2020 Class 2-A Final Four

Courtesy pantherpawprints.com

Images from Semi State - courtesy Goshen News

More images from Semi State

Season ends in PK Shootout at Semi State

The pictures above illustrate the last game of our historic season. The clock shows 0-0 with the time indicating 7 minutes of Extra Time. After regular and overtimes, the game is still tied at 0-0 and we go to the PK Shootout. Coach Duerksen paces the sideline as the season comes to an end.We end up losing the Penalty Kick Shootout in dramatic fashion 2-3. But what a season it was. A historic and record setting one. NorthWood is the only public school left in Class 2A Final Four action. The seniors showed great leadership, determination and sportsmanship. No doubt that the underclassmen will have learned from that. The final record is 15-4-3. We had our chances and twice or maybe even thrice, it looked like we would score only to be surprised by some last minute stuntwork by the Canterbury defense. The private school had a solid defense, a little bit of an overrated keeper (thanks for crashing our after game huddle) and a very unsportsmanlike midfielder (thanks for flipping of our crowd). We in return showed more class with also a very good defense, good sportsmanship and a lot of fight. We are very proud of our young men. Officiating was below par tonight and mistakes were made that disadvantaged both teams. Some non decisions surely impacted the outcome of the game when both Luis and Joey were taken down inside the box in the second half and neither time did the ref blow the whistle. I understand not wanting to be the one who determines the outcome of a game but a PK is a PK and the reason you have arbiters. A 3 on the scale from 1-10. And then we are not even talking about not noticing one of our PK's being taken from the wrong spot.

Not wanting to sound like a sore loser and blaming others, the Panthers executed the game plan well and just did not get the ball over the line. The bottom line is that we had a great team, great succes, and great times. We are proud of this team and we thank our Seniors for four years of hard work with so much succes!!!!!

Practice Update

Today's practice will be in the AC due to the weather. Bring indoor shoes.

Friday Practice Information

Today's practice will be at Wellfield Park ("the Home of NorthWood Soccer") but in case it storms, we have reserved the AC so we can go thru the last preparations for tomorrow's game.

And more media attention; check out the SB Tribune for this article

#19 Fort Wayne Canterbury -# 8 NorthWood Semi State preview

Fort Wayne Canterbury (12-4-5) comes into tomorrow's game riding an eight game winning streak. Canterbury is a defensive oriented team, similar to South Bend St. Joe. They give up few goals (23) but also not scoring a lot (36,just 4 more than Andre by himself). They do not have a prolific goal scorer (#23 Wojewuczki with 7 is the topscorer on the team). Canterbury has the most State Championships of any school in the state (7)with their most recent ones coming in 2017 and 2018 (both in Class 1A). The Panthers are 15-3-3 on the season and have not lost in their last 5 games. The Panthers have won 6 total Sectionals and one Regional. This is our program's first trip to Semi State. The game kicks off at South Bend St. Joe at 3 pm. Fans are allowed in the stadium at 2:30 pm. The bus will leave the school at 1:15 pm and parents are invited to follow the bus Hoosiers style. The coaching staff has been pouring over Canterbury game tape over the last 6 days and have been preparing the team for tomorrow's match all week. Even though yesterday's practice was partly done in a downpour followed by summerlike sunny and 70's weather, tomorrow's forecast for game time is mostly cloudy and 48 degrees. Great soccer playing weather. The boys are ready and would like to make some more Panther soccer history tomorrow. The game can be seen on the IHSAA Champions Netowrk for 14.99 and Craig Lewallen and our own Ryan Mattern will have the game for you on Froggy 102.7 on the radio and the internet. GO PANTHERS!!!!!

And another article in the Goshen News

Jack Douwsma gets to spend a night with the Regional Trophy

He then thanked the coaches; here is my thank you drawing. The gray haired coach on the right is me, Jack is on the left, Duerksen in the middle.

Semi State site - Father Bly Field at Leighton Stadium in South Bend

THE STADIUM SITS ON THE CAMPUS OF SOUTH BEND SAINT JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL. THE ADDRESS FOR THE FIELD IS 453 N. NOTRE DAME AVE., SOUTH BEND. THE FIELD WAS BUILT IN 2012 FOR FOOTBALL, SOCCER AND LACROSSE. TICKETS FOR THE GAME HAVE TO BE BOUGHT ONLINE. NO PAPER TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE.

