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Tuesday, October 27, 2009 9:11 AM CDT
Trojans without Coon tonight
BY BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
Coach Jeff Marlo says his Marion boys’ soccer team has no individual star but relies on team play.
Even though Charleston has an all-stater, it may have to use that Marion philosophy today.
The announcement that Jason Coon was named to the Illinois High School Coaches Association all-state team on Monday was accompanied by the fact the senior midfielder cannot play for Charleston, 15-4-2, in today’s 5 p.m. game against Marion, 18-4, in the IHSA Class 2A Jerseyville Sectional opener.
Coon received a red card ejection in the Trojans’ 2-1 double-overtime win over Effingham in Saturday’s Charleston Regional championship game so by IHSA rules has to sit out his team’s next contest.
“We’re going to have a challenge in front of us,” Charleston coach Paul Stranz said. “He has played a really important role but if we play team soccer we should be all right.”
At least the Trojans know they were able to play three-fourths of the second half and overtime on Saturday following Coon’s ejection and had Monday’s practice to make adjustments.
“We’ll have to play by committee at center mid,” Stranz said. “At the drop of a hat you aren’t going to be able to replace a Jason Coon.”
Coon would be able to return to the field if the Trojans can advance to Saturday’s noon championship game against tonight’s Highland-Troy Triad winner in the sectional played at Jerseyville’s Don Snyder Sports Complex.
Meanwhile, Marion’s Marlo gets to return to his coaching role on the sideline after missing the Wildcats’ regional games tending to a family matter.
“I spent the last 20 minutes of our game at Carbondale on the phone with another relative who was at the game,” Marlo said. “It’s hard missing but it will be good to be back.”
Marlo got word over the phone as his Marion team completed a comeback in a situation similar to Charleston’s regional final.
The Apollo Conference champion Trojans had to endure what some considered a closer than expected call against league foe Effingham, whom they had beaten 11 days earlier.
Marion, the South Seven Conference champ, had beaten league and neighboring rival Carbondale twice during the regular season but fell behind 2-0 before rallying for Saturday’s 5-3 regional championship win over the Terriers.
“Carbondale is definitely our rival,” Marlo said. “It’s one of those games where it doesn’t matter what else has happened during the year, that game is going to be close.”
Marion survived for its second straight regional championship and brings an 11-game winning streak into today’s sectional semifinal.
The Wildcats’ losses have been to Belleville West, Notre Dame of Cape Girardeau, Mo., Belleville Althoff and Anna-Jonesboro.
“We have a big senior class,” Marlo said. “We set a lot of team goals. Winning conference was among those and we did that.
“We don’t really have any one specific go-to guy. We like to play a possession style of game and we have a number of guys on the field who can help our cause. We preached at the beginning of the season there is no individual on this team and kids have embraced that.”
Marion lost in last year’s sectional semifinals to the same Highland team that edged Charleston for a regional title.
Now both Marion and Charleston are shooting for a possible rematch against Highland in Saturday’s final.
“The boys have worked hard and want to give Jason another chance to play,” Stranz said. “At the start of the year they wrote ‘one team, one dream’ and it wasn’t just to win a regional.”
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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