Hampshire, Burlington to meet for regional title
Jason Bishop has scored some dramatic goals before, but waiting until 8 seconds were left in overtime might be taking it to the extreme.
Bishop raced up the right sideline and put a shot into the net from close range, giving Hampshire a 1-0 victory against Prairie Ridge and finally sending everyone home on a long, chilly evening in Hampshire.
In the final of the Class 2A Hampshire boys soccer regional, the Whip-Purs will face archrival Burlington Central, a 3-0 winner against Marengo earlier. Hampshire owns a win over BC this season.
“I didn’t really care about scoring or assisting, I just wanted to win,” said Bishop. “That’s all I care about. It just happened.”
The Whip-Purs had been trying to work the baseline all night. They got some chances, but couldn’t convert.”
“We’d been trying to go to the baseline the whole game, and then that one ball it just opened up,” Bishop said. “That one lucky ball.”
“In the second half, we were much more dangerous,” said Hampshire coach John Gosling. “That’s when I think we were able to play a lot more and, obviously, it worked.”
Hampshire (13-10) came out of the box strong, as Bishop and Ismael Morales got some good shots off early. The momentum swung to Prairie Ridge for much of the middle of the game. Thomas Kojs had a couple of opportunities, but goalkeeper Bryan Contreras and the Hampshire defense were up to it.
Both teams turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, but neither could convert during regulation. The intensity boiled over at one point late in regulation, resulting in a red card for each side.
Prairie Ridge finishes the season 7-12-2.
“We came out here and played a very good game,” said Wolves coach Josh Iverson. “We definitely played with them and had some chances, we just didn’t put the ball away.”
Burlington Central 3, Marengo 0: After a scoreless first half, Chris Gousios took over. The Burlington Central senior scored 3 times in the second half to lead the Rockets past Marengo, 3-0, in the semifinals of the Class 2A Hampshire regional.
Gousios broke open a scoreless game on a breakaway 9 minutes into the second half. He raced in alone on Marengo goalkeeper Sergio Orozco and fired the ball into the right side of the net.
Another breakaway with 14 minutes to go resulted in a penalty kick when Gousios got taken down from behind. He converted that, and added a third goal in the closing minutes.
But that wasn’t what he wanted to talk about after the game.
“We were playing fantastic as a team,” he said. “It’s probably the best game we’ve had all season. What better time for it than the first game of the postseason.”
The Rockets (12-6-5) split with Marengo during the regular season, with the Indians winning in Burlington.
“They beat us on our senior night,” said Gousios. “So there was a little bit of revenge, but we just knew that if we lost, the season was over, and we’re not ready for it to end.”
“If you look at our scoring all year, Chris is our leading scorer, and he’s been playing midfield most of the year,” said Central coach Mike Gecan. “But we have a number of players who can score. It just happened to be him.”
Marengo (10-7-4) was led by forward Louis Romero. Romero was all over the place all night, getting off several good shots, but he couldn’t get one past Rocket goalkeeper Riley Jensen.
Gousios almost had a fourth goal. He got behind Orozco and was all alone, but his shot hit the post.