Rising Sun advances to region final

NORTH EAST — Just eleven days after a closely contested regular season meeting, North East and Rising Sun met once again on Friday night with bigger implications on the line.

It took just over four minutes for the Tigers to take control of the game as Logan Meadows gave Sun a 1-0 lead with a goal off a corner. Meadows’ goal gave Rising Sun an advantage that it would never relinquish en route to a 3-0 victory. The victory marks the first playoff win for Rising Sun in seven years. The Tigers will travel to top-seeded C. Milton Wright in Tuesday’s Class 2A East Region Final.

“This week during practice we worked on a bunch of different strategies specifically for this team,” Rising Sun head coach Pete Krummel said. “The first goal on that corner was one of the strategies coming through.”

Sun’s advantage remained one for the next 63 minutes of play, until it doubled its advantage with 13:29 to play in regulation on a goal by Jordan Perrine from over 20 yards out. Meadows added his second goal of the night with 6:10 remaining to seal the victory.

Connor Burkhardt totaled two assists and Issac Holt dished out one.

“I have a great team to get me the ball,” Meadows said. “We worked on our set pieces to be more organized and it showed on the field.”

On the defensive side, Rising Sun goalkeeper J.P. Tracey finished with a clean sheet in net. Tracey made multiple key saves in the second half to keep Sun’s advantage at one.

“It’s always great to keep a shutout,” Tracey said. “Going from zero shutouts last year to this year having a few under my belt really feels good. I only got a couple shots this game because my defensive line is so strong and able to limit those shots.”

Friday’s victory also marks the sixth shutout for Rising Sun in its last seven games. Krummel credited the play of Tracey, as well as Sun’s starting back line of Ethan Burchard, Wyatt Shockley, Braedon Crouse and Aiden Schaeffer for leading the team to the doorstep of the state tournament.

“They’ve just grown in confidence a lot,” Krummel said. “It’s become a strength to have the same back line for two years so it’s been kind of cool to watch those guys come together and the motivation is really high.”