The game had its usual intensity, but stayed clean for the most part as the teams combined for one yellow card and no red cards.
When the clock struck zero, the host Simon Kenton Pioneers edged the Walton-Verona Bearcats, 2-1 in a 32nd District seed match for their fourth straight win. Simon Kenton has won 14 of the last 15 meetings against Walton-Verona.
“We grinded it out. I thought Walton played a great game, especially in the second half,” said Jeremy Wolfe, Simon Kenton head coach. “I thought they took the game to us. I thought they controlled the middle of the field. We’re usually pretty good in the middle of the field so I give Walton a lot of credit.”
Simon Kenton (5-2-1) outshot Walton-Verona, 14-4 and had seven corner kicks while the Bearcats had none. Despite the attacking numbers, the Pioneers had to withstand a charge from the Bearcats (4-4) in the game’s final 25 minutes.
“Our team is mainly seniors that start,” said Jeremy Riggs, Walton-Verona head coach. “With the exception of district, this is the last time they’ll play SK. We just had to let them know it’s either now or never. We changed up the formation a bit, crowded the middle, mainly trying to play the ball and play to feet.”
Senior goalkeeper Sam Kunkle kept the Bearcats in the game with 12 saves, including a penalty kick and a rebound from it with 24 seconds left in the first half to keep the score 1-0 Pioneers at halftime. A sliding save with 33:15 left in the game and stopped a header with 5:47 left to add to his save tally.
“There’s a reason he’s on the list for top players pre-season,” Riggs said. “The kid’s phenomenal. I told his mom when he was an eighth grader that he’ll be my keeper as long as I’m here. He’ll be the keeper until he doesn’t want to be or graduates.”
Simon Kenton goalkeeper Miles Mullen wasn’t as challenged with three saves, but the Pioneers defense in front of him limited his action with physical play that included nine fouls. The physical game also had the Bearcats with six fouls.
Cole Garnett opened the scoring with 11:36 left in the first half to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead, his fourth of the season, second most on the team.
Lucas Smith gave the Pioneers a 2-0 advantage on an assist from Draven Dean with 26:50 left in the game. That marked the first goal for Smith and first assist for Dean this season.
“We did a couple one-twos in the middle and then I got out wide in the offensive third,” Smith said. “(Dean) played a beautiful ball. I split in between (Bearcat defenders) and tapped it in.”
Walton-Verona mounted some momentum from there. Senior Logan Pronk battled through some Pioneer defenders to score with 12:16 left.
“(Pronk) went through a couple of our tackles and he just pushed through,” Wolfe said. “He wanted it more than we wanted to stop him and got a good goal. Good for him.”
With less than two minutes to go, Pronk broke free dribbling on the left side and crossed the ball into the attack box, but Simon Kenton defender Chris Price cleared it out of the box.
“I had to get the ball out,” Price said. “I was there and people were running into the box. I just try to keep as calm as I can. I look around me to see what options are available. If I don’t have any, I just boot it off.”
Simon Kenton plays at Beechwood (3-3) on Thursday at 8 p.m. Walton-Verona does not play again until Sept. 5 at home against Bishop Brossart (5-2-3) at 7:30 p.m.