Heritage Christian Academy made a second straight trip to the KCAA State Soccer Semifinals but like last year, came up one game short of the championship. Trinity Christian jumped out to a 3-0 first-half lead and held on for a 4-1 win in Elizabethtown Thursday.
The first half was played in a light rain, and a dark cloud hung over the HCA offense for the game’s first forty minutes. The Warriors were outshot 9-3 in the half. Cameron Johnson got Trinity Christian on the board in the 13th minute when he beat Warrior goalie Jacob Young who came out to challenge a pass through the defense.
Johnson added his second goal for the Lexington school when he headed in a pass in the 22nd minute. The Warriors were caught on their heels and gave up another one less than 30 seconds later when P.J. Montgomery got behind the HCA defense for a goal.
Heritage came out with a little more urgency in the second half and dented the scoreboard for the first time when Ryan Trapnell headed in a corner kick into the right side of the goal.
The Warriors kept the offensive pressure up with three more shots but could not connect. Trinity then clamped down and held the Warriors without a shot on goal for the final 25 minutes of the contest.
Johnson, an All-State Tournament Team selection last year, complete the hat trick with a header off a corner kick with two minutes left.
Trinity, who beat HCA 5-0 on Sept. 19 in Hopkinsville, outshot the Warriors 15-7.
Both the season and the ending was frustrating for the Warriors, who were playing without two starters in the match. Because of COVID-19 concerns and HCA’s geographic disadvantage to the rest of the state, the Warriors only played six games in 2020, finishing with a 3-3 record.
HCA is the western-most school in the KCAA that plays soccer and is 136 miles from its nearest opponent. The usual weekend trips to Lexington and Louisville to play three games over a weekend didn’t happen due to COVID-19 and most opposing schools continued to not make the trip to Hopkinsville to play the Warriors.
Despite the ending, Heritage Christian made back-to-back trips to the KCAA state semifinals for the first time in school history.
