Boys’ state soccer: Paul Laurence Dunbar crushes Campbell County

After missing out on the KHSAA State Tournament last season, Paul Laurence Dunbar wasn’t about to take for granted its return to the field of 16. Dunbar blew past 10th Region champion Campbell County 6-0 in the semi-state round at home on Tuesday night.

Dunbar first struck in the 17th minute on a Sullivan Curd goal off a left-to-right cross by Javier Delgado that skirted past four Campbell County defenders. Bulldogs Coach Todd Bretz thought the game was played pretty evenly — if not slightly in Campbell County’s favor — in spite of that early goal. Twenty minutes in, the teams were knotted at four shots apiece.

The Bulldogs controlled possession from there, taking five straight shots, including an Edward Navarro header off a 30-yard delivery from Eddy Andrade that swelled the advantage to 2-0 with two minutes to play in the first half. Navarro added a second goal in the first minute of the second half to further bury the Camels, who gave up more goals in the second half than they did all but one entire game this season (a 4-0 loss to Anderson, Ohio).

“I didn’t think we were gonna win by a lot,” Navarro said. “ ... Before the second half coach kept telling us, ‘Don’t let them dictate y’all or anything. You guys dictate yourself and keep passing and work hard.”

The Bulldogs are fifth in the latest Maher Rankings but are third among teams with active championship aspirations (Trinity and St. Xavier, both ranked ahead of Dunbar, were knocked out in the 7th Region tournament by No. 1 Collegiate). They’ll play South Laurel, 2-1 winners over East Carter, on Saturday. The Cardinals are 24-1-1, the lone loss a 3-0 decision at Lexington Christian earlier this month, and ranked 41st.

Campbell County reached the state tournament after winning its first regional title, 3-2 over Montgomery County in the 10th Region finals on Sunday. Camels senior Colton Schneider was among the state’s leading goal-scorers with 38 entering Tuesday but was held without one in his final game.

“We had Harrison (Grabmayer) drop in a bit to mark him at the beginning and then I would cover for him so that way he never really had a chance to get open,” senior Aaron Davis said of Dunbar’s approach to guarding Schneider.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Boys’ state soccer: Paul Laurence Dunbar crushes Campbell County."