University Heights Academy is proving true to the old sports adage that defense wins championships. They are just hoping their defense can keep up its strong play for two more games in the region tournament.
The Blazers moved into the 2nd Region semi-finals with a 2-0 shutout of Trigg County Monday at Henderson County High School.
Coming down the stretch of the season, the Blazer defense has allowed just five goals in seven matches. Once again on Monday, it was the back line of Clayton Lester, Nic Luckey, Harlow Hampton, Jon Jon Williamson, and others that assisted Quinton Quarles in notching the team’s sixth clean sheet of the season.
The Blazers limited the Wildcats to just four shots in the game. But Trigg County, who came into the region tournament opener as the runner-up in the fifth district, played a strong defensive game of its own. The Blazers did not get a shot on goal until eight minutes into the contest and didn’t get a shot on goal until eight minutes were left in the first half.
Just as it looked as of the teams would play a scoreless first half, Logan Miller poked a pass through two Trigg County defenders at the top of the box. Preston Thomas got to the pass just ahead of Trigg goalie Cam McCormick and tapped it into the goal for the first score of the match.
UHA would add an insurance goal in the 57th minute as the Wildcats failed to clear a shot and Ethan Hale pounded on the opportunity to bang home his 24th goal of the season.
McCormick made 13 saves for the Wildcats, who were outshot 18-4 in the contest. Trigg County was playing its second consecutive game without head coach Kyle Bleidt, who received a red card in the regular season finale against Webster County and must miss three games per KHSAA rules.
Bleidt‘s first season will end with a record of 2-19-1. However, the Wildcats showed improvement over the final three weeks of the season as they played to within three goals in seven of their last nine matches.
University Heights Academy improves to 14-6 and will face Henderson County in the 5:30 semifinal Wednesday. The Colonels had a clean sheet of their own, defeating Hopkins County Central 5-0 Monday.
