Published: October 10, 2008 12:05 am         

Berries roll in opener

Logan to face Northwestern in Saturday’s sectional final

Logansport coach Mike Turner has said this year’s team is not lacking in talent or ability. But he’s been frustrated for much of the season with the Berries’ lack of finishing strong play with goals.

That was not a problem Thursday evening in the opening game of the Logansport Sectional, as the Berries dominated play from the outset and were able to finish in a 6-0 win over Twin Lakes.

Turner said the difference in the Berries’ ability to hit the back to the net was not the quantity of shots — they had just 11 shots on goal — but the quality — they made 6-of-11 (55 percent).

“Instead of trying to get 30 shots, we were taking care of the opportunities that we got,” Turner said. “Normally we would have 20 [shots] and have one goal, two goals.

“It was our possession instead of forcing the ball through and guys taking shots that weren’t really there. We were getting better looks.”

Justin Schlinglof got the Berries (7-7-3) on the board about five minutes into the contest on an assist by Juan Carlos Ortega, and Garrett Baldini followed about eight minutes later with a goal. Jonathan Cervantes scored on a header with 7:45 remaining in the first half, and Logan took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Edgar Islas scored on a rebound shot about six minutes into the second half, Ortega recorded a goal about eight minutes later. Giovanni Cardenas closed the scoring with a goal three minutes later.

Twin Lakes coach Marcus Painter knew his team had its hands full with Logan. It was the third straight year the Indians have been eliminated by the Berries.

“They are clearly the better team. We knew that. We played them in the sectional last year and had a similar result. We knew we had a tall hill to climb,” Painter said. “If nothing else, I wanted my guys to go out there and put together the best effort they could on the field.

“Logansport’s a very good team, and they outskilled us. Skill canceled out effort tonight. We worked hard and still couldn’t pull it out.”

Painter added it will take time for Twin Lakes to build its program up to the level of Logansport, which has won six sectional titles in a row and 13 of 14 since the IHSAA began the state tournament in 1994.

“It’s a process,” Painter said. “We’ve got a rec league; we’ve got a youth league in place. We’re working on improving that. We’re working on adding some under-17 travel teams for the future. We need to get in a position where we’ve got these kids playing soccer as much as possible — 11-on-11 soccer this spring as well as the fall season with high school.

“It’s not a one-year solution. It’s a three-, four-, five-year solution. So we just have to be patient and take our little steps and see the value in those rather than just expecting things to just magically turn around overnight. It’s not going to work like that.”

Logan is set to face Northwestern (13-3-1) in the sectional final at 7 p.m. Saturday night.

Northwestern 6, Carroll 2

The Purple Tigers advanced to the final of the Logansport Sectional with a victory over Carroll. Jimmy Corcoran was lethal in front of goal, scoring four times for the Tigers.

Carroll impressed NW coach Jim Corcoran, but his team was still able to execute its game plan and grab the early advantage. The Cougars (13-4) got goals from Chase Mead and Mike Myer in the second half.

“I want to congratulate Carroll on an excellent season,” Jim Corcoran said. “They were much improved and they played hard right until the very end. I told the kids, we need to get out on top of them early. I think we scored about five minutes into the game and then got a second goal about the 15-minute mark, so we got off to a real good start. First half ended 3-0.”

Pedro Velazco contributed to this story.