Saturday's schedule

At 1 pm all Soccer players and coaches arrive at NWHS. Make sure to have all equipment and white uniforms etc.. At 1:15 pm the Team Bus will leave NorthWood with a police escort via Panther Drive and proceeed to SR 19 and head north. Parents are welcome to follow the bus (Hoosiers Version 2.0). At 2:30 pm NW Fans are allowed to enter the stadium. At 3 pm the NorthWood (white) - Ft. Wayne Canterbury (blue) game will kick off.

Even more attention

Regional Champs getting some (well deserved) media attention

Regional Final .....Images of a night we won't forget

History made by NW Boys Soccer - 2020 Regional Champions

NorthWood- - SB St. Joe Dutch Touch POTG

Chase Duerksen (winning goal) and Andrew Graber are the Dutch Touch Co Players of the Game!

NorthWood-South Bend St. Joe - Regional Final 2-1 (1-0)

It is a decent night weather wise, considering it is the middle of October. It is a bit windy but not as impactful as we anticipated. We find out that playing the National Anthem seems to be one of the toughest challenges for Public Address announcers; today we get to hear the second half of it. Announcing players' names is the other challenge. Again so today. Today it is Kayden's turn to have his name altered to Newcoooommmeeerrr.

With the scoreboard at 0-0 and ability to record shots and corners, it is time for the kick off. It was clear after we scouted the morning match, that St. Joe is a team that likes to defend and combine from the back. They are not a dirty or physical team and with our own ability to move the ball around, it is clear early on that this should be an entertaining and intriguing soccer game. The first chance in the game comes off a tightly directed Andre De Freitas cross from the right flank. An agressive Sebastian Guillen attacks the ball with his head and it goes on the frame. The (very good) St Joe keep makes his first but not last save of the night. Headers are one of the themes of the night as a 9th minute corner again is headed by Sebastian, this time the ball slips just to the right of the goal. A lot of back and forth soccer with considerable skill takes place in the middle of the first half. We look comfortable on the ball and play with confidence even though our opponent threatens at times but not to the point where St. Joe is dominating until about the 26th when a St. Joe corner needs Graber to stretch and tip the ball over the cross bar. We give up numerous corners in the first half, fortunately none have disastrous consequences. Two minutes before the half Andre gets fouled in the St Joe box and the ref calls for the PK. Sebastian sends the keeper the wrong way and NW leads 1-0 going into the half. The second half starts with the Indians pressing. Seven minutes into the second half, the Panthers foul outside our box. The free kick goes thru the Panthers' wall and gets slighlty deflected and Graber is unable to keep it out of the net; 1-1. In the next minutes we give up several free kicks in the same area. The free kick in the 48th is initially tapped out by Graber and the ensuing header from Sebastian (who either tries to head it over the goal or head it back to Graber) needs a Stretch Armstrong type save from Andrew Graber to prevent the ball from going in. Graber keeps us in the game and in contention for a night where NW Boys history can be made. In the 50th, NW gets a corner on the left side. The near post curler is tight and is attacked in a Ronaldo style fashion by Chase Duerksen. The header/shoulder connection with the ball lasers into the net and the St. Joe keeper is not even close to getting to it; 2-1 Panthers! Thirty minutes is a long time to have to hold on to a one goal lead. NorthWood battles and defends well. The switch up top is made where Kayden comes back in Andre's spot and Andre stays up top where he remains a threat. This means that St. Joe is unable to send more defenders forward to attack. Both teams have minor chances and despite a very nervous last 7 minutes, the Panthers hold on to the 2-1 lead and get to lift their first ever Regional trophy and earn their way to the program's first ever Semi State. There are now only four (!!) teams remaining in Class 2A in the race for the State Championship. We find out hours later that we will face Ft. Wayne Canterbury (another private school) at 3 pm at South Bend St. Joe. That game will be played on turf which means that we will prepare this week on our own turf field.Our defense does a remarkable job. Nick took a hard shot to the head off a Indians free kick but was checked out by the Marian trainer. Our midfield worked hard all night. Chandler had a great move around the St. Joe left defender in the second half that we replayed several times on tv after the game and we were unlucky to not get a goal scoring chance off of that. Our forwards battled hard all night. Graber was outstanding once again and made sure we stayed in the game. Joel had a chance for a goal late in the game but despite a great run in the box, ended up "colliding" with the keeper. All in all a good game. We played well and certainly deserved this win. The officiating was good to very good tonight. That doesn't happen a lot. Maybe as the level of play goes up as we go along in the tournament, so will the level of arbitration. NOTES: Practice today at Wellfield Park ("the Home of NorthWood Soccer") from 3-4:30. The coaches have started their research on Canterbury and we will begin working on the game plan this afternoon.

