Boys’ 11th Region soccer tournament preview: Six top-25 teams, no easy outs
The 11th Region boys’ soccer tournament never gets any easier.
This year, six of the eight tourney teams are among the Maher Rankings’ top 25. Three of those are in the top 10. And two of those three play each other in Monday’s first round.
“I’m very excited. Everybody expected to be here. We expected to win,” Frederick Douglass Coach Omar Shalash said after his Broncos defeated Bryan Station in the 42nd District semifinals on Friday afternoon in double overtime, which secured their spot in the regional tournament. “But regionals is a whole different world — the best teams in the state. Every year it gets more competitive. Every game could be a regional championship or could be a state semifinal.”
Each of the 11th’s four district champions host their first-round game Monday against a drawn slate of district runners-up. Wednesday’s semifinals and Saturday’s finals will be played at Lexington Christian.
No. 10 Douglass, which suffered a 3-0 defeat to No. 15 Henry Clay on Saturday in the 42nd District finals, must face the 43rd District champion, Paul Laurence Dunbar. The No. 5 Bulldogs are the defending region champions. And Dunbar has aspirations beyond defending after a first-round loss at the state tournament last year.
“I think not advancing as far as we thought we could have last year kind of left a bad taste in their mouth,” Dunbar Coach James Wray said last week. “I know our seniors and some of our juniors that were on the team last year are really hungry to go further this year.”
But no one can look ahead.
“We’ve got the talent. We’ve got the quality. We know how we want to play,” Wray said. “When they put their mind to it and put in a good night’s work, we can play with anybody in the state.”
No. 4 Madison Central might pose the biggest threat and is the largest unknown. The undefeated Indians have only played two teams in the tournament, but they have quality wins against No. 12 Woodford County and No. 18 Bryan Station and got a 1-1 tie against No. 1 North Oldham.
No. 15 Henry Clay and No. 16 Lexington Catholic have each sustained some bumps along the way in the regular season, but they’ve also shown that in any given game, the result can be theirs.
“Everybody will have to do their job,” Lexington Catholic Coach Jonathan Kincheloe said. “No one guy can win it, and if we remember that every night, then we’ll be okay and we’ve got a good chance to get to the region final. You get to region, you never know what happens.”
LexCath is making its first region appearance since 2017, when the program won it. They earned their spot this year with a 2-0 win over Lafayette in the semifinals. In the last two years, they’ve come achingly close in those district semifinals rounds. Last year, they lost in overtime. The year before in a penalty shootout.
“This senior group has had some tough breaks, they’ve not made it to the region in four years, and a lot of these guys have played since they were freshmen,” Kincheloe said. “They’ve seen some tough losses in these games (the district semis), right here — so close in shootouts and everything. So they’ve seen it, and that was the goal, let’s take this group to the region tournament.”
Here’s a closer look at the 11th Region field listed in order of their final regular-season ranking by Maher Rankings among Kentucky’s top-100 soccer schools. The Maher Rankings computer formula rates teams based on a number of factors, including results, strength of schedule and historic data.
Madison Central
Rank: 4.
Record: 19-0-1.
How they got here: 44th District champions. Defeated Berea 10-0 in the semifinals and Madison Southern 5-0 in the finals. Only blemish on record is a 1-1 tie to No. 1 North Oldham on Sept. 2. Beat first-round foe Great Crossing 8-0 on Sept. 7.
Notes: The Indians have two of the most dynamic playmakers in the state. Gavin O’Shea has 36 goals and 13 assists. Sam Hughes has 20 goals and 16 assists. Plus, Ethan Vice and Christopher LaGrange both have double-digit goals for a team that ranks fourth in the state in scoring with 6.5 goals per game and a total of 110. Meanwhile, they also rank third in goals against with only nine allowed for a 0.5 average per game.
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Rank: 5.
Record: 15-3-2.
How they got here: 43rd District champions. Defeated Tates Creek 3-2 in the semis and Lexington Catholic 2-1 in the finals. Topped first-round foe Frederick Douglass 5-1 on Sept. 14.
