By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
MITCHELL – After missing high on two shots from the throat of the scoring zone in front of the net, J.D. Russell converted a charmed third chance. That shot came in traffic, a much tougher conversion than the others. Atonement was sweet.
Russell’s quick goal to start the second half took the pressure off Bedford North Lawrence, which had a much higher degree of difficulty than expected with a scrappy county rival. Mitchell, spurred by the carnival atmosphere in its home opener, played inspired defense until tiring in the final 20 minutes. The Bluejackets swarmed defensively but lacked sting on offense as the Stars broke away to a 5-0 triumph on Thursday.
Adriano Sullivan scored twice, and BNL (2-1) totaled four goals after intermission. The Stars stuck with the game plan, which was possession and short-range interior passes to push Mitchell (0-2) back into a deep defensive stance. The Bluejackets could only fend off so many shots before BNL found the gaps.
“They wore out a little,” BNL coach Ryan Otis said. “We talked about not dribbling, passing the ball and letting the ball do the work. Let them chase it and wear out. That came to fruition.”
With the “Ole, ole” chants ringing out and drums beating from the grandstand, Mitchell was motivated and stimulated to succeed. BNL managed only one goal in the first half, when Sullivan escaped from heavy defensive attention with a long run put the middle for a 15-yard shot at 26:40.
“Credit them,” Otis said. “They came out fired up, it was a big game for them. We withstood that and possessed the ball like we needed. Eventually we took care of it like we needed.”
Russell was the ignition switch. He gathered a kick-back pass from Noah Childers and cracked a low bullet past two defenders into the right corner at 35:32.
“I definitely had to,” Russell said with a grin, when reminded of the first two misfires. “I kept skying it. I had to keep it low, and hit the corner.”
BNL scored its final three goals in an eight-minute span. J.D. Miskuf converted a header off a loose-ball scrum in front following a corner kick at 19:35. Sullivan got his second with a penalty kick at 13:44, and Frank Decker won a race with Mitchell goalie Jayden Zepeda to chase down a deep through pass and direct the ball into the unguarded net at 11:09.
“The finishing was good,” Otis said. “We still had opportunities we didn’t convert, and starting next week the level of difficulty will pick up quite a bit. We need to take advantage of them.”
Mitchell, coming off a 3-1 loss at North Harrison in its opener, didn’t generate too many serious threats, but the defense for the first 60 minutes was solid.
“It was more of a balanced formation, we wanted to see what they would bring at us,” Mitchell coach Jason Bowden said. “We did beef up the defense. Once we got down a couple of goals, we had to flip it around, more of an offensive attack to see if we could turn it around.
“This team has come a long way. They will be down a little that we lost, but we put in a lot of time and effort. We stayed with it and were competitive. We will keep pushing forward.”
BNL will host nemesis Bloomington South on Tuesday.
