'Move': How one word set up senior's first goal and sent Glenwood to the CS8 soccer title
CHATHAM — With the outright conference title on the line and a scoreless game in the second half, Chatham Glenwood needed just one player to put away a goal.
It could’ve been any one of the 12 Titans who have scored this season. Maybe one of the four more players who haven’t scored but have an assist.
But it was Jake Hamilton. The senior outside back who scored his only point so far in a 1-0 win over Springfield High to all but lock up the Central State Eight Conference title on a rainy Tuesday.
“It all happened so fast,” Hamilton recalled. “But all I know is the ball came in, it was deflected, and it was sitting right there. Miles Calderon was right in front of me, it kind of hit off him a little bit and all I remember was yelling — it was right there at my feet — I said, ‘Move’ real loud and just hit it right there in the goal.”
More:Glenwood soccer driven by deep, talented senior class: 'Every day, it's someone different'
Glenwood (13-3-2 overall, 6-0 CS8) faces Decatur Eisenhower to wrap up the outright league title on Thursday in Decatur. Anything but a Glenwood win would be a colossal upset: the Panthers are 3-14 overall and have been outscored 50-0 in all six conference games.
“There’s a reason why they’re No. 3 in the state right now,” Springfield High coach Pat Phillips said of Glenwood, referring to MaxPreps.com’s Class 2A rankings.
“Coming in, I thought they were the best team in the conference and they showed it and won outright and I give them all the credit in the world for that.”
The lone goal
After each team’s defense stepped up to stop the other team’s scoring chances, Glenwood had a corner kick in the 42nd minute — not long after the teams emerged from halftime knotted in a 0-0 tie.
Springfield High successfully cleared a Glenwood corner kick but the ball stayed in the Titans’ scoring end.
“Brayden Paul popped it back in, I think Maddox Gerger flicked it off and Jake kept his run and just put it in,” Glenwood coach Kyle Franke said. “(Hamilton) was in the right spot at the right time and he deserves it; he works his butt off out there.”
Hamilton was thrilled by the media attention. After an on-camera interview, he was summoned for yet another round of questioning.
“I feel like a superstar with all this,” Hamilton said. “It feels good.”
More:11 of the Springfield area's top returning high school boys soccer players for 2022
Seniors Grant Tretter and Gerger lead Glenwood with 10 goals apiece. Calderon, a sophomore, has seven goals for the Titans while junior Christian Ray and senior Carter Downen each have five.
Tretter nearly had an insurance goal with under five minutes to play but SHS goalie Joe Brudnak was there for the stop.
Glenwood opens up the Class 2A postseason as the No. 1 seed in its subsectional and will face No. 8 — and regional host — Macon Meridian on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
Franke says his team is ready for the postseason.
“It’s a battle. These guys are battle-tested,” Franke said. “Every game on our schedule this year has been a battle. We have maybe the toughest schedule in the area — I know we do — and it showed tonight that it held up. We’ve been under pressure all year and our defense came through.”
Stopping chances
In the 15th minute, Glenwood goalie Josh Jones had to come out of the net to play a ball up the sidelines. When Springfield High got it in front of the net and with Vincent Pratt taking the shot, the last line was Mendoza, who entered the box to stop the shot.
“Mendoza is a center back and he’s a good player back there,” Franke said. “He’s saved us a lot this year and he saved us a lot tonight, too.”
Jones said having players he trusts, such as Mendoza, allows him to take more chances.
“My defense did great,” Jones said of his teammates. “Jake Hamilton out there, Brandon Mendoza, Landon (Marconi) stepped up — he’s usually playing center-mid and he’s been doing great at center back. I think it’s all on my defense.
“Mendoza had a great game. He cleared that one and he’s kind of the trash collector and he collects everything in the box that I can’t get.”
In the 28th minute, Tretter drew in near the next on the left-hand side and took a shot that Brudnak stopped on a dive. In the 33rd minute, Jones made a stop on a free kick just in front of the goal line.
'Special player': Two-time soccer all-stater from SHG believes the best is yet to come
“We struggled to finish at times and until we figure that part out, it’s going to be some games like this,” Phillips said of the Senators but added, “I think that game could’ve went either way. They had three or four really good chances and we had two or three chances. They capitalized on one and we didn’t.”
But Franke said SHS (13-5-3, 5-2) stepped up its intensity in the second half.
“We were under a lot of pressure that second half,” Franke said. “In the second half, they really took it to us, it seemed like. Kudos to them; Springfield is a real good team.
“Our defense has been real solid all year with Josh Jones — he’s a big body (6 foot 5) — in goal back there. Anything in the air, he seems to get. Our defense played well under a lot of pressure.”
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Glenwood defender strikes CS8 goal with first point of the season