Message from Athletic Director Norm Sellers

The IHSAA has informed NorthWood High School that Hammond Clark has placed their boys team in quarantine due to Covid-19 issues. In accordance with IHSAA protocol any team that cannot compete in the scheduled tournament game due to Covid-19 shall forfeit and the other team will move on. NorthWood will now play in the championship game tomorrow night at Mishawaka Marian vs. the winner of game #1. Gates will open at 6:00 p.m. and all tickets will be purchased at the gate for $7.00 each. We are heartbroken for the young men from Hammond and wish them all the best as they deal with the sudden end to their season. None of this is fair to anyone. Norm Sellers Athletic Director NorthWood High School

NW moves to Regional Final

According to Athletic Director Norm Sellers, the IHSAA has informed us that Hammond Clark is in full quarantine. We therefore automatically move to the Finals tomorrow night. We will play at 7 pm at Mishawaka Marian where we will face the winner between South Bend St. Joe and West Lafayette. Not the way we wanted to make it into the Finals and we feel bad for Hammond Clark but we now have to focus on the game tomorrow night.

NorthWood - Hammond Clark Regional Semi Final preview

Hammond Clark comes in to the Marian Sectional with a 3-2 record. Due to Covid, all Hammond City schools were not allowed to start their season until Sepetmeber 15th. They lost their two remaining regular season games to Hammond Morton 3-2 (who also have only played 5 games) and Bishop Noll (regular season record 12-2) by a score of 5-2. Since the first two losses, they have won every game in Sectionals. They defeated a very weak River Forest 12-0 (making River Forest winless for the season at zero wins and 12 losses), won 4-1 to Hammond High School and in the Sectional Finals defeated Griffith (10-3-1 overall) by the slimmest of margins, 2-1. The Hammond Clark MF #10 received a red card during the Sectional Final and should not be eligible tomorrow. It is hard to analyze a team after their entire season consists of 5 games or even by just watching the Sectional Final game (especially when the camera was focused too much on players with the ball and the entire field was not visible) but we did see enough to make sure certain NW players should be able to take advantage of the opponent's type of play and individual inabilities. Game time is 1 pm tomorrow at Mishawaka Marian. It will be very, very windy again tomorrow (20-30 mph and gusts to 40 !) so the wind might actually play a part in the game. The winner plays at 7 pm versus the South Bend St. Joe-West Lafayette winner. That game kicks off at 11 am. Our bus will leave at 11 am so we can catch part of the second half (hopefully they go in to triple OT). We will leave Marian after our first game and return home. With Covid in mind, we need everyone to take showers between games before we return to the school to go back to Marion for the Finals (all this with winning the first one in mind of course). It might be good to have a good snack between games. Make sure to dress warm for the game. By the way, it looks like the Chicago Bears might have stolen Hammond Clark's idea for their logo!!!

Just a few years ago.......

Cam Iwema out for the season

Starting Defender/Midfielder Cam Iwema sustained a torn ACL at the end of Tuesday's practice. We will miss this kilometer eater as he typically runs box to box as a midfielder. Unfortunately we will have to do without Cam the rest of the post season!

NW Boys Soccer information

Today's practie is on the turf field. We are also getting some media attention as you can see below. The Ink Free News (online) and the Goshen News (online and printed version) have recently reported on the Panthers!

