Thursday’s 37th District boys soccer final likely doesn’t mean much in Alexandria, Virginia.
In Alexandria, Kentucky, however, it means a lot for one large reason: four-time defending champion Bishop Brossart meets Campbell County. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. at Scott High School.
The Camels and Mustangs won Tuesday’s semifinals in different ways. Campbell County rode Zach Franzen’s six goals to a 9-1 mercy-rule win over Scott, while Brossart hung on for a 3-1 win over Calvary Christian.
“It’s the rivalry for the ages,” Brossart coach Ron Dunlevy said. “We’re locked in eternal battle with them.”
Campbell County coach Kyle Newman might still be thinking about Franzen’s scores in the 15th, 26th, 30th, 31st, 46th, and 51st minutes.
“Zach’s a phenomenal athlete at the school,” Newman said.
Franzen thus zoomed to the team scoring lead with 17 goals, three more than Austin Bush’s 14. Bush scored in the 48thminute, Carlos Marquez added one in the 25th, and Dominic Tracy made it 6-0 in the 31st.
Bush asked Franzen how he pulled off a sextuplet of scoring.
“I don’t know,” Franzen said. “Just put yourself in the right position, always be active and making runs. My teammates really fed me, assisted almost every single goal.”
Newman possibly loved his team’s assists even more. Five Camels – Bush, Blake Minor, Josh Bloomfield, Blake Cole, and Luke Linville, had at least one.
A triple crown
What you may not know: Franzen is going for a 10th Region championship triple crown. He was part of Campbell County’s 2022 baseball title team, and he helped propel the Camels to a basketball trophy last March.
“Me and Coach Newman have always been close, and towards the end of high school, he’d always wanted me to come back,” Franzen said.
Scott (5-12-1) coach Chris Rogers was in a bind from the opening minute. Campbell County (11-7-1) scored five of their first six goals in the middle of the field.
“They played direct, straight to the middle, up over the top, and split our center backs the whole night,” Rogers said. “Their speed was ahead of ours; we weren’t reacting when the ball was played. You saw youth and inexperience; that’s what you saw.”
Newman said reshaping the offense was the key change.
“We put an extra attacker up there for an extra body to go front and back post, and we were able to see the ball go in the back of the net a few more times,” Newman said.
Scott avoided the shutout when Henrik Bernau scored in the 34th minute.
BISHOP BROSSART 3, CALVARY CHRISTIAN 1
Brossart’s obvious challenge was to contain Calvary Christian’s Joshua Ruwe, whose 38 goals led the state.
“We didn’t particularly assign one person,” Dunlevy said. “The back line obviously were aware of him. We decided we didn’t need the man-mark because our guys were up to the task as a defensive unit.”
Brossart’s Max Runge opened the Mustangs’ scoring with a penalty kick in the 32nd minute – an atonement for his brother Alex missing a PK some four minutes earlier.
“I could tell (Alex) was nervous up there,” Max Runge said. “I told him I would take the second one.”
After Calvary Christian’s (14-7-1) Jackson Reagor made it 1-1 with a goal in the 38th minute, Brossart (11-5-4) needed just a few seconds to go ahead for good on Luke Neltner’s goal. Adam Tarvin ended the scoring with his goal in the 66thminute.
“I think they were so excited about the goal, evening up the game 1-1, they might have let their guard down just a little bit, even though my instructions were for the last two minutes to kind of lock it down,” Calvary Christian coach Michael McCarthy said. “That was one of the things we didn’t do too well in the game.”
For Brossart, Thursday is also a chance to avenge a 2-0 loss to the Camels on Sept. 28.
Both the Camels and Mustangs advanced to the 10th Region tournament. Bush sounded confident about Thursday.
“I think we’re a pretty good team out here,” Bush said. “They’re up for a really good challenge.”