Thomas nets 5 in Corydon win

Underdog Lanesville struck with a pair of early goals, but the total wasn’t enough to hold off the variety of goals provided by Corydon Central’s Cory Thomas.
Backed by an equaling of a school record for goals in game, Thomas netted five to help the Panthers defeat visiting Lanesville 9-2 on a sunny Monday.
Corydon Central scored first in the match when Luke Barry hit a shot that rang the left post and ricocheted inside the goal.
Less than a minute after the score, Lanesville countered. From distance and no defenders in front of him, Noah Frazier cracked a burner that skimmed the crossbar and went into the net.
With the score tied, Lanesville broke it in the 15th minute when Daniel Allen beat Corydon Central keeper Jay Brent one-on-one. The goal electrified the Eagles bench, which saw them lead 2-1.
Forty seconds later, the barrage of Thomas goals began. Using tricky ball work, Thomas shifted through defenders to beat keeper Kevin Schulze for a goal.
Thomas’ next goal came from 30 yards out, blistering the ball to the back of the net to give Corydon Central a 3-2 halftime edge.
‘You read slogans to them like ‘hard work will beat talent when talent doesn’t work hard’ and it didn’t matter,’ Corydon Central coach Jeff Salomon said. ‘They have to motivate themselves. Sometimes it’s difficult to motivate them to play teams, but they need to realize you can get beat by anybody. Lanesville hustled hard.’
In the second half, Isidro Chavez netted a goal, assisted by Thomas, in the 44th minute.
Inside the final 22 minutes of the match, Thomas scored three additional goals. He reached the hat trick with a left-footed shot to make the score 5-2. Following the second goals from Chavez and Barry, Thomas would put two more in. The goal in the 69th minute was assisted by Grant Robinson, coming off a pass from near the end line. The finale was a back-heel highlight from a Chavez pass.
‘My threat was to run in this game or in practice tomorrow,’ Salomon said of his halftime speech. ‘So, in the second half, they worked harder, passed the ball more and looked for more openings. We moved a little bit better.’
Thomas finished with five goals, tying Salomon’s son Brent for the school record. He also had three assists.
‘We were able to get some offense going early,’ Lanesville coach Scott Rogers said. ‘I told the kids not to get their heads down with the result, but to use this as a stepping stone.’
The Eagles were coming off a big weekend, winning the Charlestown Invitational. They defeated Louisville Southern in penalty kicks and also took down the host school.
‘We had a real good weekend,’ Rogers said. ‘This is our second year playing and our second year getting that trophy. Everybody played really well there.’
Lanesville dropped to 4-3-2 on the season, but it is progress from the first year of varsity competition.
‘This year, I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough numbers but we picked up 10 kids,’ Rogers said. ‘For a small school like ours, that’s a lot. You don’t see a program in its second year fielding a JV team, so it’s obvious the passion is there. It’s a huge plus for the years to come.’
Lanesville played the Charlestown Invitational and Corydon Central without standout Andrew Kennedy, who is nursing a minor injury.
‘We were without our best player at the tournament, and our team didn’t stop,’ Rogers said. ‘They filled in his space and did what they had to do. It shows we can be a good all-around team.’
Corydon Central out-shot Lanesville 25-9. Schulze had eight saves, while Brent tallied four.
Panthers tie Floyd Central
Corydon Central took an early lead Thursday when it hosted Floyd Central and eventually held on to a tie 1-1.
The Panthers scored in the seventh minute with a Thomas goal assisted by Chavez.
Floyd Central fired 30 shots in the game but didn’t get one into the back of the net until Grant Vellinger scored in the 79th minute, one minute from the final whistle.
Salomon said most of Floyd Central’s chances came from long range with nine attempts posing a threat.
‘(We were) outplayed in every facet of the game except the score,’ Salomon said. ‘(We) could have put the game away in the 78th minute when Thomas found himself in front of the goal about 12 yards out; however, his shot went directly to the keeper.’
Earlier in the match, Floyd Central had a breakaway attempt when a forward split the defense receiving a through pass. The shot, however, was one of 17 saves by Panthers keeper Jay Brent.