A stellar season for the Daviess County boys soccer team came to an end Saturday after a 3-0 loss to Highlands in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament. Brian Winkler, a Daviess County senior, was named to the State All-Tournament Team following the game.
The Panthers (21-3-1) and Bluebirds (22-1-3) played a nearly even first half, but a goal just before the break tilted the match in favor of Highlands, and they didn’t look back.
Though they wanted a chance to appear in a third consecutive state title match, Daviess County head coach Doug Sandifer said was proud of the effort.
“Our kids played their hearts out,” he said. “Even until the end, down 3-0, we still tried to move the ball. They’re just very solid defensively. There’s a reason why they only gave up 11 goals this year.”
The Bluebirds recorded their 16th shutout of the season, and they’ve only allowed multiple goals once. In the first half, though, Daviess County led a strong attack that gave them a few opportunities for an early lead.
“The things we were trying to negate from them, we did,” Sandifer said. “We didn’t give up a lot of corner kicks or free kicks, and we dealt with their height. Our guys did exactly what we asked them to do. We played really well the first half. I thought we moved the ball up the field.”
The best looks for the Panthers came around the midway point of the half — once when Hunter Clark sent in a cross just in from of the goal and another time when a shot by Jacob Boling at the top of the box sailed just over the crossbar.
The Bluebirds started applying more pressure and finally broke through in the 36th minute. Daviess County wasn’t able to clear a loose ball, and Porter Hedenberg sent in a cross to Luke Schweltzer for the goal.
“We did a good job of controlling things, and it was probably a 50-50 game in that first half,” Sandifer said. “Giving up that goal hurt. The first goal came because we probably made a poor decision on who was supposed to clear or come get it.”
The second half leaned much more in favor of the Bluebirds, who snuffed out any sign of a Panther attack.
“We just could not get behind them and get isolated,” Sandifer said. “If we got behind one, there was always another one there covering that guy. It took away from what were are normally able to do. All over the field, they were very stingy defensively and very quick to close you down and help each other. It really thwarted any chances that we had.”
Highlands added a goal 14 minutes into the second half when a shot by Devin Harris was deflected into the net, and the final score came with about seven minutes to play on a 40-yard shot by Carter Holmes.
Sandifer said his team knew they had a tall task if they wanted to take down the Bluebirds.
“I told them we’re going up here with the idea to win this game, but you can walk off if you get beat by a better team,” Sandifer said. “Don’t walk off thinking you got beat but should have won. Our guys have nothing to hang their heads about. They got beat by a very good team.”
Sandifer tried not to get emotional after the game when talking about the group of seniors he’s losing this year and the overall season the Panthers have had.
“I can’t put it into words right now,” he said. “We achieved several goals and probably exceeded some expectations we had coming in with some question marks in certain positions.”
The seniors — Jacob Dowdy, Michael Haynes, Max Miller, Declan Sandifer, Porter Watkins and Winkler — have largely been playing together since they were 10 years old, and Sandifer has coached them off and on through the years.
Winkler set the single-season scoring record (36 goals) for Daviess County this year, and he also holds the career goals (74) and assists (56) record. While it’s easy to point to Winkler’s success in the stat books, Sandifer said all the seniors made a big impact in the program and it will be tough to see them leave.
“Brian has had an unbelievable career,” Sandifer said. “He gives you 100 percent every time he’s out here. I’m going to miss him, but I’m going to miss the other five seniors as well.”
