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October 1, 2008

BOYS' SOCCER: Adams’ strike lifts Floyd past Jeff, 2-1

By MATT CRESS

FLOYDS KNOBS — With no game clock and no scoreboard, it was almost impossible from a glance to tell who had won.

Visiting Jeffersonville and host Floyd Central — playing down the street from its normal home field due to ongoing construction on the athletic complex — took turns dominating on Tuesday. But a quick goal from Jordan Adams, seconds after the Red Devils tied the score, was enough for the Highlanders to score a 2-1 victory in this year’s edition of one of the area’s top rivalries.

The loss ended a tough stretch for Jeff, which lost to New Albany last week before dropping a match to archrival Providence on Saturday.

“They do matter,” said Jeff coach Ryan Bixler, noting the team’s tough luck against its toughest foes. “The bottom line is that we’re out here trying to win matches. It’s been a combination of not moving to the ball and not getting good defensive pressure. If you don’t get good defensive pressure, you’re going to get scored on.”

The Highlanders (8-2-2) took control from the start, keeping Jeff on the defensive and creating one scoring chance after the other.

Less than 10 minutes in, Max Orwick fired a point-blank shot at Red Devil goalkeeper Daniel Salazar. That attempt missed, as did a shot by Adams that lead to a corner kick well defended by Jeff’s Sean Simpson.

Moments later, freshman Matt Kelecy continued a stellar season by busting free of the defense and placing the ball perfectly into the right corner past Salazar for a 1-0 Floyd lead.

“He’s a freshman, but he’s become a solid player for us,” said Floyd coach Zach Watson of Kelecy. “He’s definitely someone that we will be building the program around.”

Floyd continued to fire away at Salazar over the final 20 minutes of the first half, keeping Jeff’s offensive possessions short lived. Adams nearly scored just before the half, as did Kelecy, who ended up in a foot race with the Jeff keeper, only to have Salazar slide into the ball just before he could drive it into the goal.

Down a goal at the intermission, and aware the margin could have been much greater, Jeff sprung into action in the second half, asserting the same dominance of possession that the Highlanders had established in the first.

The Red Devils’ Dylan Abrahamson keyed the surge, nearly finding the net on a long shot that was bobbled by Floyd keeper Daniel Neeld and nearly fell over the goal line. The senior then sent a pass to Scott Meneou, who had an open look, but fired the ball over the goal.

After more than a few near-misses, Meneou got all the way to the goal line, where he finally pushed the ball past Neeld to tie things up with 14 minutes left to play.

“We were much better in the second half, but unfortunately it takes 80 minutes to get the win,” said Bixler. “I just told the guys to go out and have fun and act like they want to be here and that they want to win.”

Floyd took the ensuing possession up toward the Jeff goal, where Adams took a shot that Salazar barely batted away. But the rebound ended up back at the feet of Adams, who fired in what would be the winning goal just seconds after Jeff had knotted it at 1-1.

“That’s the funny thing about soccer,” Bixler said. “Sometimes the best time to score is right after giving up a goal. We can’t have letdowns like that.”

From there, the Floyd defense settled in, still yielding position, but few of the scoring chances that the Devils had seen for most of the half. It was the 10th straight game in which the Highlanders have not been on the losing end, with eight wins and two ties since an 0-2 start.

“They definitely controlled the second half, but we got a break and dug in,” said Watson. “You know these games are always going to be close, so we’re happy to get a win.”

Floyd Central will visit Madison on Thursday. Jeff (6-8) will meet Columbus East on Saturday.



Floyd Central 2 (Adams, Kelecy), Jeffersonville 1 (Meneou)

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