ND collects another district crown

HILLSBORO -- Notre Dame senior Brock Dirnberger used the space between him and the DeSoto defender to juke a little to his left and shake a little to his right.

There was no defensive help coming, and Dirnberger read the defender's every move as he raced closer to the goal.

Finally, Dirnberger made his move. He shimmied right then broke to his left around the defender. The goalie came out and Dirnberger patiently and calmly hit a low shot to the far post for the Bulldogs' first goal.

"Sometimes I don't know how the ball gets in, but it does," Dirnberger said. "It just works sometimes. I'm faking left and right seeing which way [the defender[']s] going to bounce. He bounced right so I went left and he had no chance."

Notre Dame would add three more goals to cruise to the 4-1 victory Friday and claim its third straight Class 2 District 1 boys soccer championship.

ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.comNotre Dame's Jacob Pewitt, left, Josh Robert, Trenton Vance and Blake Kirkpatrick celebrate after Vance scores the third goal of the championship game against Desoto in the first half in Hillsboro Friday night.

"I'm thankful for every one we get," Bulldogs goalie Ryan Bass said of the title. "It's good to excel and I hope we can get further on."

Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn pointed to a conversation he had with a Central parent at the beginning of the year to explain Dirnberger's influence on the Bulldogs.

"I said, 'Cape Central has everyone back that was on all-conference last year,'" Wittenborn recounted. "That parent said, 'But you've got Brock.' I think that says it all. ... We knew Brock was going to score for us. He's got a real quick move with the ball. He doesn't need a lot of room to get his shot off. He hits a very heavy ball and he's very accurate with it."

Dirnberger uses quick, short strides to outrace defenders to the ball, and can stop on a dime. Bass gets to face him every day in practice, and the goalkeeper said Dirnberger is a special player.

"Brock can make a shot out of pretty much nothing," Bass said. "In a small space, he's just so quick with just getting a shot off and putting it on frame. There aren't many times he doesn't hit the target."

Notre Dame also capitalized on its stellar passing to pad its lead. John Unterreiner sent a long pass to Joda Holloway, who faked out DeSoto goalie Tom Watson and buried a shot with 14 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first half for a 2-0 lead.

Trenton Vance added a goal for Notre Dame with 4:16 left before halftime. Another long pass set up the play, and Vance patiently waited for the goalkeeper to come off the line, then popped it in.

"We've all played together for several years, so we know what's going on," Vance said of his team's passing. "It's just practice, practice. We're always communicating. We're always yelling."

Notre Dame dominated the first half, but DeSoto threatened to get back into the game when Clint Carder scored with just over 21 minutes left in the second half. But Vance answered less than three minutes later when he took a long crossing pass from Brenton Ruopp, laid out and headed it past the goalkeeper.

"As soon as the ball was played, I knew it was too low," Vance said. "Normally if you're in close, it's going to go over the net, so I knew I had to lay out. I had to get a head on it, and it went in."

DeSoto's last-ditch effort came with 16:06 left. Bass was whistled for taking down Carder while trying to make a save. The referee said Bass hit Carder before getting the ball, so Carder was awarded a penalty kick.

No problem.

"He kind of gave it away to me a little bit," Bass said. "A lot of body language will tell you how a PK is going to go. Some people use it to trick with you. You kind of have to read the player as they walk to the ball. He set the ball down pretty calm, he waited for a minute then he stared at the right side to throw me off."

Carder, who converted a penalty kick against Bass two years ago when they both were sophomores, went to his left, which is what Bass expected.

"I let him think he had me because right as he approached the ball, he looked up, I took a step to my left and came back to my right," Bass said.

The goalkeeper batted the shot away then the rebound, and the Dragons wouldn't threaten again.

Notre Dame improved to 21-4 and will continue its march toward a third-straight state championship Thursday, when it plays St. Mary's of Independence (18-7-1). The state quarterfinal is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Farmington.