Angola-NorthWood Dutch Touch POTG

The Dutch Touch Player of the Game - Joey Eshelman. Joey broke up attack after attack, worked tirelessly the entire game and was at the base of many attacks. His position (the #6) does not come with stats because of what is expected of the position but breaking down opposing defenses typically start with Joey in this spot! Congratulations Joey.

YOUR 2020 SECTIONAL CHAMPIONS

A big thank you from the NW boys soccer team goes to all who support us; the great NW student section who came out in an ALL WHITE OUT Night and the parents, siblings and friends and family!!!!

ANGOLA-NORTHWOOD 0-2 (0-1) NW wins Sectionals as records are being set in best season ever

Coach Duerksen talks about what it will take to win Sectionals tonight. A confident team takes the field at West Noble which seems to have become our home field for the last 6 days. Again dressed in away whites, the team is announced with the one customary mistake. Was it Eewamma on the first night, Durkskin on the second, on the third night it is Sebastian's turn when his name gets butchered into Gillen. One of the first points mentioned by coach Duerksen in the pregame talk focused on high pressure on Angola for the first 5 minutes of the game. The plan is to make them lose the ball to see if it will translate into some offensive opportunities for us. The execution is pretty good and in the 4th, a scramble in the Angola box sees the ball finding Cam who takes a great shot that barely misses the goal. The pressure results in an even better effort when Angola coughs up the ball in the middle third. Sebastian (NW's record all time assist leader) slips a very nicely weighted ball to Kayden on the left flank. Kayden who in very strong fashion keeps the defender behind him, takes the ball at the goal and shoots the ball past the goalkeeper for a 6th minute early lead. The Panthers keep the pressure up and in the 13th minute, a drop ball for Nick Lechlitner finds Andre who volleys the ball at the frame, on the re-direct, Sebastian slams the ball on the cross bar. Only 60 seconds later, the ball again ends up in the Hornets' box and Chan is the one who connects twice with the ball but the Angola keep stops it twice. For the next 15 minutes, Angola resorts to panic defending and does not seem to have a plan to work out of the back other then to find their fast #2 who always tries to connect with #9 (their leading goal scorer). In the 20" Kayden leaves two defenders behind and seems to repeat what he did 14 minutes earlier but his effort misses the goal to its right. Angola finally breaks thru when #2 combines with #9. It would be one of the rare times the #9 gets away from Nick (who seems to have a knack for denying #9's from any team from scoring) and takes a nice shot at the goal but Graber makes a nice dive to prevent the ball from crossing the line. Half time score is 0-1 even though it feels like we are in control, it is obviouly not a comfortable lead. And as Coach Duerksen says, it only takes a fluke goal to even things out. The second half has a different feel to it then the first one. Angola gets chippier and at times dirtier. They go into a lot of challenges without going for the ball but go for the man instead. Most of these fouls do not get called and as it has been throughout the entire tournament, the officiating is not horrible all the time but is just awful at times. Little consistency throughout the game. The first 20 minutes of the second half has Angola too much on the NW half. The Hornets are not the best team we have faced all year but they might be one of the scrappiest ones. They fight for every yard, go in hard and are not afraid to foul. With both teams getting some minor chances you start to rely on your big guns. A beatiful Sebastian assist to -who else- Andre ends up in the ropes when Andre NW's all time leading scorer) takes a very hard shot on frame. The keeper has no chance and can not even react to this blast, 0-2! Ten minutes later Andre gets fed another nice ball on the right side, his breakaway at the goal gets stopped by an Angola defender by fouling him from behind. This foul gets what it deserves; a red card! The Hornets are down to 10 men despite the effort from the bench to replace the send off player with a sub. The very annoying Angola bench who has been chattering all stinking night, finally shuts up for the last few minutes when they realize their chance of getting back into this match, is over. The Panthers rush the field as the final whistle is blown to celebrate their well deserved Sectional Championship in a record setting year. With the best season record so far, the most goals scored by a team and by a player, the most assists and Duerksen and Dijkstra's 200th win of their coaching career at NorthWood, this has been a great season so far. A team effort for sure and in the three games at West Noble, we have only given up one -lousy- goal to Lakeland of all teams. So our defense has been stinchy and stellar, our offense has scored when they needed to and we are on a nice little run with having won our last 4 and having lost only once (3-2 at Plymouth) in the last 11 games. We want to keep this going! NOTES - Thanks to Michianapromotions.com and froggy 102.7 for broadcasting the games online and on the radio. It is not as easy as you think, broadcasting games! Especially when you get confronted by Angola fans during the broadcast accusing you of things you didn't even do! But then again, not everyone can be a class act. We hope to see the broadcasting crew with Ron, Craig and Ryan on the sidelines in Mishawaka as well. Speaking of Mishawaka; we will play our next game at Mishawaka Marian against Hammond Clark. Hammond Clark's Sectional chanpionship game has already been watched by the coaching staff and it looks like we have players that are capable of creating chances against their defense. Our game vs. Hammond Clark will be at 1 pm Saturday. The Regional Championship is at 7 pm and will be between the winner of SB St. Joe-West Lafayette and the winner of NorthWood-Hammond Clark game.

