Spartans get 1st postseason win

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Joe Imel/Daily NewsSouth Warren and Logan County players collide on trying to head the ball off of a corner kick Tuesday in the 7th District Boys' Soccer Tournament at the Bowling Green High School Soccer Complex.

The South Warren boys’ soccer team reached a milestone Tuesday night.

That milestone ensures that the Spartans aren’t done playing just yet.

South Warren (8-10-2) notched a 6-0 win over Logan County in the quarterfinals of the District 7 Tournament at the Bowling Green Soccer Complex, earning the first postseason win in program history.

“We’re really happy,” South Warren coach Tom Alexander said. “I thought we played fairly well, made the right runs, played the right balls. They played with a lot of heart and were hard to break down, but it was a good win.”

The Spartans move on to play Warren Central in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal tonight. The Dragons advanced by beating Butler County 10-0 on Tuesday.

Email newsletter signup

“It’s going to be a tough game, but we think we can compete with them,” South Warren senior Jerrin Kinnaman said. “We’re just looking forward to coming out and playing hard against them.”

Kinnaman scored two goals, including the first in the eighth minute. Senior Andrew Patterson also added a goal in the 26th minute to put the Spartans up 2-0 at half.

South Warren picked up the pace in the second half, starting with a chip-shot goal by Kinnaman.

Freshman Azer Sabanovic scored two minutes later, and juniors Jorge Cabanas and Dylan Holthaus also found the net.

Sophomore Armin Hasanovic recorded two assists.

“We wanted to come out and play a solid game,” Kinnaman said. “We need to get ready for Central. We wanted to get a good win heading in.”

South Warren lost 3-0 to Warren Central in the regular season, but the Spartans know what they need to do to change the outcome, Alexander said.

Bowling Green plays Muhlenberg County in tonight’s other semifinal.

“They have a lot of technically talented players,” Alexander said of Warren Central. “We’re going to have to stand people up, or they’re going to punish it like the last time we played them. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Warren Central 10, Butler County 0

The Dragons had little trouble handling Butler County, but they weren’t necessarily pleased with the outing.

Warren Central coach Kyle Alford described his team’s play as sloppy, despite a mercy-rule victory in 53 minutes.

“I was really disappointed in our play the whole game,” Alford said. “We always have people come through … but we’re not in sync. It’s probably a good thing that there’s no bye through the second round this year because we need to play.”

Warren Central (15-6) led 2-0 through the first 23 minutes, getting a penalty kick from Joseph Reyes and a goal by Joel Jerez.

The Dragons then put the game out of reach with a flurry of goals, scoring four times in less than four minutes. Sanjin Meheic had a hand in all of those goals, scoring twice and assisting Jerez and Johnathon Rivas on the others.

“We played decent, but we didn’t come out to play,” Meheic said. “We should have played better. We came out and goofed around, and that could hurt us (tonight) if we let it.”

Dino Ferinovic added a goal in the 29th minute to make it 7-0 at halftime, and the Dragons scored three times in the first 13 minutes of the second half to finish the match.

Reyes had another penalty kick, Eli Jay added a rebound goal and Jasmir Begonivic brought the win to a close with a breakaway score.

The Dragons outshot Butler County 42-0. Bears goalkeeper Danny Cowan made 16 saves.

Warren Central has won seven games in a row, but the Dragons will need a much better effort against South Warren to reach Thursday’s championship match, Alford said.

“South is a big rival just because they’re in town,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, but if we don’t change the way we play, we’re not going to have to worry about playing Thursday.”