DANDY DARNELL
Junior scores twice, but Boone Grove loses in semistate to Lafayette Central Catholic
KOKOMO — Junior forward Lexi Darnell entered this season with 70 goals. Everybody in Northwest Indiana was already familiar with the Boone Grove star.
Lafayette Central Catholic figured out Saturday morning how difficult it is to deal with Darnell, according to Wolves senior Brook Burbridge
“One of the center defenders told the outside defenders to cover Lexi and they were like, ‘I can’t,’” Burbridge said. “When she’s gone, she’s gone.”
Darnell scored two goals and assisted on the other for Boone Grove, but the No. 1 Knights proved their top billing in a 9-3 win at the Class 1A Kokomo Semistate.
“They came out and attacked us, and it was different than what we were used to seeing,” Boone Grove coach Ken Burbridge said. “They pushed their outside wingers and midfielders up and pressed us hard.
“They took advantage of their speed on the outside, making diagonal runs. It’s a valuable experience. To have four or five freshmen start, sometimes six, I have no doubt these girls are going to be back.”
Darnell said the weather, with temperatures falling before 40 degrees and a nonstop rain, was worse than she expected.
“My hands are kind of blue,” Darnell said. “We knew coming out here it was going to rain. We prepared ourselves as much as possible for it to be a gross weather game.
“We came out fast and strong. Even if a coach tells you to prepare for it, I think we just caught them by surprise a little bit. We got some good goals in the first half.”
Burbridge opened the scoring for the Wolves (16-3), finishing off Darnell’s assist. Darnell added the equalizer in the 20th minute and then scored again to put Boone Grove briefly ahead 3-2 in the 23rd minutes.
Darnell finished the season with 36 goals, giving her 106 for her career.
“To be marked up like that and to still end up scoring, I think (assistant) coach (John) Karson said it best,” Ken Burbridge confirmed. “It’s a testament to how good her ability is.”
The Knights (19-2-1) went on to score the next seven goals, including all four in the second half.
“I think it’s a good reminder that even if we do go a whole season with only two losses, we are capable of losing,” Darnell said. “There will be teams better than us.
“We all did a good job of keeping our heads up and reminding ourselves to stay strong. We did get this far, and that in itself is impressive.”
It also was a bittersweet end for Ken Burbridge. His only senior starter was his daughter, Brook.
“He was my second coach ever, probably when I was 7 years old all the way until now,” Brook said. “I did a speech for him on senior night and cried the entire time. It sucks that it’s the end, but at least they’re happy memories.”
“I’m going to cherish this for as long as I live,” Burbridge said of coaching his daughter. “To be able to steal some extra time with her because she has to be with me for soccer was amazing.”