For the second year in a row Genoa-Kingston will get a shot at its first sectional title when it faces Stillman Valley on Saturday. The host Cogs knocked off Aurora Central 2-0 in Wednesday’s Class 1A sectional semifinals. Last year G-K lost the sectional championship game on a disputed goal.
“We have wanted to get back to this point ever since we had that game taken away from us last year,” said G-K coach Randy Tate. “Now we get another chance.”
After missing out on several scoring opportunities early on the Cogs finally broke with a goal just inside the 11:00 mark of the the first half. William Crozier scored on a header off a free kick from Bobby Nay.
“We talked about how set plays like free kicks make the difference this time of year,” said Tate. “Bobby laid up a nice perfect ball.”
It didn’t take long for the Cogs to add their second goal less then two minutes later. Juan Lechuga outran two defenders to track down a long pass from Danny Hansen. Then he dribbled down the middle and drilled a shot past oncoming ACC goalie Andy Czerak into the net.
“We just tried to keep pushing the ball up,” said Lechuga. “The defenders looked up and I was able to get past them and blast it.”
Genoa-Kingston (15-6-1) dictated play throughout much of the game.
“I think early on we were putting too much pressure on ourselves,” said Tate.”But we kept aggressively attacking and I think after that first goal we were able to play more relaxed.”
The Cogs defense played great all game and only allowed one shot on goal after they got the lead.
“We played aggressive and got to the ball first,” said Tate. “Once we got it we did a good job of controlling it.”
Aurora Central Catholic finishes the season with a record of 8-12
“Not to take any thing away from Genoa-Kingston because they played a great game, but I think we beat ourselves today,” said ACC coach Eric Cournaya. “We had a couple of mental lapses on defense that cost us.”
