By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Mahomet-Seymour’s boys’ soccer team secured a berth in Saturday’s Class 2A regional championship match by virtue of Tuesday’s 3-0 shutout over Centennial on the Chargers’ field.
M-S is 15-3-5 overall and has lost just once (with three ties) in its last 16 matches.
Jake Janda hit the decisive first goal in the game’s seventh minute. Teammate Colten Brunner’s goal lifted M-S into a 2-0 advantage at intermission.
Eli Warren scored the lone second-half goal. Ethan Mansfield had assists on the first and last goals. Joah Moore had the other assist.
In the regional finals, the Bulldogs will take on a 20-1-3 Mattoon team they have tied twice (by identical 3-3 scores)in the regular season.
Saturday’s match at Centennial High School will start at 1 p.m.
The regional semifinal shutout was the team’s sixth of the year. In 17 matches this season, M-S has yielded no more than one goal.
This year’s win total — combined with the school-record total of 16 last fall — gives the Bulldogs their best two-year win total (31) since soccer was implemented in the district.
The previous best two-year mark was 30 wins, held by the 2004 and ‘05 teams.
In its history, M-S has captured four regional crowns. They were in 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2015.
Volleyball
The Bulldogs (20-12) completed the regular season with a two-set sweep over visiting Charleston, 25-22, 25-15, in a Senior Night match on Tuesday.
The 20-win season is the first at the school in volleyball since 2014.
Savannah Matthews had 11 kills and nine digs for the Bulldogs.
Kayin Garner handed out 18 assists to go with eight digs.
Lauren Minick had six kills and two aces.
Josie Hess had a team-high 10 digs and Brooklyn Houser contributed two blocks.
Matthews is one of three seniors on the Bulldogs’ team. The others are Emily Bohn and Chloe Henkel.
The Bulldogs, 9-3 in league play and the runner-up in the Apollo Conference, will return to action in Class 3A regional play on Tuesday at Unity against the host Rockets. The match will start at 6:30 p.m.
Unity (26-8) handed M-S a three-set loss in the season’s third match.
Since 1996, M-S has earned just one regional title in volleyball. That crown was captured in 2015.
