NorthWood-Angola 4-0 (1-0)

A nice and sunny Saturday starts off with the season opener for the JV. With goals from Chandler, Kaden and Omar, it is Douwsma's squad that comes out on top with a solid 3-0 home win. Not everything goes smooth as some Varsity players show up later then the mandatory time. Adjustments to the starting lineup are made which has now two freshman inside the lines at forward and midfield.FIRST HALF: With a personal cheer block present for Corbin, the kick off is almost on time. Despite Angola's bus showing up a little late, we are able to catch up some time since the national anthem was not available yet to be played before the main show. NW starts out with a lot of energy and a lot of quick possession based passing. In the 5th minute, a nicely timed pass from Sebastian reaches Landon whose shot requires a save from the Hornet's last man. Only 60 ticks later, Andre's perfect pass to Sebastian puts the latter in a good position to go at goal . He does without hesitation and slots the ball away for a 1-0 lead early on. In the 13th, Landon serves Sebastian who, by working hard, is open constantly. He collects the ball and takes a shot which goes wide to the right of the frame. In the 18th, Landon's dad makes the best sideline save of the season thus far. The sudden lift off from a sitting position excites the student section, lead by Luke Holland. HALF TIME: focus of the half time speech is on starting out the way we did in the first half but by being more accurate in finishing we need to put them away early. SECOND HALF: The second half starts out about as bad as it possibly could. Jaden gets run over from behind just outside the box, his head hits the ground en he is out for the count. It will be his last action of the day. Fortunately Mr. Widner is present and treats Jaden. Jaden will be under the concussion protocol and his return will likely take a couple of weeks. He did seem to be doing pretty good after the game so hopefully a full return won't take much longer than that. A minute after play resumes, Juan takes possession of the ball in a crowded Angola box. With three quick moves, he bypasses two defenders and is eye to eye with the keeper. He places the ball decisively in the far corner for the 2-0 lead. Juan, on his way back to his own half tells Jaden that "this one's for you!". NW keeps pressing and possessing the ball. Landon goes near the box, crosses and reaches Jerson who in turn scores the 3-0 (45"). The next time NW crosses the middle of the field, Angola's #19 tackles Kyle so hard that Kyle responds with "football was last night, bro". #19 never did take off his football gear but also never tackled another NW player. In the 59th, Marius goes right by the Angola left defender and once close to the corner, he crosses a perfect pass into the 18 that seems headed for Juan's forehead. Juan misses but the ball lands in front of Sebastian who rips the ball hard onto the bottom part of the crossbar but over the line; 4-0. In the 65th, Sebastian does a move in the box that puts a defender out of position, the ball falls in front of Andy. Andy takes a nice hard shot but the Hornet's GK saves the ball with a nice diving effort. All in all, the result is a good one. The only bad news is that Jaden is out for a few games which will mean some changes in the back 3. The Panthers move to 2-0 on the season. Micah and Luke combined for another shut out (their second of the season). NW has scored 14 and not given up a goal in a while. NW had three shut outs at the Panther Classic and two shut outs to start the regular season. Fourteen goals have been scored so far. NOTES: The JV is 1-0 on their season. Both teams play again next Thursday. We will face a very good Northridge team. Like Micah said after the game; "It is Raider week!". We have three full days to focus on the first NLC matchup. JV start Thursday at Northridge is 5 pm, followed by the Varsity game at 6:45. Time to rest up and nurse the knocks from today.