Blue Devils lock down defensively in second half, secure piece of another WB6 championship

GENESEO — The Quincy High School boys soccer team controlled its fate.

Geneseo could do nothing in the second half of Tuesday night’s Western Big 6 Conference matchup to change that.

The Blue Devils clamped down defensively over the final 40 minutes, holding the Maple Leafs without a shot and using Josh Stupavsky’s goal in the 53rd minute to propel them to a 3-2 victory and the guarantee of another conference crown.

Quincy finishes WB6 play with a 6-1 record and can do no worse than share its 29th league championship. Geneseo and Moline both sit 5-1 in the WB6 and can tie Quincy with victories next week — the Maple Leafs face Rock Island and the Maroons play Sterling.

“To be able to come out tonight and control our destiny was something we talked about,” QHS coach Ron Bridal said. “There was a turning point several games ago, and now we’ve won five in a row. They really used this as motivation.”

The Blue Devils snared the lead in to the 28th minute when Carter Venvertloh finished a free kick from Nolan Fleer. The lead was short-lived as Geneseo’s Matthew Daly scored 30 seconds later.

Venvertloh reestablished the lead by scoring off a Garrick Homan assist, only to see the Maple Leafs’ Logan Corgan score with seven seconds remaining in the first half.

“We talked at halftime about how we’ve handled adversity in the past,” Bridal said. “We won the first half we thought, and we needed to come out and win the second half to win the title.”

That meant clamping down defensively. 

“We tweaked some things to handle their attacking style,” Bridal said. “They were very direct. They would kick the ball up the field behind our backs a lot of times. We just needed to adjust to that, and our kids did a great job of buckling down.”

The Blue Devils (11-6) face Quincy Notre Dame at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Flinn Stadium and wrap up the week by playing host to Hannibal at 6:30 p.m. Friday.