By James Costello Sports Editor
ARGOS — You have to be careful what you wish for.
Eager for a rematch with Warsaw following a 1-1 regular-season draw back in August as well as a 3-0 sectional championship loss last year, the Rockies were hoping for a measure of revenge against Warsaw at Saturday’s Argos Soccer Sectional final. Instead, the Indiana Soccer Coaches Association 20th-ranked Tigers handed Plymouth a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to shatter the team’s hopes of a deep run in the state tournament.

“These kids are all hard workers, and we’ve had a lot of ups and downs with the kids that have been with us that long, going through that (2007) semistate run with us,” said Plymouth head coach Josh Martin. “We thought we had a good chance to push through this year, and my heart’s breaking for these kids. You see a lot of kids out there in tears and down on the ground, and as a coach, that’s really hard . . . I’m at a loss for words here. We didn’t think our season was going to end tonight.”
Warsaw head coach Scott Bauer also drew comparisons between the ‘09 Rockies and the regional championship squad of two years ago, which beat the Tigers in a penalty kick shoot-out in the opening round of sectional play en route to a program-first regional crown.  Because of those similarities, Bauer said, Saturday’s win was all the more enjoyable.
“That was a very good team. I equated this team to that team,” he said. “They have a strong senior class with a very, very dangerous player, (Todd) Vervynckt, and we were kind of in the same spot. I think we’re better than we were two years ago, but we’re very young so it was a mirror image of that match. Which made this so important because I think Plymouth fully expected to impress their will upon us and to take this from us, and my guys were as resilient as they needed to be to say ‘No, we’re going to hang in there and play with a squad that’s older and more experienced than us.’”
Warsaw pressed the action early, scoring on a corner kick late in the eighth minute when Diego Lopez sent a cross to Ian Crines, who finished the goal to put the Rockies back on their heels.
“We wanted to press early. We were taking some chances early because we wanted to see if we could nick them a few times and get some opportunities,” Bauer said. “We felt like one of our strengths is our set pieces because we can throw a couple big bodies in there, and that paid off with the first goal we got.”
That 1-0 Warsaw lead marked just the second time the Rockies had found themselves trailing the entire season, and it seemed to throw them off their game somewhat, but Martin said it was Warsaw’s defense and his players’ speed of play more than the early deficit that disrupted Plymouth’s game.
“We’re not used to playing out of a hole, so yeah, it put us back on our heels a little bit, but the biggest problem — I don’t think it was that — Warsaw had some really terrific defensive pressure,” he said. “They chased the ball, they really cut out the passing lances. They made it really hard for us to knock the ball around, and our speed of play was a tad slow. I think those two things made it more difficult than being a goal down.”
Cory Lopez scored an insurance goal on a slip header to the opposite post off a cross from his brother Diego Lopez in the 53rd minute, allowing the Tigers to anchor back against Plymouth’s increasingly effective attacking.
Vervynckt put Plymouth on the board with a penalty kick in the 67th minute to cut the lead to 2-1. The senior Division I prospect leveled another shot on goal five minutes later and a Christian Pesquera cross into a header sailed harmlessly over the goal as time expired.
It was a particularly rough game, even beyond the limits of the normally physical match-ups between the conference and sectional rivals. In total, players were whistled for 36 fouls, including 25 from Warsaw, and five yellow cards were handed out as well as a red card to a Warsaw assistant coach.
“It got ugly at times,” said Martin. “Some of the calls were questionable both ways. Not just against us but for us, and it was pretty heated out there. Players, coaches, everybody. It would have been nice if it could have been a little more collegial, but that’s just how it happens. Both these teams wanted that game really bad so everybody’s going all out, and sometimes you foul like that.”
“Plymouth is always a brutal game for us but yet it’s one of those matches that you want to have, and you want to rise to the challenge,” said Bauer. “That’s what grows young men, and that’s what grows both our programs together, these kinds of contests, and if we didn’t have Plymouth pushing us I don’t think we’d be as good as we are.”
While the Tigers proceed to the Argos Regional Wednesday, Plymouth closes its season at 15-2-2. It was a season in which the Rockies fell short of their expectations in the Northern Lakes Conference and at sectional, but also in which they showed occasional flashes of brilliance and consistent efficiency with 10 shutouts and 77 goals scores while winning the Blueberry Tournament and recording just two losses against a host of quality opponents.
• ARGOS BOYS SOCCER SECTIONAL
Championship game
At Argos
WARSAW 2, PLYMOUTH 1
First half
W — Ian Crines (Diego Lopez), 8th minute
Second half
W — Cory Lopez (D. Lopez), 53rd minute
P — Todd Vervynckt (PK), 67th minute
Shots on goal: Plymouth 5, Warsaw 6
Saves: Plymouth (Lucas Hill) 4, Warsaw (David Johnson) 4
Corner kicks: Plymouth 6, Warsaw 7
Fouls: Plymouth 11, Warsaw 25
Records: Plymouth 15-2-2, (final) Warsaw 11-4-4.