MOUNT VERNON — The Mount Vernon boys soccer team sent its nine seniors out in style Tuesday.
The Yellow Jackets scored twice in a three-minute span in the first half and went on to a 3-1 victory over New Albany on Senior Night at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“Our kids, they’re backs were against the wall and they came out swinging and battled back tonight. That’s what I’m proud of,” said Mount Vernon coach Scott Dapprich. “It was senior night for our seniors. They haven’t lost on our home turf this year and went 14-1-1, which is tremendous. Our team showed up to win that 14th game.
“We’ve got classy kids, classy parents that come along with that. That’s usually where you see that. It comes from the parents and we happen to benefit from that in our program. Our Senior Night obviously showed that. It’s been a fun time with these seniors these four years. I wouldn’t trade anything. I’ve seen them grow from freshmen to where they are now.”
Things didn’t look good for the Jackets (14-1-1) early, as New Albany (4-8) controlled things and went up 1-0 when sophomore Tyler Washington scored just 2:14 into the match.
That seemed to fire up the Jackets, who responded with two goals in a three-minute span just a bit later in the first half.
Clint Eutsey made an incredible goal off a free kick from about 30 yards out to knot the score at 1. The senior captain quick-kicked the ball, sending a screamer that dipped into the upper left corner of the net.
“We made some mistakes early and they capitalized. That score kind of woke us up,” Dapprich said. “Clint hit a phenomenal ball on the restart. I thought he was going to hit one of our set plays, but then he hit a bullet with a little dip to it that went over the wall and kept dipping. My hat’s off to Clint. That was a great play and got us back on track.”
Raul Santelices followed that up with another nice play, taking a rebound off the keeper and putting it in the net for a 2-1 lead.
“Raul had a real nice volley that had some dip-action to it as well. We had two very nice goals,” Dapprich said. “The kids responded the way I thought they would. Our backs were against the wall and they came out fighting. They weren’t going to go down without their best effort.”
The score remained that way until less than four minutes were left in the match. Senior Tad Glibert added an insurance goal for the Jackets when he headed in a throw-in from senior Craig Drews with just 3:31 left.
The Jackets were able to get some good minutes from senior Nick Sahr, who had missed most of the season with an injured knee.
“That young man (Sahr) has battled through a lot this year. It was nice to get him some minutes tonight,” said Dapprich.
The Jackets outshot the Eagles 17-4 on the night and led 5-3 in corner kicks. Senior goalkeeper Alex Dunnavant had three saves.
Other seniors playing their final home match of the regular season were Chris Ingersol, Brian Boutin and Ben Miglin.
Mount Vernon will now have some time off before starting tournament play. The Jackets will host Westerville North on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. at Yellow Jacket Stadium.
“It’s tournament time. Everyone starts over at 0-0. It’s an opportunity for a seven-game season for us. I like our chances,” said Dapprich. “First and foremost, though, is Westerville North. We’ve got to get the job done against them.”
Mount Vernon’s junior varsity posted a 1-1 tie with the Eagles. Michael Johnson scored in the first half for the Jackets (9-0-6), who outshot New Albany 6-5.
