Open Gym (OG/NES) information

The State Championships are done (Ft. Wayne Concordia is the State runner up in Class 2) so the off season begins tonight. Open Gym (OG) at Nappanee Elementary School (NES) is from 7-8:30 pm tonight. Make sure to be on time because the doors will be locked after 7 pm. Enter at Door #5 (behind the soccer field bleachers).

Fall Awards

The Fall Awards are on Thursday November 9th at 6:30 pm in the auditorium.

Open Gym Update

With the help of the Athletic Office and Mr. Cripe, we have secured an off season spot for our boys soccer program. We will have OG every Monday from 7 - 8:30 in the gym of the Nappanee ELementary School. Use door #5 on the soccer field side to get in. Off sesaon soccer will consist of Futsal games.

First Open Gym date 10/30/17

The first OG will be on the practice field (AC in ruins). Times TBA.

Motocross mishap results in first off season injury

Andre DeFreitas injures himself on a dirt bike.......

All done.....

Season over..... Players help taking down nets

Reminder

Today the jerseys and warm ups need to be turned in at 3:15. Meet in Coach Duerksen's room. Afterwards, the seniors will take the nets down at the game field.

Wawasee-NorthWood 2-0 (2-0)

After a good start and some chances for NW, the first goal however is scored by Wawasee in the 25th. Six minutes later, another goal changes the scoreboard to 2-0 which would be the final score as well. It never seemed that we were in the game after the first goal and yet, it never felt that we were out of it but in the end, not enough dangerous opportunities are created to score that important first NW goal to change the momentum. Obviously we are all disappointed knowing that we were very close to reaching a Sectional final against either Garrett or Angola. Once we let it all sink in, we will realize that we have had a good season. Going from a 5 win season last year to a very respectable 9-9 this year. We had set three goals for the season: win the pre-season tournament, win the Argos tournament and win Sectionals. We made two of the three goals and fell short on the last one. A lot of seasons you can end up with a good record or championships but the team chemistry is what is important; for this season and the next one! This is a group of guys that get along, they don't get too high and they don't get too low. The seniors this year provided great leadership and really helped a lot of the younger guys along. The seniors will be missed. At the same time, we have a lot of talent on the team and all of these guys will get better in the next 9 months when we start another journey! NOTES- Tuesday October 10th we will meet in Duerksen's room after school to turn in warm ups and jersey's etc. (clean!). We will also take down the nets at the practice and game field. We will not have any off season work outs until after the State Finals which means that as long as we can find a facility to play in, we can start back up on Monday October 30th. When we finalize plans on that, I will post it. The same goes for the Fall Awards which will probably be in that same week. I want to thank all the parents, grandparents and siblings and fans for the support during the season. Thanks to the Weldy's for providing the team with food and drinks. Thanks to all the parents who hosted team dinners as well. This truly is a year long journey that started last November and now we will start our next 12 month journey in about 3 1/2 weeks. Thanks for reading the blog, it has been a fun year to do this again -fun for me that is, it might not have been a lot of fun to read- and hope to see you on the sidelines again next year! It is important for our future players to be at the off season Monday night pick up games but for now, all of you should enjoy a few weeks without soccer!

Practice between Sectionals round 1 & 2

Sectionals Matchday 2

Matchday 2 at the Wawasee Sectionals is a double feature today. At 5 pm, the Panthers take on host Wawasee and at 7 pm Angola faces Garrett. The winners move on to the 2 pm Saturday Sectional Final. NorthWood has a 9-8 record with 38 goals scored and 37 given up. We are 3-3 at home, 3-5 on the road and 3-0 on neutral sites. The Warriors are 6-7-3 on the season and have scored 45 goals and given up 56! The Wawasee players to watch are #4 (Pena) who has 16 goals and 15 assists so far and #24 (Edington) who has amassed 13 goals and 5 assists. So between the two, they have scored 29 of the 45 total goals for the Warriors. Our head to head game about a month ago was won by the Panthers, 5-3. The top goal scorers for the Panthers are Sebastian Guillen (10 goals/4 assists), Juan Pantoja (9 goals, 5 assists), Landon Parker (8 goals, 7 assists) and Jerson Sanchez-Baires with 4 goals (2 in the West Noble game) and 2 assists. This game will be another battle for NorthWood against an NLC opponent who plays literally on their home -artificial- turf. The weather forecast shows cloudy skies and 70 degrees at 5 pm. We have been notified that seating is restricted to the main stand on the North side of the football field for the remainder of the Sectionals games. The team will leave the school around 3:40 in two mini buses.

Today's practice information

Just looking back at last night's game, it is obvious that it was a hard fought physical battle. Our seniors showed true leadership with Juan, Matt, Corbin, Jadon and Micah (boatload of saves to keep us in the game) on the field and Mason and Randy on the sidelines. But now it is back to reality which is the reality of preparing for the next game. The opponent is Wawasee which will play on its home turf (!). Our practice today is on the game field and will be fairly light. There are some focus points but we should be done around 5 pm. NOTES- Mason is still injured but everyone else seems to have healed up enough for tomorrow's game. Mason will practice today and we will see how that will play out. The bus will leave the school at 3:45 tomorrow for our round 2 match up with Wawasee. Again, it was nice to see us get a signature win last night against a team that was ranked 19th in 2A, was 12-4 and came in won a 10 game winning streak. A match preview will be posted tomorrow.

