At the beginning of the season, Gibault boys soccer coach Matt Reeb knew his team would be youthful. He also knew they had the potential to make a deep postseason run.

And that’s exactly what the Hawks are in the midst of doing right now.

Gibault is playing its best soccer of the season, capturing the Class 1A regional championship on Friday with a 6-0 win over Freeburg at Oerter Park.

“I knew they had a lot of potential and that youth was going to be a problem at the beginning,” Reeb said. “But I told them to stick with it and we’d continue to grow. We adjusted some pieces and switched formations. We just took off.”

Freeburg was just the latest opponent to see Gibault’s success. The Hawks have won eight of their last nine contests.

The game did remain close, as it was only 1-0 until about the 23-minute mark  in the second half. That’s when Dalton Scace notched a hat trick in a span of five minutes.

“It felt good. We controlled the game, and the first one opened the flood gates a little bit,” Scace said. “It allowed us to get the ball in the back of the net.”

Ben Mueth scored twice in the contest and Cameron Kincheloe added one of his own.

Now, the team is in sectionals.

“It’s awesome for right now, but we’re looking to go farther than we’ve already made it,” Scace said.

In the first round of sectionals, Gibault faced Anna-Jonesboro at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Oerter Park. Gibault gets to host its sectional just like their regional. The game ended after the Republic-Times deadline.

Gibault beat Anna-Jonesboro earlier in the season, 6-2. All it would take for the Hawks is two wins, including Tuesday’s result, to get to the state tournament.

On the other side of the bracket, Althoff and Mater Dei squared off Tuesday.

“We played both of them in the regular season,” Reeb said. “So, we know our route and we’re excited about where we could go.”

In those games, Gibault lost to Mater Dei, 3-2, but beat Althoff, 5-2.

Other action
For Waterloo and Columbia, each team started 2A regional play on Tuesday.

Coming off an 18-3-1 regular season, which included a Mississippi Valley Conference crown, Waterloo played Salem in the first round and won 6-0.

Waterloo had 13 players score for the varsity team in the regular season this year.

Kane Osterhage led the team with 23 goals and 16 assists. Ben Huels scored 21 times and had six assists. Clay Metz scored 14 goals and had five assists.

Columbia also had a strong season. They finished up with a 21-1-1 record, as Cahokia Conference champions and winners of the CYC Tournament.

Incidentally, the team’s only loss of the season came to Hickman, a high school located in Columbia, Mo.

They defeated Mascoutah in the first round of their regional on Tuesday night.

The two teams squared off earlier in the season, with the Eagles winning, 7-0.

The team had four double-digit goal scorers.

Sean Rickey led the way with 22 goals and 23 assists. Ryan Gudeman scored 20 times and had 14 assists. Dalton Verrett had 15 goals and an assist. Cameron Roth scored 11 times and had 10 assists.

Valmeyer’s season ended in the first round of regionals last week. They fell to Freeburg, 7-0. Overall, Valmeyer finished the season 5-14.
Easton Wallace led the team with eight goals, while also contributing three assists. Trent Larson scored four times and also had three assists. Ryan Brinkman had three four goals and an assist. Vaughn Larson scored three goals.