The team after winning Sectionals!!!

Angola-NorthWood Sectionals Finals preview

The Hornets won the NECC Conference (6-2) this season outright for the first time in 16 seasons. They have 12 seniors on the roster. Their record overall is 12-4-1 and Dailey is their leading scorer (for the 11 games I could find information on, he scored 15 times). They are scrappy and hard working as you would expect. Their regular season schedule is not overly impressive and does not match up with the Panthers' 2020 schedule. They did not face a ranked opponent nor did they play any NLC team. Therefore they are hard to compare to NorthWood. The Panthers were at #8 in the rankings on the final day of the regular season. Game time is 7 pm at West Noble. The winner advances to the Regional Semi Final at Mishawaka Marian a week from tomorrow (10/17). The Panthers are all healthy for tomorrow's game. The weather forecast shows mostly cloudy and 67 degrees for kick off time tomorrow and the wind will be at NNW 8 mph which is less than what we have been dealing with at West Noble all week long. Of course it doesn't help that we are in the middle of a corn field......

Copy and paste below link in your browser to read Keith Knepps article in the Ink Free News on last night's game

http://www.inkfreenews.com/2020/10/07/panther-futbol-team-26-avenges-team-25/

Dutch Touch POTG

Dutch Touch Player of the Game : Nick Lechlitner. Nick shut down Henry Torres all night long, denied him the ball and kept him to ZERO shots on goal! Nick also recorded the second NW goal (and also Nick's second of the season). Congratulations Nick Lechlitner.

West Noble - #8 NorthWood 0-2 (0-1)

