Peoria Christian’s two early goals put QND in catch-up mode for remainder of regional title tilt

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer coach Greg Reis knows once a team goes down 2-0, all they need is one goal to turn the momentum in their direction.

“A 2-1 lead in soccer is always a dangerous lead because the team that was up is now being very cautious and the team that scored to close the gap is energized and chasing the game forward,” Reis said.

QND captured that momentum and erased a two-goal deficit and earned a draw with Quincy High School on Oct. 9, but the Raiders couldn’t repeat that performance in Tuesday’s Class 1A Peoria Christian Regional final against Peoria Christian. The Chargers pulled away to a 4-0 win at the Eastside Center.

The fashion in which the Raiders found themselves in a 2-0 halftime hole made Tuesday evening that much more frustrating. In the 12th minute, Raiders sophomore defender Logan Woodyard attempted to intercept a long aerial pass but did not get a touch on it. This left Chargers senior forward JN Kniep with room to operate on the right wing. Kniep played a cross into the 18-yard box.

Raiders goalkeeper Carter Hankins came out to play the ball but could not clear it, leaving vacant space behind him. Peoria Christian junior Jacob Walton hit the wide open goal to give the Chargers a 1-0 lead.

In the 14th minute, Walton cashed in on another Raiders defensive miscue. Chargers senior midfielder Quinton Hynek played a ball from his own half that took a bounce near the edge of the box. Hankins took a swing with his right foot but missed the ball, again leaving Walton with nothing but a open cage in front of him, and he netted his second goal in two minutes.

“We were able to take advantage of some mistakes on the backend. You feel for those kids,” Chargers coach Cory Hynek said. “Part of postseason play is taking advantage of your opportunities. We knew it was going to be tough to score on them, and we took advantage of the two best chances we had in the first half.”

What was a two-goal deficit for the Raiders could have been a one-goal lead. In the fourth minute, QND senior midfielder Brody Jones sent a free kick to the middle of the box. Rylan Fischer got a head on the ball and redirected on goal, but Chargers keeper Josh Walton sprawled to his left and made the save.

The Raiders had multiple chances to get on the scoresheet after falling two goals behind. In the 27th minute, Fischer’s header off a Nolan Heck corner kick was ticketed for the back of the net if it wasn’t for Chargers junior midfielder Colson Below clearing it a foot from his own goal line. The ball came out to Raiders junior defender Elliott Hendrian, who whistled a shot just high.

In the 32nd minute, Jones ripped a shot off a free kick from 20 yards out that Josh Walton again dove to keep out of the net.

“We played well at times, and I liked how the game opened up initially,” Reis said. “We had some decent opportunities. Even after we went down, we had a couple chances in the box that we couldn’t finish. We were playing pretty well going into the wind. We just couldn’t get one. We haven’t been really prolific on the offensive end all season long, so when you’re struggling to score, you need somebody to step up and put the game away or put you on your front foot. We just weren’t able to do that.”

The Chargers added two more goals in the second half, one with 26 minutes to go by Below from point-blank range and another with 1:18 left by Wrigley Kellerstrass. The Raiders (8-12-2) generated minimal scoring chances in the final 40 minutes and mustered just five shots to the Chargers’ 11.

“We had some guys that we can call out that played really well, but we need to be able to play as a group at a high level, and we struggled to do that,” Reis said. “I thought Brody had a heck of a game. Rylan created some opportunities, got some balls off of restarts. I thought those two guys played really well. Robbie (Reed) played pretty well on the back line for us. Just not enough consistency as a group.”

Reis pointed to the battle in the midfield as the key to Peoria Christian controlling much of the possession and pace of play.

“They were more active, more aggressive to the ball,” Reis said. “We were pushing a little higher trying to capitalize, but we didn’t rise to the occasion. They were winning all the 50-50 balls in the midfield and sending right back down at us.”

The top-seeded Chargers (21-2-2) will face the winner of second-seeded Rock Island Alleman, which beat Roanoke-Benson 5-2, in the Chillicothe IVC Sectional semifinals on Saturday.

“In the postseason, we always say, ‘80 minutes for 80.’ If they want another 80 minutes, they have to perform for 80,” Cory Hynek said. “We did that today, and hopefully we’ll do that on Saturday, as well.”