GALENA – Jeffersonville ended a 13-year championship drought with a 5-0 victory over Bedford North Lawrence in the Class 3A boys soccer sectional title match on Saturday.
The Red Devils (15-3-1) won their seventh crown in program history and their first since 2012. Jeffersonville advanced to meet the Evansville Harrison sectional champion in the regional semifinal on Oct. 15.
Jeffersonville scored all of its goals in the first half. Max Schoonover got it started at 32:49, ripping home a 10-yard shot, following a corner-kick scrum, into the left corner. Javier Cortes tallied at the 21:11 mark, and Elijah Cheeks pounced on a rebound off a deflection at 15:31.
The Red Devils added goals by Erick Jarquin (14:10 from a Cheeks assist) and Ariel Andres-Sandoval (3:25). Jeffersonville, which won the regular-season clash with BNL 7-0 on Sept. 20, launched 20 shots in the half.
“Jeff is a really good team,” BNL coach Ryan Otis said. “They are physical and fast, but also very skilled and play as a team. We were under pressure and just weren’t able to hold them. I want to commend our defense and goalie. They never gave up and left everything out on the field.
”It was an accomplishment to make the sectional final, and now we have seen what that next level is to compete for a sectional.”
BNL, which has never won a sectional championship, ended its season at 6-10-1.
