KALIDA – Rhenn Armey’s hat trick on Saturday afternoon at Kalida sends the Continental Pirates into the regional semifinals next week as his team downed the host Wildcats 3-0.
A fast and physically played first half by both squads nearly went into the halftime break with no score but the quick feet of Rhenn Armey put the visitors on top 1-0 as he worked his way through the Wildcat defense and kicked a shot past Kalida freshman keeper Brady Fersch for his 29th marker of the season.
The Putnam County League Player of the Year was not done with his matchup against Fersch in the contest as he would take on the Wildcat stopper with just under five minutes gone in the second half. After being dragged down inside the box the Continental sophomore netted his 30th goal of the year on a penalty kick to the right side of Fersch to run the advantage to 2-0 with 35:54 remaining.
Between a pair of yellow cards that were handed out for the officials for rough play to the Kalida duo of Evan Stechschulte and Brandon Miller, Armey once again found himself with a chance to add to his teams lead after a foul against Brady Fersch accounted for the second penalty kick of the second half.
Similarly to how he scored on Bath in the semifinals, Armey ripped a shot in the upper left corner and past the outstretched hands of Fersch with 14:10 left in the contest to complete his hat trick and a 3-0 lead.
Despite giving up a trio of goals, Fersch and his Kalida defense were able to push aside a pair of Pirate shots that could have pushed the score even higher early in the second half.
Kalida sees their season come to an end at home in the district finals for the first time since 2017 after a pair of regional appearances over the past two campaigns. The Wildcats finish at 7-10-2.
Continental moves to 15-4 on the year and will play Riverdale in Mt. Blanchard on Wednesday night at 7:00 P.M. as they were victorious themselves 1-0 over Bluffton on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier this season Riverdale handed the Pirates one of their four regular season losses 4-2 at home.