Do you like goals? Then perhaps you should have stopped by the Anderson Indians’ home pitch Saturday for the North Central Conference match between the hosts and the Kokomo Wildkats. The Wildkats had to defeat the hosts to win the conference title, and on a warm fall afternoon, the Kats prevailed 5-4 and earned their first conference championship in nine years and moved to 9-2-1 (4-0-0) on the season. In a match in which the Wildkats never trailed, the hosts fought back each time the Wildkats surged ahead. In the thirteenth minute of play, junior forward Arthur Barbosa scored the first goal off a half volley inside the Indians’ penalty area. Four minutes later, junior midfielder Andre Gomes doubled the Wildkat lead with a big shot from 40 yards out from the right side of the field. The Wildkats controlled the tempo, possession, and shot count at this point. The Indians battled back, though and scored two goals in the final six minutes of the first half to tie it up 2-2. On the first, the Wildkats failed to clear the ball out of the area on a corner kick, and on the second, the Indians intercepted an errant pass in the Kat defensive third and capitalized. The Wildkats reflected and regrouped after the half, and took a 3-2 lead when senior winger Gui Baldinu scored just over two minutes into the second half. The lead did not last long, however, as the Indians tied the match less than a minute after the Kats’ third goal. Senior center back Juan Toscano gave the Kats a 4-3 lead when he headed the ball past the Anderson keeper off of senior winger Javier Carrera’s free kick. Eight minutes later, Anderson tied the game again, notching their fourth goal of the game. Moments later, one of Anderson’s players was issued his second yellow card of the match and ejected, and the Kats capitalized when Barbosa assisted Carrera’s game winning goal with eight minutes left in the match. Kokomo still managed to make things interesting as they, too, played down a man for the last seven minutes after a defender was sent off. When the final whistle was blown, Kokomo secured their fourth conference title and first since 2015. Your men of the match are senior forwards Arthur Barbosa and Javier Carrera, each of whom recorded a goal and an assist. The Wildkats travel to Marion Tuesday to complete conference play with a chance to secure their tenth win of the season and Coach Blessing’s 150th of his high school coaching career. In the JV match, after a slow start in which the Kats conceded a penalty kick, Kokomo registered three first half goals, one each from the sophomore front line of Nathan Lay, Braedyn Booker, and Jadon Colescott. The defense held in the second half, shutting out the Indians. The JV team (4-4-2) concludes their season this week with matches at Marion Tuesday and at home against Lebanon Thursday.