Titans historic season comes to an end
The Mercer County boys soccer team won only their second 12th Region Championship in school history Thursday night, defeating Boyle County 2-1.
Mercer County soccer player Chase Devine celebrated after Thursday nights’ victory.
Daarik Gray
Herald Staff
sports@harrodsburgherald.com
The Mercer County boys soccer team’s season came to an end Monday night, but what they did throughout their 26 games will be remembered most.
After falling last year in the 12th Region Championship the Titans entered this season with a goal of getting revenge, and that is exactly what they did.
Mercer County dominated their competition throughout most of the regular season, outscoring opponents 80-11, including a 46-4 margin over the last 14 games of the regular season.
But it was what they did in the postseason that really stood out on their revenge tour.
In four postseason wins the Titans outscored opponents 13-2, winning the 46th District Championship and the 12th Region Championship, with their most important win being the sweetest revenge of them all: the 12th Region Championship game against Boyle County.
The Rebels ended the Titans’ season last year, so the Titans said they had wanted this game all year long. When they got what they wanted, they didn’t disappoint, as they won a 2-1 thriller over their rivals.
“It is nice. Last year was tough, making it to the regional final and coming up short,” said Mercer County Head Coach Garrett Stark. “This year we wanted to obviously get back to this game and we were able to do that and win.”
Winning the region championship meant the Titans made it to the KHSAA State Tournament for only the second time in school history, the last coming in 2011.
“We’ve had a great season. We’d been building up for that moment and we finally did it,” said senior Drew Angel.
Not only did they advance to the state tournament, the Titans also had three players break individual school records.
Senior Will Rogers broke the school’s single season assist record (21), junior Cody Shackelford broke the school’s single season goals scored record (28) and junior goalkeeper Zack Phillips broke the single season shutouts record (14).
