Friday, September 28, 2012
NorthWood- #6 Bethany Christian 1-2 (1-0)
Seven seniors played their last game on their home turf. And all but one (Tim Escoto, concussion) would start. Kyle Dijkstra in goal, Thadeus Chamberlain on defense, Eusebio Pantoja, Clayton Seitz and Travis Fleetwood in the middle and Taylor Wegmiller occupied the striker position. The first half went back and forth with both teams creating opportunities. Kyle kept us in the game with several good saves. In the 14th Brayton Taylor receives the ball on the right side and with a nice strike delivers the ball to Taylor Wegmiller near the penalty box perimeter. The Bethany keeper decides to come out and without hesitation, Taylor hits the ball on the frame over the goalie for a beautiful goal, 1-0! This was also Brayton's 5th assist of the season. In the 20th, the same Taylor (Wegmiller) receives a yellow caution. Whatever the foul was ( we had seen worse before and sure saw a lot worse later) did not warrant a yellow but it wouldn't be the refs last screw up. As a matter of fact, we really did not get a lot of calls going our way, period. The second half had a different feel to it then the first. Bethany seemed to have more energy then the Panthers and even though the seniors worked hard, things didn't seem to gel as well as they did before the tea. Kyle had to step up and make quite a few tough saves to keep us in the game. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Bethany tied the game at 1-1 and in the 58th, Kyle had to dive on a Bruin forwards' foot to prevent another goal. In the 62nd minute, Bethany attacked on the left flenk and a floater made it to one of their forwards who deposited the ball into the net for the final score of 1-2.
Bethany is a good team with a lot (10)of seniors and some very solid players. Unfortunately we were not able to come back and tie or win the game but the fact remains that we are a dangerous team that can strike at any minute, so we have never really been out of any games (with the exception being Central 2nd half) this year. The focus will be on Sectionals now where we will once again face Plymouth at Plymouth for the third time this year (both pre-season and regular season games ended in 1-4 wins). It will be a tough game for NorthWood. Plymouth is a team with little talent but they play very physical and at times we will depend on good and fair calls from referees so it does not get out of hand and in all honesty, I have not been impressed by the level of officiating this year.
All players are healthy for Monday. The bus will leave at 4:45 from the High School. The game will start at 6 pm and will be the only Sectional game played that night. The winner advances to the 7pm contest against Culver Academies on Wednesday night.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Senior Night - Final Reminders (from Lindy Seitz)
Senior night is tonight (Thursday 9/27/12). The pre-game festivities begin at 6:15.The Senior Night Meal following the Varsity Contest will be in the Elementary School cafeteria. All Varsity/JV players and their families are invited. Bring a dish to share! Special Attention Senior Parents:
Photo tables, to show everyone how cute they were when they were little, will be provided in the cafeteria. Set up time is between 4 and 6 pm. All Senior Parents will need to be ready to go and meet on the Game Field no later then 6:15 to prep for the pre-game intros!
Photo tables, to show everyone how cute they were when they were little, will be provided in the cafeteria. Set up time is between 4 and 6 pm. All Senior Parents will need to be ready to go and meet on the Game Field no later then 6:15 to prep for the pre-game intros!
Gameday 9/27/12 vs Bethany Christian
The JV game will start at 5 pm. After that the focus will turn to the Seniors (info at "2012 Senior Night" blog). Bethany Christian is ranked 6th in the final Coaches Poll in Class 1A and has an 11-4 record. Results with common opponents are nearly identical.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
NorthWood Men's Soccer School Records (as of 09/25/12)
Clay Seitz sets single season scoring record with 23 goals (so far)
Plymouth-NorthWood 1-4 (0-3)
The team left Nappanee under somewhat sunny skies and temps in the 70's only to arrive in Plymouth under cloudy skies with windy and cool conditions. Fortunately, the wind died down and it would turn into a nice night to sit back and watch the Panthers take on the last NLC opponents of the season.The warm up features music from several decades ago and might be partly to blame for Plymouth's dismal season. The announcements were made by a person who tried to clear his throat while pronouncing all players' names (but did not always succeed in the latter, hence the announcement of "Pantaja" and "Dicksen").
