Smithton boys soccer forces three-way tie in Kaysinger Conference
Published 4:39 am Tuesday, October 13, 2026
SMITHTON — With Stover one win away from clinching the Kaysinger Conference regular-season boys soccer title outright, Smithton decided to make its presence felt at the top of the standings.
The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 1-0 on Monday, Oct. 12, at Smithton Sports Complex, forcing a three-way tie for first place.
“It’s been four years since we’ve beaten Stover, so we were wanting to get that win,” Smithton head coach Sean Hutchinson said. “I think this ties us, them and Sacred Heart for the conference championship. We really wanted that too, so that was good.”
With the win, Smithton (7-5-1, 3-1 Kaysinger Conference) joins Stover (11-3, 3-1) and Sacred Heart (4-10-1, 3-1) atop the Kaysinger Conference.
According to Hutchinson, there are no tiebreakers, as the conference is determined solely by non-tournament head-to-head regular season matches.
Sacred Heart’s only loss in the conference came to Stover on Sept. 15; Smithton’s only loss came to Sacred Heart on Sept. 29; and Stover’s only loss came to Smithton on Monday.
The Bulldogs won the Kaysinger Conference Tournament 1-0 over the Gremlins on Oct. 9, while the Tigers took third place with a 2-0 win over Green Ridge with Cole Camp.
While Stover entered Monday’s match with momentum off the tournament win, Smithton found its breakthrough when sophomore Eric Adereyko received a pass from senior Braden Soverns at the top of the 18-yard box, dribbled to his right and fired a shot past a diving Dustin Koeller for the goal in the 57th minute.
“Our passing was so good, like the pass strings that led up to the goal,” Adereyko said. “That shot I took was really good. Man, it felt amazing.”
From there, the Tigers’ defense stepped up to complete the shutout.
Sophomore Kiril Bevzyuk stepped in at goalkeeper for Smithton with typical starter junior Jayden Pruitt out with a concussion.
“[Bevzyuk] was not expecting to play,” Hutchinson said. “We just found out literally when we got here that he was going to have to start. He stepped up. He hasn’t been playing a lot of JV goal, and so we warmed him up, he was doing everything he needed to do. He seemed like he’s been back there the entire season with how good he was playing and communicating.”
Stover had a pair of opportunities in the final 10 minutes that Bevzyuk and the Smithton defense thwarted.
With senior Dylan Brodersen bearing down on him, Bevzyuk cut off the angle and stopped a shot attempt with nine minutes remaining.
About four minutes later, Stover senior Juan Esteban-Marquez fired a shot that deflected off Smithton sophomore Carter Riley and fell into the hands of Bevzyuk.
The Bulldogs’ final attempt at an equalizer arrived with less than a minute remaining, when Brodersen fired a long shot that Bevzyuk caught in front of the goal.
“Our defense was great tonight,” Bevzyuk said. “They were working together. They were passing great. Everything about the defense was good. We wouldn’t have won the game without them.”
Smithton moves on to play Lone Jack on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and Moberly on Thursday, Oct. 15.
Stover will play Paseo Academy on Tuesday before hosting the Stover Classic on Saturday, Oct. 17.
The Tigers and Bulldogs could see each other again in the Class 1 District 3 Tournament.
“It’ll probably be us and them as the two and three [come districts],” Hutchinson said. “It’ll be a good game if we do play them again.”
Sports editor Jack Denebeim can be reached at 660-530-0142.
