Amidst the downpouring rain that came in wave after wave, the Charlestown boys played host to the Mitchell Bluejackets on Monday evening. Senior striker Colin Martin was tripped from behind inside the box moments before taking his shot, but the referee decided there was no call and Mitchell escaped all but certain opening goal from the Pirates. A few minutes later at the 29:36 mark of the first half, Freshman attacking midfielder Jeremiah Paiz assisted Junior striker Trent Wight to open the scoring. Wight would not be able to finish the game after being shoulder tackled in the lower back on his way to a certain shot on goal, but again the referee chose not to give the penalty kick and instead awarded Mitchell with a goal kick. Playing without starting center back and team captain Alfredo Arredondo who was injured over the weekend, as well as being short Senior right back Esdras Hernandez who is nursing a pulled upper hamstring, and Senior holding midfielder Josh Wray who suffered a contusion to the thigh muscle over the weekend…the Pirates were already playing with six freshmen dressing for the contest, losing Wight was too much to overcome as the rain and the calls on the pitch were certainly not doing anything to make it easier. The Pirates would score again in the second half when Senior Brayden Cooksey sent in a corner kick and the Mitchell goal keeper bobbled the ball into his own net scoring an own goal. Junior Zach Higdon played his first full game in the defensive line for the Pirates and looked admirable, but Arredondo leaves very big shoes to have to fill and the entire back four struggled to find their footing as Mitchell found goals from Junior midfielder Jordan Duncan and a brace from Junior forward Aiden Wheeler to go ahead and win the game 3-2.

Tuesday night, the Charlestown Pirates will look to bounce back against conference opponents Austin at Dutch Reis field. It’s youth soccer night at Charlestown High School and any Charlestown youth soccer player will get in to the game for free by wearing their youth soccer jersey.

On Friday night the Charlestown Boys Soccer team played their first round match up of the Southern Indiana Soccer Classic against Christian Academy of Indiana.  Having never beaten the Warriors before, it was a tough draw for the Pirates. However, the boys dominated possession from the opening whistle straight through to the end of the match and claiming the victory 2-1. Junior Trent Wight scored the opening goal for the Pirates with 33 minutes remaining in the first half on a penalty kick awarded for a CAI hand ball in the box. After some confusion over a controversial offsides call from the referees, Senior Goalkeeper Nick Wirthwein was left standing at the top of his box as he watched Christian Academy dribble past him and score an easy goal to equalize the game. But with just 12:50 remaining in the second half, Freshman forward Jeremiah Paiz made a long crossing pass from the corner that was bobbled by the opposing keeper and ended up falling into the net to put the Pirates ahead for the win. This was Paiz first career goal for the Pirates after he earned an assist to a teammate in an previous contest. The victory placed Charlestown into the Semi-Finals on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 against Southwestern High School (Hanover). However, having not returned home the night before until well after 11:00 pm and having a couple of players taking the ACT before the game, the team was generally sluggish and slow throughout the afternoon as they fought hard in a losing effort to the Southwestern team who had earned a bye and not competed the night before.

The loss to Southwestern landed the Pirates in the 3rd place consolation game against Trinity Lutheran (Seymour) and advanced Southwestern into the Championship against the River City Jaguars, whom the Pirates had already dismantled 6-4 back in August. The Trinity Lutheran contest kicked-off at 6:00 pm and would see the Charlestown boys take home their 3rd victory in 4 games over a 3 day period. Senior Michael Navetta commanded the midfield and penetrated the penalty box where he drew a hard challenge and earned a penalty kick for himself which he easily converted to put the Pirates level at 1-1 as the Junior Jose Arredondo allowed an earlier goal from Trinity Lutheran as he was playing goal keeper for the first time ever as Wirthwein was injured and unable to compete. As the game progressed, a command of the midfield would eventually lead to Navetta sending a ball into Senior Colin Martin inside the box who unselfishly flicked it on to Junior Trent Wight for a nice little goal to take the lead at 2-1. Trinity Lutheran was not finished yet however, as a seemingly stonewalled Freshman Isai Galvan agonizingly watched as they dribbled right passed him as he stood still watching to score the equalizing goal. It would be Senior team captain Michael Navetta who would eventually save the day for the Pirates late in the second half as he took possession of the ball on the far right side flank and launched a long high shot to the far post corner, over the leaping outstretched arms of the Trinity Lutheran keeper and into the net for the go ahead goal.