Warsaw - NorthWood 4-1 (2-1)

Senior Night in Warsaw typically means a late start of the Varsity game. With 12 seniors and their parents to be announced and having to listen to their life stories, it seems these activities will take some time. The weather worsens the situation when after the first senior is announced, the game is thrown into a weather delay due to thunderbolts and lightning (very very frightening me, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Figaro, magnificoo ....if you are a Freddy Mercury or Queen fan). The 6:45 start is pushed back to about 7:30. By the time we do get cleared to play, we still have to finish up listening to 11 seniors being announced by the British announcer -which does add to the experience-. Finally we can prepare and actually kick off for the game around 8 pm. The announcer throws in a couple of commentaries to the starting lineup (The NorthWood keeper, "he's a big one" and "Joel Gooooooseman") but all of this does come to an end so we can start what we came here for. The Panthers start out well and combine quick and effectively. It culminates into a couple of great opportunities. The first one is a Michael Hahn pass to Luis who nearly finds the net, the second one actually does when Dom slots the ball past the falling Warsaw keeper for the early lead in the 4th minute. NW plays well thru the first half despite giving up a goal in the 27th and 33rd. HT score is 2-1 Warsaw. The second half lowlights are a red card for the Warsaw coach in the 50th, who just happens to make one comment to a very irritable center ref, who then flips out the red caution to show the coach the door. In the 52nd, the center official points at the 12 and awards Warsaw a PK. Trent goes the right way but the shot is too hard, 3-1. In minute 54, Warsaw scores again. Showing off his inconsistency skills, referee Sixtos awards free kicks for some fouls and not for others. On the 1-10 scale, he recieves a 6 for the night. Seen worse, seen better. The red card was uncalled for. Speaking of cards, I am frankly disgusted by a lack of understanding of the game by arbitral trios when it comes to certain types of players. The Joey Eshelmans of the world are your hard nosed, hard working players who do NOT shy away from playing physical. It surprises me that a majority of officials confuse this type of playing style with that of someone who fouls all the time. Numerous times do we see Joey called for a foul when in fact he is the one being fouled. Overall it is fair to say that Warsaw is a good team and we held our own for a long time but not long enough. These large schools are fortunately not the the opponents we will face in our class in Sectionals but these type of games certainly prepare us for Sectionals. Trent Iwema has his best game of the season. He is quick of his line, is engaged all night long, his punts are good to very good. Daily GK training is starting to pay off. Overall, the team performance is good, the result just isn't yet. Next up is Goshen at home tomorrow night for both. The JV loses 4-0.