Bruins Defeat Boone Grove, Mother Nature

NOMINATE FOR ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

By Tony Miller
Bleeding Bruin Blue News Editor


LAKEVILLE, Ind. — Against the midnight background of a rainy October evening, the blue-clad Bethany Bruins took the field against Boone Grove Thursday night. Almost two hours later, they walked off it seeing red: the red of Andrean High School, whom Bethany will meet in the regional final after defeating the Wolves 5-0.

Bethany got on the scoreboard early, with Femi Hollinger-Janzen scoring in the 6th minute on a low line drive from left of the field's center. Caleb Morris followed with a 30-yard strike from the right side when 27:53 had elapsed; Stoltzfus, Andrew Snyder, and Cristian Romero scored in the span of 5:32 in the second half to close the scorebook and empty the Bethany bench.

The Bruins finished the night with an 11-2 advantage in shots on goal, in addition to taking all 10 of the game's corner kicks. When the game kicked off, the mercury sat at 60 degrees, with the wind gusting to 25 miles per hour at times during the second half. For some in the crowd, it was reminiscent of Bethany's regional game five years ago, a 3-0 loss to Northridge on Oct. 12, 2006 at Westview.

"There was a stretch of about 10 minutes in the second tonight that [the weather] was as miserable as I’ve ever seen it," Bethany coach Hank Willems told the Goshen News after the game. The game was Bethany's third in 19 days to be played in precipitation, following wins over Westview, Elkhart Christian, and NorthWood from Sept. 23 to Sept. 29.

Ninth-ranked Andrean won the evening's first semifinal 2-0 over Wheeler; the 59ers are 16-3 on the season while the Bearcats finish 14-5. Third-ranked Bethany (15-3-1) will play Andrean Saturday evening for the regional championship at Newton Park, with the winner advancing to semi-state play on the same field on Oct. 22. Local radio station WGCS, known on-air as 91.1 the Globe, has announced plans to broadcast Bethany soccer for as long as the Bruins win in the tournament. Saturday night's broadcast will begin at 6:45 p.m., with kickoff at 7 p.m., and feature commentators Donnie Smith and Mark Bradford.

Bethany 5, Boone Grove 0

• BC: Femi Hollinger-Janzen (6')
• BC: Caleb Morris (Josh Stoltzfus assist) (28')
• BC: Andrew Snyder (Cristian Romero) (56')
• BC: Stoltzfus (59')
• BC: Isaac Schertz (61')

Shots on goal — Bethany 11, Boone Grove 2. Saves — Bethany: Jeff Yoder 2; Boone Grove: Nathan Miller 6. Fouls — Bethany 3, Boone Grove 3. Referee — Daniel Blue (Goshen). Linesmen — Jim Hoover (Peru), Christine Spradlin (Logansport).

Other Semifinal: Andrean 2, Wheeler 0.

Bethany advances to regional final (Greg Keim/Goshen News)

Andrean shuts down Wheeler offense to reach regional final (Andrew Stem/The Times of Northwest Indiana)