Krueckeberg’s brace gives Braves 10th sectional in row; Clean sheet streak continues

DANE FUELLING

WZBD.com

FORT WAYNE – The Bellmont Braves were heavy favorites to defend their sectional title in Saturday’s 2A championship game at Canterbury, but the games don’t just win themselves. Goals need scored, tackles need made and defense needs played.

WZBD congratulates the Bellmont Braves with a tribute and montage of Saturday’s coverage.

*The Braves have celebrated every victory this season in the same manner, so why not do it for the sectional trophy Saturday night. (Photo by Tara Riehm)*

Oh, and clean sheets need kept.

The Braves are awfully good at keeping them. So much so that they have now allowed a goal in over a month.

The Z Team provides instant reactions and statistics from Saturday’s championship game.

Adi Knipstein was named player of the match by the Z-Team crew for her exceptional play at right back as the Bellmont Braves kept yet another clean sheet and captured the sectional title. (Photo by Tara Riehm)

Bishop Luers entered the game knowing they’d need to hold the Braves off the scoreboard for as long as possible, but it was an own goal by the Knights in the sixth minute that likely was the most consequential moment of the game. Oni Krueckeberg’s cross looked destined for the forehead of Grace Ruble, who was making a back-post run, but the Luers defender got a head on it, and instead of away from Ruble, it went right past Addison Warner in goal for the first tally of the game (see sequence below).

Krueckeberg scored again in the 36th minute to finish off a great team goal (see gallery below). Adi Knipstein’s dangerous ball forward was chased down by Grace Ruble, who put in the cross just short of the end line for Krueckeberg to finish.

Bellmont head coach Steve Lee spoke with the Z Team after the trophy presentation.

Part 2 of the conversation with Coach Lee.

The third and final part of WZBD’s interview with Steve Lee.

To Luers’ credit, they held the Braves to just one real scoring chance in the opening 30 minutes, but the second goal transformed the game and opened up the field for Bellmont to work more comfortably.

BHS principal Ms. Kati Todd and AD Aaron Baker were on hand to reward BHS students who cheered on the Braves, providing some chicken strips for their school spirit before the game. (Photo by Tara Riehm)

Once the two teams switched sides, the Braves enjoyed even more possession with the wind at their backs and the Bellmont defense had little to do for much of the final 40 minutes. As the team gets deeper and deeper into the long scoring drought for opponents, the Braves’ stout defense has almost been taken for granted, but they handled every single chance and run for Luers and made the stop or the clearance. The Knights did not have a shot on target in the game.

Late in the game, Oni Krueckeberg had an attempt on goal in the 63rd minute that was chested away by a Luers defender and Grace Ruble attempted a shot on the rebound, but the whistle blew and the center official turned and pointed to the circle, indicating that he had deemed Oni’s shot to have crossed the line (see gallery below), making the score 3-0 and sealing the deal for a 10th consecutive trophy presentation.

In the final 15 minutes, head coach Steve Lee took advantage of the opportunity and put all of his substitutes from the senior class on the field at the same time, entrusting his twelfth graders with seeing out the shutout. It was a fitting way for the sectional title to be won.

North of Fort Wayne, news filtered in that Bishop Dwenger had scored a late game-winner, beating Concordia Lutheran just minutes before the final whistle blew at Canterbury, 3-2. That set up a rematch of the regular season matchup between the Saints and Braves, with Bellmont looking for some revenge after falling 2-1 in September.