BY MIKE FRANK
EXAMINER SPORTS WRITER
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It was a narrow margin but also a winning one.
Indian Lake edged Northwestern 1-0 Wednesday night at Laker Stadium to win the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division title.
The Lakers and Warriors were tied at 5-3-1 coming. Indian Lake finishes the 2024 regular season at 11-4-2 overall, while Northwestern is now 7-7-1.
The league title caps a big recent turnaround in the Laker program. Indian Lake finished last in the Mad River division in 2021 and 2022 before moving up to fourth place last season.
Wednesday’s contest was scoreless through the first 40 minutes. Avery Pequignot, a junior forward, knocked one home just 22 seconds into the second half, and the Lakers’ defense made that stand up.
“This is a great team victory,” said Indian Lake head coach Dallas Clary. “Our boys have been locked in all season long. We preach them the core values — the respect, the family, the work and the toughness. And they represented all of that today. They left everything they had on the field and they deserve it.”
He added, “They’ve gone through a lot in their high school careers, these seniors especially. The way that they ended it is just icing on the cake. It was just a great season and we gotta continue on into the tournament.”Indian Lake had a scoring chance in the opening
minutes. The first 15 minutes was largely even in terms of possession.
Northwestern got a corner kick with 24 minutes to go, but could not produce a shot. A few minutes later, a free kick by the Warriors’ Andrew Taylor was saved by IL keeper Colten Corcoran.
Indian Lake’s Calvin Knife took a crossing pass and had a shot with 17:47 to play, but it was saved by Northwestern.
Chase Schaub had a shot with 16 minutes and another with just under four minutes, but both were saved.
After intermission, Indian Lake quickly sent the ball down the right side. Schaub passed it to Pequignot, who got it past the Warriors’ keeper at 39:38.
A few minutes later, Northwestern had a corner kick, with Corcoran diving to make the save.
With 31 minutes to go, Colin Napier of Northwestern had a shot from the right edge of the field, but Corcoran grabbed it to preserve the lead.
Northwestern then came close again, with a shot going between the soccer and football crossbars and over the top of the net.
The intensity level ticked up as the clock ticked down, but Indian Lake did a good job of preventing sustained pressure by the Warriors. Corcoran made a leaping save with just under six minutes to go. Indian Lake then held on the rest of the way before celebrating with the fans on hand.
“We knew going into this game against Northwestern they were going to be tough. They’ve been tough for the past few years now. They made us pay last year, and this year is our turn,” said Clary.
“We had to stay patient and that first half we had to be patient. We had some opportunities in the first half to score. To come out in the second half and put that first goal in was huge
for us.”
He noted that Indian Lake has allowed just 12 goals in its 17 games this season.
The Lakers will open sectional play next Tuesday against Valley View at home. Action begins at 7 p.m.
