Bishop McCort outlasts Thunder
BELLEVILLE – The old motto “Its not whether you win or lose, its how you play the game.”
Belleville Mennonite’s boys’ soccer team lived up to the motto as they gave everything they had and then some in a 2-0 loss over 11-1 Bishop McCort Monday night at Belleville Mennonite High School.
The Thunder and the Crushers went toe-to-toe and stalemated for over 60 minutes of action.
However, McCort’s Shane Steele ended the scoreless contest posting two goals in the last 20 minutes, leading his team to the victory.
Colin Peachey came up huge for the Thunder time after time as he posted 21 saves in a losing effort.
Bishop McCort out shot BMS 30-10 and held the advantage in corner opportunities by a 6-0 margin.
“We see this team and we were motivated to play. I think we mentally we were here tonight and again I think it was our opponent. Being a young team as we are we haven’t been mentally at all of our game this year and I think that’s the reason our record is where its at right now,’ Belleville coach Jason Renno said. “Tonight, we were mentally here and we had a good warm up. The first 20 minutes of the game we could see that we could hang with them. They are a solid team and we held them scoreless for 60 minutes.”
In the second half, the Crushers came out like a team possessed as the took the ball right down into the heart of the BMS back-third.
McCort tried different ways of trying to break open the scoreless tie.
However, Peachey and the whole Thunder back-line were relentless on keeping the ball from perforating the net.
The Thunder were playing with an intense sense of urgency. Despite limited trips down the field, Belleville had its chances.
Leading the way down the field were striker Noah Anders and midfielders, Trent Heckman and Derek Byler.
As the clock began to drop to under 20 minutes left in the contest, the pace of the game started to pick up steam.
Bishop McCort lined up for a corner opportunity and the ball got into the middle and it was picked up by Bill Wilson. Wilson shot bounced off the hands of Peachey and right into the line of fire of Steele. Steele sent a shot back that just missed the outstretched hands of Peachey and hit the net, making it 1-0.
However, the Thunder rumbled back and attacked the Crushers end. After posting a few shots Anders had a breakaway attempt but it was stopped by a strong defensive stand.
The game went back and forth as each team exchanged possessions.’
Time continued to wind off the clock, desperation for the Thunder had set in.
But the defensive stand at the three-minute mark led to Steele’s second goal with 2:29 left.
It would be too much of a gap for the Thunder to recover from as the Crushers went onto to the 2-0 victory.
“I was very pleased on how well the kids played tonight,” Renno said.
Belleville Mennonite will be back in action today as it goes up against Harrisburg Academy.