Notes: Issac Cano leads the team with 20 goals and is tied for the assist lead with seven on a team that has had 15 different goal scorers. Dunbar has beaten four of the eight teams in the field and recorded ties against No. 6 St. Xavier and No. 9 Ballard in the final week of the regular season.
Frederick Douglass
Rank: 10.
Record: 13-4-0.
How they got here: 42nd District runner-up. Beat Bryan Station 2-1 in double overtime before losing to Henry Clay 4-2 in the finals. Henry Clay, No. 1 North Oldham and No. 5 Dunbar are the only teams to have beaten them.
Notes: Cooper Ranvier leads the team with 14 goals and eight assists with Luke Wiles and Gavin Jones contributing 11 and 10 goals, respectively. This is the third straight region appearance for Douglass’ 5-year-old program.
Henry Clay
Rank: 15.
Record: 10-8-3.
How they got here: 42nd District champions. Defeated Sayre 4-0 in the semis and Frederick Douglass 4-2 in the finals.
Notes: Markieus Hill leads the Blue Devils with 21 goals, including all four scored in their district finals game. Eleven players have notched assists, led by Daniel Grider with eight. As its ranking suggests, Henry Clay typically plays better than its record in the postseason under Coach Jason Behler.
Lexington Catholic
Rank: 16.
Record: 15-6-0.
How they got here: 43rd District runner-up. Beat Lafayette 2-0 in the semis before losing 2-1 to Dunbar in the finals. Won the inaugural Kentucky 2A State Tournament on Sept. 19.
Notes: The Knights won the inaugural Kentucky 2A State Tournament earlier in the season and began the year with a quality win over No. 11 Trinity. Two players have double-digit goals and assists: Catesby Clay (11/10) and Wells Durham (10/16). Bigabo Jackson has the goals lead with 17.
Frankfort
Rank: 25.
Record: 19-4-1.
How they got here: 41st District champions. Defeated Western Hills in the semis and Great Crossing in the finals by identical 5-0 scores. Defeated their first-round opponent Madison Southern 3-1 on Sept. 9.
Notes: The Panthers’ tremendous run of success this season has included a runner-up finish in the All “A” Classic where they fell to No. 2 Kentucky Country Day by a score of 2-1. Ethan Vermillion leads the team with 29 goals to go with six assists. Tyron Reynolds has 14 goals and 11 assists, and Colton Cracraft has chipped in 11 goals and leads the team with 13 assists.
Madison Southern
Rank: 37.
Record: 11-6-2.
How they got here: 44th District runner-up. Beat Model 5-0 in the semis before losing 5-0 to Madison Central in the finals.
Notes: Ru Lemmer leads the team with 19 goals and 15 assists. Fourteen players had scored for the Eagles. Parker Coyle and Jase Duerson are among the threats with 10 and eight goals, respectively.
Great Crossing
Rank: 45.
Record: 10-7-3.
How they got here: 41st District runner-up. Beat Franklin County 6-0 in the semis before losing 5-0 to Frankfort in the finals. Lost 8-0 to their first-round opponent, Madison Central, on Sept. 7.
Notes: Preston Welch leads the team with 15 goals and 12 assists. This is the Warhawks third appearance in the regional in three years as a school, but their first as a region runner-up.
Boys’ 11th Region Tournament
Monday’s quarterfinals
8:30 p.m.: Great Crossing at Madison Central
8:30 p.m.: Lexington Catholic at Henry Clay
7 p.m.: Madison Southern at Frankfort
6 p.m.: Frederick Douglass at Paul Laurence Dunbar
Wednesday’s semifinals
At Lexington Christian
6 p.m.: Great Crossing-Madison Central winner vs. Lexington Catholic-Henry Clay winner
8:30 p.m.: Madison Southern-Frankfort winner vs. Frederick Douglass-Paul Laurence Dunbar winner
Saturday’s finals
At Lexington Christian
2 p.m.: Championship match
This story was originally published October 10, 2021 at 3:39 PM.
