Dragons had scored to make it 2-1, Cole assisted Colby Smith to give the Marauders some insurance over the final minutes.
“If we can keep our defense higher and win the ball higher up, that allows our attacking guys to stay up. We can go right away then,” Mayhew said. “It was a total team win, and everyone is doing their part to keep things going right now.”
A late second-half formation change allowed the Dragons to apply more pressure on the attack and it led to a late goal from freshman Noah Diaz de Leon to make it 2-1 with 9:24 to go.
Three minutes later an Eli Martin strike past Mt. Vernon goalkeeper Will Keppler seemed to tie the match, but an offsides call on the Dragons wiped away the score.
Mt. Vernon is back in action Thursday on the road at Yorktown at 7:15 p.m., while New Palestine is off until next Tuesday when they host New Castle at 7 p.m.
