Stokes helps Pirates advance; Griffith rolls

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MERRILLVILLE — Soccer is a game of moments.

The team that makes the most of those moments generally wins, and Thursday night in the Merrillville Sectional that played true.

Merrillville, on the shoulders of Ryan Stokes’ hat trick, beat Andrean 3-2 in the second semifinal, while Griffith took Hobart 3-0 in the opener.

The Pirates (9-9) move on to face the Panthers Saturday at 6 p.m.

Stokes, a senior center, opened the scoring 13 minutes in when he beat Andrean’s defense into the goal box, and just outside the post angled a liner into the far side.

Andrean tied it with 11:04 left when Grant Cooper bombed a Merrillville mis-clear past Brandon Brack. Stokes scored his second with 14:00 left in the second half on a header.

“When it was 2-1, it didn’t look so good for us,” said Andrean coach Pete Reist. “But our kids fought back and tied it and I really thought we’d get that third (goal).

“Merrillville was just a little better tonight though.”

Tied at 2-2, Merrillville was mounting an attack that seemed to be swallowed by Andrean’s defense with 2:24 left, but in heavy traffic, Stokes found one last shot.

“I saw the ball come free in the middle and then saw two Andrean guys coming for it, so I just sprinted after it and tried to get at least a toe kick on it,” Stokes said.

He didn’t catch it clean, but he caught it enough and made the most of the moment.

“Our shirts say ‘every second counts,’ and that couldn’t be more true tonight,” Stokes said.

Griffith allowed Hobart (2-13-1) very few moments of excitement, limiting the Brickies attack by keeping steady pressure on Hobart’s defense.

“It’s one of the things we thought we’d be able to do,” said Griffith coach Ron Knestrict. “(Hobart’s) defense isn’t the strong part of their game, they like to score, so we thought if we kept the pressure on we’d be OK.”

Griffith (12-2) opened its scoring midway through the first half when Nikola Pupac dribbled into the penalty box, faked left and hit a strong right past a diving Chris Wilusz, Hobart’s senior keeper. Wilusz saw a lot of action, saving 13 shots.

“(Wilusz) is outstanding,” said Hobart coach John Allendorf. “He’s a senior that we’ve had for four years and we’re going to really miss him.”

Griffith’s other goals came from Jeff Melton and Nick Bobowski.