By Fred Kroner
A hat trick by senior Sam Henrichs propelled the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ soccer team to a 7-0 win at Charleston on Thursday (Sept. 30).
Besides his three goals, Henrichs also had one assist as M-S collected its seventh shutout of the season and the fifth against Apollo Conference opponents.
Titus Payne scored twice for the Bulldogs, who led 2-0 at halftime.
Other M-S goal-scorers were Clayton Gibson and Isaac Warren.
Henrichs has a team-high nine goals, but four other squad members have netted at least five goals.
Gibson has the most assists (eight), and five other Bulldogs have at least five assists.
Teammates with assists were Xavier Schmidt (two), Gibson, Andre Grace, Kai Jones and Mitchell McAnally.
Goalkeeper Keagan Ashby earned the shutout.
On Saturday (Oct. 2), the short-handed Bulldogs dropped a 3-1 decision at 13th-ranked Champaign Central.
Payne had the lone M-S goal, creating a 1-1 tie.
All of the scoring was done in the first half.
“Proud of the boys on this one,” M-S coach Jeremy Davis said. “We entered the game down eight varsity players – half of them starters – due to a variety of reasons.
“We had a team meeting (on Friday) to discuss whether we even had the numbers to play the No. 13 team in 2A. We decided we had just enough; only to lose one more between then and now, and yet still determined, we had just enough to play. Brian Woodbury and keeper Charlie Hawley stepped in from JV and gave us big minutes.
“We had to adjust some players positionally due to an injury. Unfortunately, we entered short, and left shorter after two separate ankle injuries.
“The boys gritted out the second half, and we were still able to create quite a few dangerous chances. We should have most returning as we have a big conference week against all three of the other top teams.”
M-S is 11-6-1 overall and 6-1 against Apollo Conference foes. The Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday (Oct. 5) at home against Mattoon.