Sectionals Round 1 ...in pictures

West Noble - NorthWood 3-4 (1-1)

The introduction of the team turns out to be a great opportunity to butcher some names. First the announcer switches first and last names ("Number 8..... Edwards Trent") and finally, when the names are in the correct order, we end up with Jadon Stingmetz and Juan Pantogia which sounds more like an aged Italian cheese but we came here to play and now that the announcements are out of the way we can start kicking the ball around. FIRST HALF- The game starts out with both teams playing a bit nervous and trying to feel each other out. It is obvious that the 19th ranked Chargers with their 12-4 record, are a skilled team. Their #10, # 12 (more about him later) and #13 are technically smooth and fast players. A breakaway in the middle of our defensive third gives their #10 a 1v1 opportunity but Micah saves the day, for now. Six minutes later we see Landon create NW's first chance. Outside the box, he turns and shoots. A great effort but his shot goes wide to the right but it gives us confidence and now we know that we will have opportunities with our counter attacks. In minute 20, Landon gets a target pass from the back. Landon serves Jerson who dribbles up and shoots for the first (but not last) Panther lead of the game, 0-1. We only hang on to the lead for 4 minutes. A quick Charger pass to #13 turns into a 1v1 with Micah. #13 slots the ball into the net for the first (but not last) tie of the game, 1-1. The West Noble fans behind the bench go nuts and would stay nuts for the majority of the game (except for the last 62 ticks on the clock). In the 37th, we see the first genuine flop, from #12. The grimace on his face makes you think his career is over, but minutes later he is back at it. 1-1 is the Half Time score. Before the game Coach Duerksen talked about "work"; putting in the work, working hard and working for each other as well as "Trust" (trust your touch, trust your instinct and trust your teammates). So at the half, only minor adjustments are necessary as we play well, have had some chances and just need to keep working hard. SECOND HALF- The second act starts out with a bang, a Jerson bang. A minute into the half, Jerson unleashes a unbelievable shot that finds the net from about 30 out. For all the times that he has missed some of these this season, this is the one that is as important as any goal we have scored this season. But again, the Panthers do not hold on to the lead long. In the 45th, West Noble ties the game again, 2-2. This game goes back and forth. West Noble has a lot of the possession but every time the Panthers get or steal the ball, they are dangerous and go in counter attacking mode quickly. The field plays fast. In the 51st, the Panthers are awarded a free kick on the right side from about 40 out. Landon Parker, with his left -of course-, sends the ball over the West Noble high line so NW can run onto the ball at the far post. Juan is the last one to connect with the ball and hits the ropes for the third NW lead (2-3). Taking a free kick like this, is one of the adjustments the coaches talked about at the half. Most free kicks did not go far enough earlier in the game and we needed it to go over the line towards our own players. In minute 53, Micah drops the ball in the box to waste some time but "inadvertently" touches the ball before dropping it and then picking it back up so a indirect free kick is awarded to West Noble right around the edge of the box. The shot bangs around the box and eventually gets cleared. Before and after this, WN #12 gets hurt about 7 times. It looks like he has suffered an ACL, broken ankle and three broken legs but is able to play on. In the 60th, Corbin plows over a WN midfielder inside the 18. West Noble gets the chance to tie the game for the third time. The well placed PK does just that, 3-3. The coaches are hoping but wondering if we can come back from this tie to go ahead one more time or is it a game destined for OT and perhaps even a PK shoot out. But just as we start thinking about preparing for OT, a foul inside the Charger box results in a PK call for NW. Juan, as a captain and leader of the team, places the ball on the 12. His confident shot finds the net, 3-4! With a little over a minute to play, the Panthers are able to hold on to the lead and earn a spot in the second round (Wednesday at 5 pm)! All season long we won the games we should win and were not able to get a signature win. But we got one now!

Sectional Round 1 Matchday

Today is win or go home day, simple as that. The Panthers' first round opponent is West Noble. West Noble is ranked 94 by MaxPreps and NorthWood was ranked near that until our defeat at Bethany; we are now at 124. We feel that we have been unlucky in the scoring department as of late. Where earlier on a lot of opportunities went in, lately we have found the keeper or woodwork in our way. The Panthers enter the Wawasee Sectionals with a 8-8 record. A win tonight will guarantee that we will finish the season with no less then a 500 record. This will be the final Sectionals for our seniors. Matt, Micah, Corbin, Jadon, Mason and Juan have been with us for four years and Randy for two. Juan has been a Varsity starter for all four and will be heavily relied on. Mason is still dealing with his ankle injury so his status will be known closer to game time. Hopefully all the other minor knocks have improved over the weekend. If the team comes out and plays hard, Juan style, we will walk off the field with win number 9! The bus leaves the school at 3:45. The game starts at 5 pm and will be played on the Wawasee football field (artificial turf).