ON THE WAY TO THE GAME>Iwema pronounced correctly but "Durkskin"? But it does not throw of coach Duerksen; the pre-game speech is a spirited one. The game plan has been made very clear. We worked on defending their number 1 threat (# 9 Henry Torres) with Nick especially motivated to get the game going. After the Chargers kicked us out of the tournament, everyone is determined to return the favor on their home field. The game starts off with NW taking the ball to the West Noble half of the field. And a nervous start with several fouls finally settles down some after about 12-13 minutes. Our passing is not especially crisp and we do not really see a lot of sequence passing. It becomes clear early on that Andre's throw ins are dangerous each and every time. Sebastian decides to take matters into his own hand (or foot) when he fires a laser in the 16th that seems to surprise the somewhat thick and not so agile Charger stopper. He does not get close to the ball and lucky for him it hits he left post. Unlucky for him is the fact that Andre is in he perfect poacher location and has no trouble placing the ball over the line for a deserved 0-1 lead. Takings shots and crashing the goals were mentioned in the run up to this game and apparently the players have paid attenion. A lot of action takes place in the middle third of the pitch. A lot of collissions, near fouls and some actual fouls all get called as fouls (mainly the NW ones). After another foul, the center arbiter states that the next NW foul is a yellow. Think about that! With more than half the game to go, the ref decides to just make up his own rule and thinks that there is a threshold on the number of fouls and no matter who commits the next "foul", receives a caution. And the odds are that the recipient would be Sebastian since he is involved in the majority of possession battles in the middle of the field. And so it happens; in the 38" Seba gets a yellow for a very, very, very soft foul. It is ridiculous that the rules interpretation is thrown out the window and the man in yellow comes up with his own. What makes it tough is that Sebastian is the type of player who is in on most of the defenisve confrontations in the middle of the field because of his position and his role and ability. And West Noble has the #9, 10 and 14 who can all be threats coming thru the middle. It takes a part of our game away and it is taken away by the center referee. A referee should not have any influence on the outcome of the game by coming up with his own rules. Period. Luckily Sebastian is one of those players with a very high soccer IQ but still, it was not a decision that was welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm on the bench. The call is questioned at the half and the referee trio does not really have a good explanation and decides to disappear into the announcers camper. The second half starts with more NW offense. An Andre cross gets to the 6 and Chan almost puts the ball in the net but his effort sails just to the left of the goal. All night long (and I mean 80 minutes straight), Torres experiences the close proximity company of one Nick Lechlitner. The man is determined to stop Torres' every attacking attempt. And it is not just determination, it is execution as well. Henry Torres never ever is a threat because Nick is on his back, on his front, on his side all night long. Torres can not receive a ball or Nick is there. Torres is held to zero (!!!!) shots at goal. It is the defensive pinnacle performance of the night. Because of this effort from Nick, the rest of the defense focuses on the other threats. In the air, Chase and Nick both, rule all night. Every time Torres does get the ball, Nick gets assistance from others like Joey whose role was to help double Torres up. In the 61st, NW gets a free kick from 50 yards out. Coach Duerksen tells Nick to put the ball on the frame. The keeper is shaky at best and it is time to try him out. Nick puts the ball high in the air and it flies towards the goal. The keeper misjudges the shot, gets maybe a finger on the ball (and maybe not even that) and the ball hits the ropes! A 0-2 lead feels like a large lead with the Chargers not really threatening us much. With about 11 minutes left in the game, the Chargers start sending up their center defender #3 but that leaves gaps in the back and it eventually is not a strategy they keep in their repertoire. In the 67th, Sebastian crosses a ball from the right side into the box and Chan is in the right position to get it over the line but just misses the ball. The Panthers stay composed until the end and even though it wasn't our prettiest match of the season, it does become our most important win on the season.The Panthers are now 12-3-3 on the season. We move on to the Sectional Finals where we will face Angola who beat Garrett 3-1. Game time is at 7 pm and the weather will be great so few excuses to not make it out to the game! Andre becomes the record holder in total career goals scored with 60 surpassing the 59 from Rodrigo Dosal. Several other records are set as well (more about that later). Undoubtedly, the Dutch Touch Player of the Game is Nick Lechlitner.

West Noble- NorthWood preview Sectional Semi Final

Even though the temps will be around 70 around kick off, winds once again will be fairly strong tonight and on an open field like the one at West Noble, those winds could have an impact on the game. The Panthers are 11-3-3 and came in 3rd in the NLC. The Chargers are 9-6-2 and came in 3rd in the NECC. NorthWood started the Sectionals with a 1-9 win over Lakeland. West Noble was tied at 2-2 in OT with Wawasee before beating them in a PK shootout. The Chargers' most dangerous player without a doubt is Henry Torres (#9) who likes to hang out near the last defender, cut back and forth going at the goal and take shots. He tries to shake off his defender but needs little room to get off a shot. He single handedly defeated the Panthers on our hometurf at Sectionals last year, a loss that still stings today. West Noble does not really have a signature win this year unless you want to call the PK shootout win versus Wawasee and the regular season win against the Warriors just that. Overall their schedule is marginal and besides Carroll, Canterbury and Northridge most teams they played do not have winning records. But all of that said, they are still a dangerous opponent who can score out of nowhere. Eric Galarza (#10) is the other player to watch. He likes to shoot from outside the box and has a hard shot. Both Galarza and Torres scored against Wawasee and both scored their PK. The Panthers would like to return the favor however by beating West Noble on their home field in Sectionals. The game will once again be streamed live by Froggy 102.7 where you can hear the radio commentary and the live stream itself will be on michianapromotions.com.

Lakeland-NorthWood Dutch Touch POTG

Co Players of the game: Andre DeFreitas (5 goals) & Sebastian Guillen (hat trick and two assists)