2014 Sectional Finals Plymouth-NorthWood 0-1 (0-0)

After preparing all day with a light agility and possession type practice, a meal at Dutch Village and the bus trip to Plymouth it is time to tackle boys soccer's biggest challenge in four years.FIRST HALF- The game starts on time under great conditions and with the season's largest crowd in attendance. An absolutely great fan base from the NorthWood community has made the trek to Plymouth to support their fellow Panthers. The game starts with two teams trying to settle in and settle down. The play goes back and forth with NW controlling the first ten or so and Plymouth controlling the next 15 minutes of play. In the 25th, a great shot by Plymouth needs a stop by Cody. Isaac receives a yellow in the 28th and Brayton is a recipient of the caution with the same color later on as well. The yellow cards must be on sale today, the ref is almost giving them away for free. In general center referee Meija does a decent job. In the 34th, Derek gets possession of the ball on the left flank. He weaves thru half of the Rockies defense and takes a nice shot. When it leave his foot, it is reminiscent of the shot in the game against Wawasee that found the net. This shot nearly misses wide. In the 35th, a Tanner Fervida cross reaches Eli who probably should have put it away but it would not have mattered since he was flagged for off side. The AR on the bench side is very eager to raise his flag when off side is "suspected". Either way, the ball does not go in........... HALF TIME- A few minor adjustments are addressed such as targeting on free kicks and keeping the ball near or over the Plymouth defense since their defense seems to be their weakness. We also have to be aware of their strength: offensive speed but the bottom line according to Coach Duerksen is work rate. He promises the team that the hardest working team will walk off a winner in 40 minutes. SECOND HALF- NW's effort does not let up. We work hard and a lot of battles are fought out on the stand side of the field. Pipp runs so hard when defending their outside mids and forwards that it looks like his legs might fall off. It is the fourth game in a row that we play hard for 80 minutes. We play attractive and somewhat direct but are able to combine well at times.In the 56th, Ethan comes in to give Derek a well deserved break. Three minutes later, Ethan takes the ball into the left corner and crosses it with his left tight and hard into the box. The ball is handled by a Plymouth defender with his hand instead of his feet and the referee has no option but to point at the dot. Dennyz Barahona gets ready to take his and arguably NorthWood's most important PK ever. As he has in practice all week, he sends the keeper the wrong way for the 0-1 lead. With a little over 21 minutes to play, NW wants to keep the lead but not play to defend it. Plymouth tries to attack more and does so especially in the last 5 minutes. Cody has to come up with several saves. Brayton plays hard to the last whistle as does AC. AC was double marked all night (that happens when you get scouted on a night you score a hat trick) but kept working hard to go thru the defense and when we lost the ball, he helped out defensively. Eli worked hard, Tanner and Derek did as well. Pipp, Juan, Josh, Dylan and Connor were solid. Dennyz has had 4 great games in a row. Ethan contributed when he came in. Isaac worked hard but both Isaac and Brayton have to make sure not to get carded anymore. Cody was very solid and recorded his fourth shutout of the season. The win improves our record to 6-9-3 and gives us our first Sectional Championship in 4 years. This is NorthWood's 5th Sectional Championship overall (2006,2007,2008, 2010, 2014). After the game and picture taking, we boarded the bus where the Nappanee Police were waiting for us at McCormicks to escort us thru town with lights and sirens! Once off the bus, Coach Duerksen told his team how proud he was of all of his players!!!! The Cripes arranged for the team to have pizza at Pizza Hut after the game (THANKS!!!!). Next up: Regional Semi Final vs. Goshen at Baker Park in Mishawaka on Thursday 10/16 at 5 pm. Penn and St Joe play at 7. The winners of these two games will face off on Saturday night at 7 pm.