FIRST HALF
As usual, the team needs about 5 minutes to settle down. Plymouth takes the ball at the NW defensive third from the kick off. But in the 9th, NW gets its first opportunity. A Seitz pass to Wegmiller results in the first of many shots at the Plymouth goal. The shot bounces off a Plymouth defender for a corner. Taylor takes the corner and Eusebio takes a nice directional shot off a rebound and only the rear end of a Plymouth defender prevents the first score of the night. We only have to wait another 60 seconds for the opening score. Brayton gets the ball near the right side line in the middle third of the field. His accurate pass finds Taylor who, with a nice touch and great speed, slices thru the Plymouth defense and goes one on one with the keeper. He finds the net with a pass on the goal, 0-1! But Mr. Assist (Taylor) is not satisfied with just a goal and gets involved right away again in the 11th. His pass near the box to Clay is near perfect. Clay goes around the defense and takes a decisive shot and connects for the 2 goal lead. In the 15th, two hard close range bullets find the hands of the quick reacting Plymouth keeper who prevents an early blowout. When two defenders blunder in the back, Taylor gets another chance but a deflection of the shot turns into another corner. In the 29th, Tad clears the ball from the back. The long ball goes near the Plymouth defense where Taylor takes a shot that misses to the right of the woodwork. In the 36th, Barahona is in possession of the ball and distributes the ball on the ground to the left of the Plymouth defense, to Parker. With a nifty move, Parker puts himself in a nice position inside the box where he faces the Plymouth keeper. His shot to the right of the goal gets touched by the goalie but still has enough pace to continue its path to the goal. Despite a desparate attempt by a defender -who slides into the goal-, the ball makes it over the goal line to extend the Panthers' lead to 0-3.
HALF TIME
The coaches talk about getting the ball to Clay and Taylor with thru balls and balls over the top. Finishing off Plymouth with one more goal soon after the second half kick off is the goal or as Coach Duerksen puts it: "put 'em in the body bag, Johnny!".
SECOND HALF
The ever cocky #10 throws the ball far, well most of the time. Early on in the second half he attempts a throw in to a teammate in close proximity and it is the second worst throw in I have seen, ever! The worst came just a few minutes before that by another Plymouth player who only let go of the ball when it hit his nose. The 0-3 score clearly frustrates Plymouth and play on the field gets pretty chippy. The Rockies/Pilgrims commit lots of fouls especially on Taylor who also gets man marked (#12) the rest of the night much to Taylor's delight. Wherever Taylor goes, #12 goes. So Taylor makes a few trips near the NW bench only to be closely followed by his little companion. Eusebio collides with a Plymouth midfielder. He hobbles a bit and Duerksen asks if he is okay. "Just a little charlie horse, coach" cries Eusebio. But he continues play despite the "charlie pony injury". In the 48th, NW allows a Plymouth attack and Kyle Van Lue does not experience any defensive pressure from us and takes a rip. The shot finds the near upper 90 and decreases the lead by one goal to 2 (1-3). But the Panthers recover from this letdown and keep putting pressure on the opponents defense. In the 60th, Taylor takes a shot inside the box but his effort meets up with the Plymouth keepers hands. David has a nice shot off a rebound in the 63rd and nearly scores. In the 72nd, Taylor again makes it past the Plymouth defense and seems to go one on one until he gets clobbered from behind for the sure red card. There was no intent to play the ball, the only intent was to mow down the player. The Plymouth defender only gets a yellow caution (he would be the second player on his team to receive a card; #6 got one in the first half when he lost his composure and kicked a ball on to the practice field). In minute 75, Taylor passes the ball to Clay who gets double marked right away. But his spin move (the "Cristiano")takes him away and around both defenders and his shot takes the dust of the ropes for the final 1-4 score. Tim is wailing on the bench because he "taught him that move". His turn hopefully comes Monday when we hope to see him back in action. All in all a good night; Thirteen players saw the field. And not one had a bad night, as a matter of fact, all had a good to very good night. Beebe probably played his best game of the year, Eusebio had Plymouths' number all night, defensively Tad, Dyksen and Dennyz were solid. Brandon played well and had an assist, Parker had a goal and was open a good portion of the night. Brayton/David & Conner all performed well. Taylor and Clay did what they have done all season (produce) and Kyle wasn't super busy but got some good saves and his punts were unbelievable (in hockey he would have had an assist) and he said he loved booting this -mutli colored- ball.
