Bulldogs edge Munster for first regional championship

MERRILLVILLE | It may have had appeared to be completely inadvertent, but it turned out Carmelo Morales' odd-looking goal was exactly what Crown Point needed to rewrite history.

Morales redirected a Brett Bayer free kick with a header that seemed like it was going to sail over the goal, but it floated just between the posts to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 win over Munster in the Merrillville Regional championship -- Crown Point's first in the boys soccer program.

"These are things we work on in practice, and I kind of just tried to put one in the box and hope someone would put something on the end of it," Bayer said of his free kick.

Crown Point coach JR Rosenbaum figured Morales would come through eventually for his team. Being in the biggest game of the season was an added bonus.

"Carmelo did a wonderful job," Rosenbaum said before receiving the customary Gatorade bath. "Early in the year, he was doing a lot of these things, but he wasn't getting the stats to reward him for it. Fortunately, here in the second part of the season, it's translated into goals and assists for him. He's a phenomenal talent."

Morales also said he was playing with a lot more focus than he had previously.

"I tried to make contact with the ball and stay focused," Morales said. "Early in the season, I couldn't really finish. I thought too much before I shot. Now I'm just calmer."

After both teams fought to a 0-0 stalemate in the first half, Morales corralled a Bay Kurtz feed and connected on his first goal with 31:30 left in the game.

Munster (16-4-1) got on the board with 14:43 remaining in the game when Zarko Coric scored his 24th goal of the season on a free kick inside the right goal post. Coric, a senior, will graduate along with nine other seniors.

"Zarko's shot was an amazing shot," Rosenbaum said. "He's an incredible talent that I'm sure no one in Northwest Indiana is going to miss, other than Jim (Prasopoulos, Munster's coach) next year."

Prasopoulos reflected on his season after the game, offering a tip of his cap to the Bulldogs (13-6-2).

"Congratulations to Crown Point, hopefully they will represent our area well," he said. "We had a good season and we accomplished a lot this year. I'm proud of my boys for how hard they worked this year."