Panthers now await at-large berth to nationals
A costly first loss of the season leaves the No. 4 Neosho County Panthers’ fate in the hands of the NJCAA as the Panthers fell to No. 15 Johnson County, 2-1, in Sunday’s regional final at home.
Johnson County netted a pair of goals in the first half with the wind at their backs — both coming off the boot of Conor Meyers on set pieces.
“That’s where we didn’t take advantage on the other side,” Neosho County head coach Elliot Chadderton said. “We didn’t put the balls into spots like they did in the first half. That was the difference.”
Neosho County All-American striker Callum Niven brought the Panthers back within one with a goal in the 33rd minute.
In the second stanza, Johnson County parked the bus and denied the Panthers the chance to equalize.
“If you’re protecting a lead and if the roles were reversed, we’d have done the same thing,” Chadderton said. “We had a couple of chances where we should’ve done better. But that’s how football goes sometimes.”
Neosho County played the match without Zak ElHannach, who served a yellow card suspension.
“He’s a top player but at the end of the day, I can’t control the yellow cards,” Chadderton said. “If you’re a guy that gets a lot of yellows, you’ve got to be smarter in certain areas. Towards the end of the season, we got too loose with the yellow cards. We can’t afford to have one of our best players missing in a regional final.”
The loss was Neosho County’s first of the year — its record sits at 14-1-3.
“It’s going to hurt knowing we don’t know what the future holds,” Chadderton said. “We’ll have to see how the rest of the districts go and get in with an at-large.”
Up next
Neosho County awaits the results of district championships to see if it’ll get an at-large bid to the NJCAA Division II national tournament in Wichita.
Ranked No. 4 in the nation, Neosho County will be a heavy favorite to get a berth.
“To get all the way to a region final without losing speaks for itself,” Chadderton said. “We have good wins over ranked teams. But it’s a tough one. It’s a game of opinions. We’ve got to hope somebody has our back to push us through.”
Chadderton won’t have a rooting interest in the district title match between Johnson County and No. 7 Iowa Lakes. However, he’s hoping most districts stay chalky — the more favorites that win to secure automatic berths, the more likely Neosho County is to book one of the four at-large tickets.
“It doesn’t really matter because they’re both below us,” Chadderton said. “It’ll just depend on the other districts. We can’t have a ton of upsets. That’s where things could get tricky. We need the other districts to pull through.”
District championships are on Saturday, with the selection show on Nov. 11.
“We’ll give the guys a couple of days off. From there, we’ll train a bit, then rest and recover over the weekend,” Chadderton said. “By then, we’ll have a good idea of whether or not we’ll make it.”
