NorthWood-#23 Warsaw 0-1 (0-1)

FIRST HALF-Warsaw leaves with a win, several yellow and a red caution and should consider themselves lucky with those totals! Probably should have been more cards of both colors and they are lucky to escape Nappanee with a win. At least the national anthem went fine. In the third minute of the game it all starts to go wrong. Warsaw's #21 goes right into Cody after Cody dives on a ball. The -obvious- foul does not get called and that incident sets the tone for a good portion of the game after that. In the 10th (my stats, the paper says 21st min), a long keeper punt from the Warsaw goalie lands on the right side. A Warsaw midfielder takes two touches and crosses the ball into the box. The #21 takes the ball, turns away from Conner and shoots the ball past Cody, 0-1. In the 15th, NorthWood gets close to the equalizer when AC shoots near post but a Warsaw defender deflects the pig bladder onto the post for a corner. Near the end of the half, Cody dives for a save and again, a Warsaw forward kicks at Cody after he collects the ball. This time Warsaw gets a yellow. But it keeps getting more physical. If the center referee would have dealt with the first attack on Cody, additional attacks would probably not happen. With a minute left in the half, David tries to shield a ball to let it go over the end line but "tries" is the operative word here. Warsaw's #21 shoves David in the back in a very dirty manner. The foul earns him a red card (deservedly so; actions like this should warrant longer suspensions then just one game) but David stays on the ground injured. Trainer Paul Widner treats and checks David and it is obvious that David is not able to return to the pitch. And it might be a while before we have him back. Warsaw's coach Scott Bauer comes over to the NW bench and apologizes for the actions of his #21. Coach Bauer is a classy coach and we understand that he can not control someone from spinning out of control like that. It is unfortunate that a player has this little self control! HALF TIME- With David out, there is a need for a revamped lineup. Coach Duerksen shifts some people around and enters Tanner into the lineup as the workhorse on the right side. SECOND HALF- The Panthers come out working hard. The change from playing possession to playing more long ball and counter attack is working out well. NorthWood is more dangerous than Warsaw in the second act. Good passing in the back, good combinations in the middle but more so great passing to our attackers (midfielders and forwards) lead to opportunities. Deep into the second half, a counter pass to Tanner on the right side gets called off side even though Tanner places the ball in perfect fashion into the ropes. It is impossible to see if the AR was right from our angle but this same AR had messed up on the two previous off side calls so chances are he might have been right because who would screw up an off side call three times in a row? The equalizer does not count and the score stays 0-1. NorthWood keeps pressing however and with a little over a minute left, the Panthers are awarded a free kick just outside the box. This after Brayton had been fouled earlier in the box but no PK or foul was called. Coach Duerksen calls for the clock to be stopped (and the crew in the shed obeys their coach). The clock stops at 1:01. This upsets the Warsaw bench after they find out that the center ref never signaled for the clock to be stopped. Now we enter into a bizarro math discussion. The ref says that since he did not signal for the clock to be stopped, it should be reset to 1:07 (apparently adding and subtracting were not his strong suits in school). Warsaw and the AR make a case for subtracting time from the clock to about 51 seconds but some NorthWood coaches argue that you can not come up with a random time and point out that IHSAA does not have rules stating how to deal with a clock that was stopped in error. The case is made to just start the clock when the free kick is taken and the confused arbiters just kind of agree. The ensuing kick does not make it into the net and the remaining seconds run off the clock without anyone else getting hurt. The men in green should have been able to perform better tonight then they did. This crew is usually one of our better crews but sure had an off night tonight. The result in itself isn't bad, it is just that we deserved more. Hopefully David is able to play again soon and hopefully all other minor injuries will get better soon as well. NOTES- Next up is 7-1-1 #15 Goshen at Goshen on Thursday, JV 5 pm, V at 6:45. The JV ties Warsaw 2-2 and had opportunities to put Warsaw away (one 1v1 and two shots on the cross bar). Today's practice will start with a 3:15 meeting in Coach Duerksen's room to watch last night's game tape. We will then go outside to do some possession and a finishing drill. We should be done by or before 5 pm.