MILWAUKEE SELECT BLUE WINS DICK'S SPORTING GOODS MIDWEST CUP HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION - EARNS BID TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
(July 02, 2009)
by Sarah Eigner
For Milwaukee Select Blue (Wis.), the second time was the charm at the Dick's Sporting Goods Midwest Cup.
Milwaukee Select Blue came back after losing, 4-2, to the STL Samurai Blackbelts (Mo.) just 24 hours earlier to win the boys' high school division championship game, 5-4, over the Samurai. The victory earned Milwaukee Select Blue a bid to compete for the national championship at the Dick's Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions.
"I changed up my offense a little bit," said Sidney Jones, co-head coach of Milwaukee Select Blue. "We had a pretty structured offense going into the first game that wasn't really producing a lot against their defense. In the second game, I let the guys go a lot more freelance and let them do whatever they wanted to do to put the ball in the net."
Though Jones tweaked his game-plan, he wasn't worried about instilling optimism in his team before the championship game. "They were already pumped up and ready to play and win."
And that's exactly what they did. Justin Cutter, head coach of the Blackbelts, attributed his team's loss to its failure to execute.
"We had a breakdown of fundamentals," explained Cutter. "It was just not being able to do the basics and keep possession of the ball. They did a better job of controlling the flow of the game."
With the record between these two teams even at one win apiece, which team would come out with the victory if they were to meet again? Blackbelts' attackman Hunter Tubbs is confident his team would prevail.
"We would smash them. Now we are the ones that lost with the chip on our shoulders."
Meanwhile, Coach Cutter had a more challenging message for his players. He warned the Blackbelts after the loss that, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
When asked who would win a theoretical tie-breaker, Jones wasn't so sure.
"I'd like to say we would win. With two talented teams like that, you can't really tell."
After winning when it mattered most, Jones and his team now have their sights set on a new challenge: being competitive at the national championship this winter.
"Our goal is just to do as well as we can," explained the co-head coach. "I'd like to be above .500 and make it to the playoffs at least; but, more or less, I really want these guys to get the experience from playing teams out east."
Unfortunately, the Blackbelts may be out of luck when it comes to competing for the national title, as they did in January, 2008.
"We actually aren't playing in any other qualifying tournaments this year because we didn't think we would need to," confessed Cutter. "It was our goal to win [this tournament] and we unfortunately failed to reach that goal. It will definitely force us to alter our plans for the fall and winter."
Come January, Look out for Milwaukee Select Blue defensive stars Jason Willms and Jason Eoerner to slow down the nation's top offenses at the Dick's Sporting Goods Tournament of Champions. Both players not only share the same first name and position; they are also both all-conference football and lacrosse players in the state of Wisconsin.
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