This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
ARCADIA – Columbus Catholic boys soccer coach Jeff Edwards said they were concerned with containing Washburn/Bayfield senior forward Will McNerney. Halfway through the first half, McNerney showed them why.
McNerney scored a pair of unassisted goals in the first 22 minutes of the game and the Castle Guards were able to hold on the rest of the way, defeating Columbus Catholic 3-1 in a WIAA Division 4 boys soccer sectional final on Saturday afternoon at Arcadia High School.
Washburn/Bayfield (16-0-2) moves on to the program’s first WIAA State Boys Soccer Tournament, which will be held next weekend in Milwaukee. Columbus Catholic finishes its season at 20-5-2.
The action was mostly contained to the middle of the field early until Washburn/Bayfield made a surge to the net and McNerney scored at the 14:43 mark to put the Castle Guards on top.
A little more than seven minutes later, McNerney whistled a shot through the Dons’ defense into the right side of the net to make it 2-0 and send Columbus Catholic back on its heels.
“The difference in the game was No. 19 (McNerney),” Edwards said. “He’s incredible. We knew he had a wicked left foot and if we could stop him, we knew we had a really good chance. We allowed him two shots and he scored on those. He controlled the midfield, he controlled everything. We had too many injuries that piled up on us and it just wasn’t our day.”
Columbus Catholic was unable to do much on offense for most of the first half until Charlie Moore smashed a shot just inside the goalie box that found the back of the net with only 2:05 to play before halftime and the Dons had some life heading into the break.
However, the normally potent Dons’ offense was completely shut down in the second half as every ball that went deep into Washburn/Bayfield territory was turned away.
The Castle Guards earned some much-needed breathing room 8:04 into the second half as Javier LeBouton booted a perfect free kick from 80 yards out into the goalie box where Wyatt Melek knocked in a ricochet to push the lead to 3-1.
The Dons couldn’t get any closer and saw their season end with a 20-win season and a sectional berth for the first time since 2020.
Columbus will say goodbye to seven seniors: Moore, the program’s all-time leading goal scorer Alex Edwards, Nathan Nemitz, Josh Van Wyhe, Seth Roewe, Cy Becker and goalkeeper Lucas Kreklau.
“This was a really good season, especially with this group of seniors, who I’ve known a lot of them since they were first graders,” Jeff Edwards said. “It was really good to see them progress. Getting to sectionals is really special. Right now it hurts, but they’ll realize how special this season was. We talked about it pregame, we were a family, we had each other’s backs.”
View the statewide WIAA boys soccer sectional scoreboard here
Castle Guards 3, Dons 1
Columbus Catholic 1 0 – 1
Washburn/Bayfield 2 1 – 3
First half: 1. WB, Will McNerney, 14:43; 2. WB, McNerney, 21:59; 3. CC, Charlie Moore, 37:55.
Second half: 4. WB, Wyatt Melek, 48:04.
Total shots: CC 5; WB 7.
Shots on goal: CC 2; WB 4.
Corner kicks: none.
Saves: WB, Louie Sonday 1; CC, Lucas Kreklau 1.
Records: Columbus Catholic 20-5-2; Washburn/Bayfield 16-0-2.