Columbus North’s Christian Cardoso (9) and Sam Brown hug after losing their Columbus East Semistate soccer match to Cathedral at the BCSC Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. North lost to Cathedral 2-1.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
When Ian Jackson was a freshman at Columbus North, he thought about playing what it would be like playing on the turf field at the BCSC Soccer Complex that was being constructed at the time.
Jackson finally got that chance three years later, but it came as an opposing player. The Cathedral senior scored two goals Saturday to lead the Class 3A No. 11 Irish to a 2-1 win over 3A No. 10 North in the Columbus East Semistate.
“I can’t even believe it,” Jackson said. “I know all these guys. I played with half these guys my freshman year. I’m really close with them. It’s just unbelievable. I never got to play on this field here. My freshman year, we were still playing on the grass field. I always dreamed of playing here when I was a freshman, and it’s great to score.”
Jackson was still at North as a sophomore and attended most of the Bull Dogs’ games, but played with the Indy Eleven Pro Academy team out of Grand Park in Westfield. His family moved to Indianapolis after that year, and he enrolled at Cathedral, but still played for the Academy team instead of the Irish.
“I always knew my senior year, whether I was committed (to a college) or not, I wanted to play (high school soccer),” Jackson said. “By far, I enjoy high school so much better. The bond, the team. Even from my freshman year (at North), I remember the team, how it just felt like family. It’s the same thing this year, and I’ve really loved it.”
The Bull Dogs (14-4-3), who beat Cathedral in last year’s semistate, struck first on Saturday. Obed Oliva scored off a pass from Derek Arau Ortiz in the 31st minute to give North a 1-0 advantage.
“I was excited, but we knew that we’d have to keep it up,” Oliva said. “We couldn’t do it, but I’m really proud of this team. We worked hard, but we didn’t get the result that we wanted.”
The Irish (17-4-2) got the equalizer five minutes later when Jackson took a corner kick from the left side, and it bent in the goal off the hands of Bull Dog keeper Juan Jose Salcedo Calderon.
Jackson scored the game-winner in the 61st minute on a left-footed strike into the top left corner of the goal.
“Giving up a goal on a corner kick is always hard, but the boys tried to fight back, and you can’t take away from (Jackson’s) goal off his left leg,” North coach Andy Glover said.
The Bull Dogs had a couple of chances in the final 19 minutes. Aiden Whitley, who scored both goals in last week’s 2-0 regional final win against Floyd Central, had a shot tipped out of bounds in the 70th minute, and Madux Tovey sent a shot from the top of the box in the 77th minute that was tipped over the goal by Cathedral’s 6-foot-4 keeper, Jett Wallemeier.
“They had 11 players on the field, and each player had their job and they played it really well,” Whitley said. “There at the end, when they went up, they played defensively as a unit, and it was extremely difficult to break through. They really made a wall for us to break through, and we couldn’t. They played a great game.”
North had a little bit of a wind at its back in the first half, and the Irish had it in the second half.
“We like to keep the ball on the floor and try to build an attack and connect dots, and we kept doing that in the second half,” Glover said. “In the first half, we kind of used that to our advantage a little bit to get a little more forward and try to bunker them down defensively. We did manage to get the ball on their end and make them defend a little bit here and there.”
Cathedral finished with a 10-6 shot advantage, putting six shots on goal to five for the Bull Dogs. Salcedo Calderon recorded four saves.
“I thought there were two fantastic soccer teams on the field today, and unfortunately, the result didn’t go our way,” Glover said.
“They’re a great coached team,” Jackson said. “Coach Glover knows what he’s doing. They have some great players and a lot of young players coming up.”
North was bidding for its second consecutive trip to the state title game.
“It’s not every time you get to say you went from a losing record five years ago to back-to-back final fours,” Whitley said. “We faced controversy and adversity this season, and we did a great job getting here. I’m super proud of the team and the guys. We really worked hard and put in the hours to get here.”
“Unbelievable effort from the team,” Glover added. “I’m exceptionally proud of the entire team, top to bottom. The seniors and juniors have put in a hard three and four years, and while we didn’t sum it , we got to the final last year and the final four this year, and it could very well have been that this was the final here today.”
