Good thing Chris Goulbourne and his Glasgow boys’ soccer teammates don’t study too much history, at least in terms of the Region 4 tournament.

The pattern is longstanding – come regional time, drawing Bowling Green or a Warren County school has been a sure ticket out of the postseason. Not since 2006 – when Franklin-Simpson made the championship – has that narrative varied in Region 4.

Actually, the Scotties did know that – they just didn’t care Tuesday night.

Goulbourne connected on a goal off an indirect kick with 12:51 left in the first half, and Glasgow made it stand up for a 1-0 victory at Drakes Creek Middle School, a win that put the Scotties into Thursday’s championship game against Warren Central.

“It feels pretty good and it makes a statement that Glasgow’s here to play,” said Goulbourne, a senior forward/midfielder.

Glasgow (19-2) locked down on defense after Goulbourne’s score, which came when the Scotties drew a foul in the penalty area.

Still with plenty of time, South Warren (9-8-5) kept pushing forward to apply pressure. But just like in the first half, the Spartans too often settled for quantity over quality in terms of shot selection.

“We weren’t very calm, we were rushing everything,” South Warren coach Tom Alexander said. “We were just rushing for shots and we were forcing stuff way too much. I thought that we had possession for the majority of the game and I know that we had more shots than they did. We just didn’t have the quality to get the finish on them.”

The Spartans controlled possession for the majority of the game, including the first half before Goulbourne’s goal. But that foul gave the Scotties a chance. Glasgow’s Adam Garrett set up for the kick, but tapped the ball sideways to Goulbourne for a chance to shoot around the Spartans’ defensive wall.

“He dropped the ball, and I hit it with my left foot and I placed it in the bottom corner,” Goulbourne said. “I knew they were going to jump and I just put it right under them.”

South Warren looked to get the equalizer in the second half when Eldin Velic connected for a goal on a header off Anatoli Emina’s corner kick with 29:56 left in the game, but the apparent score was waved off by the official for goalie interference.

Alexander thinks that goal should have counted for the Spartans.

“I thought he got in, I thought he won the ball, I don’t think the keeper got touched,” Alexander said.

As the clock wound down for South Warren, the game took an ugly turn. In stoppage time, two Spartans drew red cards and a postgame scuffle broke out between the teams on the field that even drew a couple of parents before order was restored.

“There just wasn’t any composure today,” Alexander said. “I wish that we had more composure from our team when it comes to playing, I wish that we had more composure when it comes to the end of the game because that’s completely unacceptable and I don’t ever want somethlng like that to happen to end a game that way. I’m embarrassed by it and I hope this is something that we never have to deal with again.”

The Scotties get a rematch with Warren Central, which dealt them a 4-0 loss on Sept. 7 in their lone regular-season meeting. Even then, Glasgow coach Ken Mahung considered that matchup a potential preview of the regional championship.

“As I told the boys after that game, they exposed us – they exposed us big-time,” Mahung said. “All of our weaknesses came out in that game. So thanks to them, actually, we started preparing for the regional final.”

Goulbourne said the Dragons will see a much different team than the one they handled with ease last month

“At that point in time, our defense wasn’t the strongest,” Goulbourne said. “So now our defense is strong, our midfield is strong, everybody’s strong and we’re here together. So they played a team that wasn’t complete. Now they’re going to play a team that’s complete.”

Warren Central 9, Clinton County 0

District 14 champion Warren Central entered Tuesday’s regional semifinal having allowed just six goals all season, and truth be told Clinton County never really threatened to add to that total as the Dragons cruised into Thursday’s championship with a 9-0 victory.

With Clinton County (9-11-1) intent on defending in hopes of producing a low-scoring game, the Dragons peppered the Bulldogs’ goal with a shot selection that ranged in quality from dangerous to low-percentage in the first half. It was still good enough for a 3-0 lead by the break, as Senid Avdic got the scoring started just three minutes in and Eldar Mahmutovic and Fahrudin Alic added goals as Warren Central (20-1) outshot their opponent 21-0 over the first 40 minutes.

“We just relaxed and and played movement off the ball, just moved the ball around,” Dragons senior defender Elocho Ramazani said. “(Clinton County) wasn’t pushing up a lot, so we had to stay content and just play soccer.”

The Dragons picked up the scoring pace after the break, with Jimmy Estrada striking for two goals within the first three minutes of the second half to push the lead to 5-0.

By then, the Dragons were substituting liberally and managed to get significant minutes for every player on the roster.

Alic added his second goal, then Eh Moo, Ahmed Delic and Leonce Ndikumana tallied scores as Warren Central steadily pulled away.

“We’re healthy, that’s the most important thing, and I think we’re playing some good soccer,” Warren Central coach Aaron Ray said. “So we should be pretty good for Thursday.”{&end}