NorthWood-Memorial 4-2 (2-1)

On a cold night the temperatures in the 50's were matched by the size of the crowd. The sound system was giving us problems again but the issue was resolved by Duerksen, Shields & Mattern (not a law firm!). And the National Anthem could be heard before the kickoff and all this under the direction of a fan in the southwest corner off the field. And just so you know you are in Nappanee, Indiana, we were joined by an Amish contingent who had congregated near the maintenance building.

FIRST HALF

NorthWood starts out somewhat shaky and lets Memorial dictate play in the beginning phase of the game. We have to wait until about the 8th minute before we see a NW offensive threat. Eusebio lollypops a ball towards the Memorial goal. The shot/cross/pass skips off the crossbar and over the goal. Four minutes later, a nice solid Memorial shot requires a save on the ground from Kyle. In the 13th, Clay plays a long thru ball to Taylor who finds himself going one on one with the Memorial keeper. The keeper makes a save to prevent NW from taking the lead. In the 20th Taylor returns the favor and plays a thru ball (recurring theme maybe?) to Clay. Clay goes into the box and around the keeper. With his angle diminishing but the goal open, he shoots but his effort goes over the woodwork. In the 23rd, Eusebio plays a ball thru (here it is again!) to Taylor who doesn't disappoint and signs for the 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, Memorial attacks but loses the ball to Tad who in turn, gives it back up to Memorial. The ball is curled from the left top of the 18 into the right upper 90 for a 1-1 tie. In the 35th minute of play, Taylor crosses the ball from the center of the field to Clay on his left. Clay takes a shot/cross that can not be recovered by the Memorial keeper. Instead it continues thru the box where a crashing Tim uses his instep to double the Panthers' output for the half (2-1). A few minutes later, Memorial is the team with a great opportunity. From about 5 yards out a Memorial midfielder finds himself with the ball and no one to challenge him. His shot meets up with Kyle's hands as he dives to his left to prevent the 2-2.

HALF TIME

Same old, same old. Workrate and the basic things we talk about at most breaks. By now, most players can probably ramble off the halt time speech.

SECOND HALF

It seems that the second half has a similar start to the first half and it gives the coaches an uneasy feeling. It seems we are not capable of pulling away tonight. In the 52nd, Memorial shows us why we feel uneasy. They tie the game (2-2) when we give up possession at about the 30 and then let them come into the box and let them score. The middle of the second half is not pretty and actually approaches ugly more then anything else. In the 56" and 58" Taylor gets some shots off, the latter after a nice wide pass outside from Conner Miller. It would take until the 70th before we will see some more action. The theme of the night continues when Taylor serves Clay with a trhu ball. Clay connects after receiving the ball with a nice typical Seitz laser (3-2). And then it gets a little chippy. A foul is committed on Taylor. He doesn't get the call and somewhat retaliates. The center ref decides to take care of matters by asking both players to shake hands in order to prevent the hand out of yellow cards. The Memorial player decides that he does not have enough common sense or class in him to do that (Taylor reaches out his hand) so the ref decides to give BOTH (?) players a yellow. This upsets Coach Duerksen who now goes apenuts because this decision makes no sense. This decision to hand out yellow to Taylor and the classless Memorial defender was bad enough but it is also starting to boil Duerksen's blood. And that reaches its boiling point soon thereafter when once again a first foul by Memorial isn't called but a second one by NW is. The "discussion" between the ref and Duerksen results in a yellow card for the head coach (who is now tied with his assistant; season score yellows - 1-1). All this consternation seems to somehow motivate the Panthers into attacking (a little late but I guess better late then never). In the 77th, Clayton slaloms thru the Chargers defense and seems to get around the keeper but the ball goes to his left and is now in front of a Memorial central defender. But just when you think the ball is being cleared, Clay goes down at the ball and while falling makes contact with the ball. The ball rolls over the goal line, 4-2! The first NLC win of the season and the last NLC win at home for the Seniors!

NOTES

The Varsity has won two games in a row and has not lost since September 11th (when they were beat by #3 Warsaw 2-3). The record stands at 6-5-2 (1-2-2 in NLC). The varsity practices at the game field in preparation for tomorrows home game vs. John Glenn (VARSITY ONLY/EARLY START*****5 PM*****). The JV practices at the High School today.  The JV beat Memorial 2-0 and is also on a two game winning streak!