Georgetown’s Cameron Brookbank sends a shot past Blanchester goalkeeper Jacob Fischer during the Oct. 17 sectional tournament game at Georgetown. Brookbank’s shot shown above didn’t count as a goal due to a penalty that occurred just prior to the shot, but the Georgetown junior later scored two goals to send the game into overtime.

 

G’town suffers OT loss to Blanchester in round one of sectional tournament – 

By Wade Linville – 

The Georgetown G-Men wrapped up their regular season on a high note, winning their last four games and placing runner-up in the Southern Buckeye Athletic/Academic Conference National Division standings. Among the league opponents the G-Men were able to sweep during the regular season was the Blanchester Wildcats, and the two teams would face for the third time this season as the No. 7 seed G-Men played host to the No. 11 seed Wildcats for round one of the Southwest District Division III Sectional Tournament on the evening of Oct. 17.
Even lacking one of their top players, senior Logan Doss, who was sidelined due to injury, the G-Men were still highly favored to win Tuesday’s sectional bout against the young Blanchester varsity squad (7-7 at the time of the tournament draw), but the visiting Wildcats had other plans.
The Wildcats put together what was one of their best performances of the season, and with a goal by freshman midfielder Carter Stevens with 8:25 to go in sudden death overtime they would pull off a 3-2 victory. Stevens scored all three of the Wildcats’ goals in the sectional bout, scoring his first goal late in the first half to give Blanchester a 1-0 lead and finding the back of the net again with 23:27 to go in the second half to widen the margin to 2-0.
Trailing 2-0, the G-Men picked up the intensity near the midway point of the second half. It was Georgetown junior Cameron Brookbank missing just wide on a shot, and then it was Blanchester’s senior goalkeeper Jacob Fischer saving shots by freshman G-Man Brady Bishop and Georgetown junior Emerson Cahall. With 10:05 to go in the second half, Brookbank finally found his mark, firing for a goal to cut the Blanchester lead to 2-1.
Another goal by Brookbank with 7:47 remaining in the second half tied the game at two apiece.
Georgetown’s junior goalkeeper continued with an outstanding performance on the defensive end, while on the other end of the field it was Fischer who continued to display his skills as a defensive leader for the Wildcats.
The G-Men continued to fire away in the final minutes of the second half. A shot by Cahall with 1:36 left in the second half was saved by Fischer, and after two halves of sectional tourney soccer action the two teams would find themselves knotted at two. What followed was a 15 minute sudden death overtime in which Stevens was able to complete the hat trick to lead the Wildcats to victory.
Looking back on their 2017 soccer campaign, the G-Men should hold their heads high, proud of their accomplishments after finishing with an overall record of 12-4-1 under the leadership of head coach Cory Cahall.
Brookbank led the G-Men in goals this season with 27, while Cahall was the team’s assist leader with 11 on the season.
Pack wrapped up an impressive season as goalkeeper with 118 saves and nine shutouts.
The Wildcats advanced to face No. 5 seed Seven Hills in round two of the sectional tourney, Oct. 21.
Tuesday’s sectional game marked the end of high school soccer careers for four Georgetown seniors who will be greatly missed next year – Logan Doss, Luke Gast, Jonathan Strickland, and Will Mootz. But with the majority of their starters on the return next season, you can expect success once again from the Georgetown varsity boys soccer squad in 2018.