CARLYLE – Six different Griffins scored as the Father McGivney Catholic High School boys soccer team beat Lebanon High School Friday afternoon by a score of 7-1.
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The top-seeded Griffins met the fifth-seeded Greyhounds in the IHSA Class 1A Carlyle Regional championship and came away with the win, improving to 20-4-1.
The regional title is the program’s second straight and fifth overall, having won twice under former head coach Matt McVicar (2022 and 2024) and twice with inaugural head coach Tim Vance (2018 and 2019).
McGivney advances to the sectional semifinals, where it will host the winner between second-seeded Massac County (18-2-2) and third-seeded Murphysboro (13-6-3) on Tuesday, October 28, at 5 p.m.
The sectional championship is set for Saturday, November 1, at 6 p.m.
“We do not want to host other people on our field for a sectional championship,” Griffins’ head coach Brett Shubert said after Friday’s regional. “We haven’t won one, so that’s on our checklist. We are hungry for more. This was a nice little checkpoint, and now we get to go back home and host some good soccer.”
Friday’s match started a bit slow. The best early chance came in the sixth minute when McGivney’s Tucker Sundberg won a free kick on the edge of the 18-yard box. Brendan Kayser took the kick, and his left-footed curling shot just missed wide.
It took until the 14th minute for the Griffins to find the back of the net, but from there, the floodgates were open.
“It was just a matter of breaking them down. Just keep playing our game and don’t worry about anything else. We got the ball in dangerous positions, and we were able to bury it today,” Schubert said.
Gus Range broke the tie when he followed up on a long-range shot from Kayser. His shot was fended off by the Greyhounds’ keeper, Blake Goetter, but the rebound fell straight into the path of Range, who was crashing the back post. He made easy work to make it 1-0.
Graham Baker quickly doubled the lead in the 16th minute, and Eddie Foppe scored in the 23rd minute as the Griffins took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
The Griffins previously beat the Greyhounds 3-0 back on September 26. Will Rakers scored twice and had an assist. Liam Schmidt also scored and had an assist.
McGivney got much more on Friday.
Dedrick Amoussou was tripped up and earned a penalty in the 51st minute. Kayser stepped up to the spot and buried it to make it 4-0.
Range scored again in the 54th minute. It was the game’s best goal as his right-footed effort curled past Goetter, off the back post, and in from right inside the box.
A minute later, a mishap in the Lebanon defense saw them score an own goal when a defender accidentally flicked a header over Goetter and into the back of the net. McGivney’s Hayden Apotheker was credited with the goal for being the closest attacking player to the ball.
McGivney ended the onslaught in the 70th minute when Rakers earned a penalty. He was well enough to take it and struck gold to make it 7-0.
Lebanon’s lone goal came with 4:47 left in the game, the contest’s third PK, this time scored by Lincoln Hamm.
Hamm is one half of a dangerous forward duo for the Greyhounds that helped them to an 18-7 season. His PK was his 23rd goal of the season. His partner in crime, Deion Washington, netted 33 goals on the year.
“The main thing was, we couldn’t let them get one early,” Schubert said. “We couldn’t let them settle in. We wanted to come out and set the tone. The longer it was 0-0, the more it was in their favor.”
It was the fifth time this season that McGivney scored seven or more goals in a game. It began its postseason journey with a 9-0 win over ninth-seeded Roxana.
“Good showing: a lot of kids got on the scoresheet, a lot of unfamiliar faces that we don’t see often scoring,” Schubert said. “So, that’s one of the things that if we’re going to make this deep run, we’re going to need that effort from everyone.”