NOTES
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Directions to Plymouth
For at least the next two away games you can use these directions.
The total trip to Plymouth is 25 miles; take US 6 West and turn left (South) on US 31. Take the ramp towards Plymouth. This is Michigan Rd.. This will turn into N. Michigan St. in Plymouth, turn left on Baker St.. Stay on Baker for several blocks until you get near the High School. You will see the soccer plex on your left and parking will be on the right. The JV game has a 5 pm start and the Varsity takes the field at 6:45 pm tonight.
NorthWood draws Plymouth
NorthWood will face tonight's opponent Plymouth again on Monday October 1st in the 2012 Sectionals first round. The sectional game will start at 6 pm at Plymouth. Session tickets are $ 6 each, Season Tickets are $ 9. The winner of the Monday game will play Culver Academies on Wednesday October 3rd at 7 pm, Warsaw drew Wawasee in the other Wednesday game (5 pm start). The Finals will be played on Saturday October 6th at 7 pm. All games will be at Plymouth's soccer plex. No lawn chairs are allowed so all fans have to be seated in the stands.
IHSAA Sectional draw today
Five schools compete in Sectional 7; NorthWood, Plymouth, Wawasee, Warsaw and Culver Academies. The first game will be on Monday 10/1 at 6 pm, the second and third game will be on Wednesday 10/3 (5 & 7 pm), the Final will be played on Saturday 10/6 at 7 pm. All games will be played at Plymouth High School.
Monday, September 24, 2012
TWINS
This week is the last week of the regular season. Two game days are scheduled for this week. On Tuesday we will travel to Plymouth to play our last NLC game of the season (but not necessarily last NLC opponent). On Thursday we will host class 1A #7 Bethany Christian on our Senior Night. After the Bethany game, family and friends will join the team in the elementary school cafeteria as we do each year for a post game meal. We will honor this year's seniors before the Varisty kick off. Monday's practice is at the High School (3:30-5:30). Wednesday's practice will be at the game field. Thursday's JV game concludes their season and so, Wednesday's practice will be their last. The Varsity will practice on Friday, location to be determined but hopefully it will be at the game field. The Sectional draw will be on Tuesday September 25 at 8 am EDT. This year's Sectional will be at Plymouth High School. Warsaw and Plymouth alternate in hosting Sectional #7. The following schools are in this sectional. Culver Academies, NorthWood, Plymouth, Warsaw and Wawasee. The Sectionals start next week (dates are Oct 1, 3, 5 & 6). Actual match up, dates and times will be posted here tomorrow.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
View from the bus
Concord-NorthWood 3-2 (1-1)
25" Concord 1-0
26" NorthWood 1-1 (Taylor goal, B. Barahona assist)
42" Concord 2-1
62" Concord 3-1 81" NorthWood 3-2 (Clay goal -ties school record for single season -21-)
26" NorthWood 1-1 (Taylor goal, B. Barahona assist)
42" Concord 2-1
62" Concord 3-1 81" NorthWood 3-2 (Clay goal -ties school record for single season -21-)
Friday, September 21, 2012
Guess whose foot this is (do the 7 hairs give it away?)
NorthWood-John Glenn 4-0 (1-0)
Referees were scheduled for a 6:45 pm game so we were left to explain the same mistake that was made only a few days ago at South Bend Riley. It is not that easy to start a game warm up, finish it and the entire time worrying why refs are not there, trying to find someone who might know, keeping a crowd of about 100 informed and then trying to figure out when to re-start a warm up and keep the boys motivated. And doing this when the season is in a crucial stage (NLC season coming to a close, sectionals only a week and a half away) it sure would be nice that these type of problems wouldn't pop up. The game was slated for a 5 pm start (according to the Glenn & NWHS websites and our schedules) but the refs were contracted for a 6:45 start. So they had to be called and they all came as quick as they could. The game was able to kick off at 6:08 pm. Thanks to all who came out to support the team and thanks for your patience. We will strive in the future tocontinue to have the correct game times on this blog (read yesterday's morning blog under "Reminder").
FIRST HALF
Thursday, September 20, 2012
REMINDER: EARLY GAME TODAY
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