Hampshire nails down regional title
Hampshire and Marian Central had nothing to fear weather-wise Monday evening as Mother Nature cooperated with mild temperatures and an overcast sky to allow Part II of the Hampshire Class 2A boys soccer regional final to finally resolve.
But what Marian Central's coach Kristian Rockall's feared after the two-day layoff that suspended play on Saturday night, ultimately came true.
“The only danger we were concerned about was them just kicking it long over the top catching us off guard,” said Rockall, mentioning the layoff was the most nerve-racking 48 hours of his life. “And that's exactly what happened.”
And that's exactly how Hampshire snatched up the Class 2A regional title.
In double overtime six minutes in, Hampshire defender Jared Butler sailed a pass over the top and forward Jason Bishop capitalized in the open field by booting in the sudden death goal, allowing Hampshire (16-6-1) to upset the Hurricanes 3-2 to become regional champions for the first time since 2008. The loss ended Marian Central's two-year reign as regional champion.
Hampshire will travel to Lake Villa on a quick turnaround today to battle Lakes at 4:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the Lakes sectional.
“I saw (Bishop) standing up there, and I told all the forwards to be ready for what we had talked about in chalk talk because they play flat-back 4 to be ready for the through ball because we beat them with speed and they're so big,” said Butler. “That was our game plan, to play it over the top and they weren't expecting it from a defender. So they were covering, trying to transition into an offensive mode and I kicked it over the top of them and it worked out.”
“I saw Jared just boot it up and I started slowly jogging,” Bishop said. “Then I saw it go over the guy's head and the defender slowed down and I settled with the outside of my right foot and placed it in the bottom corner.”
The question on Saturday for Hampshire coach John Gosling was if he would change anything for Monday's restart. Luckily for the Whip-Purs he did, and it paid dividends.
“We changed the lineup just a bit,” Gosling said. “On Saturday, we had Andrew Obmalay set up up top and (Bishop) was underneath and I just flip-flopped them. (Bishop) seems to be a little quicker than Andrew at times around the box and the ball and you know what, it worked out well. He was onside and got a good clearance from (Butler).”
Hampshire lost to Lakes two years ago in the sectionals semifinal. And although the game will be on turf, Gosling thinks his Whip-Purs have a chance with the momentum swing from the regional win.
“It's great momentum for (today),” he said. “We're not a cocky team. We've got some good confidence and we're not going to do too much, or too many changes. This year we are a better team then we were two years ago, and I don't think they're as good as they were. (Lakes) is still a good team.”