Shoes, Olney to Play for Regional Championship

It'll be a battle between Teutopolis and Olney East Richland for the championship of the Olney 1A Soccer Regional.

Teutopolis defeated St. Anthony 3-1 and Olney East Richland shut out Altamont/Beecher City 4-0 Tuesday in semifinal action to decide the finals opponents.

Teutopolis opened the scoring when Kyle Blievernicht picked up a goal.  St. Anthony began to apply more pressure on goal and the strategy paid off when Frank Jansen tied the game by putting in a loose ball.

The game became a back-and-forth contest with both teams getting chances but St. Anthony goalkeeper Zach Tegeler and Teutopolis keeper Seth Belford making great stops to keep the contest tied.

With about 12 minutes left in the first half, Tegeler went down with a knee injury.  While assessing Tegeler's injury and whether he could re-enter the game, Teutopolis capitalized on the situation and scored two goals within about three minutes.  The Wooden Shoes led 3-1 at halftime and the teams played a scoreless second half, allowing Teutopolis to secure the win.

St. Anthony Coach Scott Demers said, "We played hard, but just not enough breaks went our way.  We had many shots that looked like they were in, but would miss by inches.  The Teutopolis defense stepped up when it had to."

Demers also noted Teutopolis senior Eddie Siemer and wished him all the best in his fight against leukemia.  Demers said, "(Eddie) is in a more important battle than anything we face on the soccer field and we have hope he, like his team, will win the battle."

As to the Bulldogs' season coming to an end, Demers said, "It has been said that if you want a happy ending, don't stop in the middle of the story.  Unfortunately, our story for 2013 is coming to a close, but we are proud of our accomplishments and what our future holds for us as individuals and for our team."

Team MVPs for St. Anthony were seniors Benton Hakman, Frank Jansen, Zaine Reiss and Zach Tegeler.  St. Anthony closes out the season with an 11-8-3 record.

Game time for the regional championship game at Olney is 1pm Saturday.