Sectional Final 2025 NorthWood-South Bend St. Joe 0-3 (0-2)

The pictures show the tremendous fan support we had this year.GAME REPORT : A free kick and an own goal put the Half Time score at 0-2. The Panthers play well and get some opportunities (Lucas Mullett goes 1v1 into the Huskies box but the shot hits the backstop). But we are just not able to capitalize and get that one goal we need to try and make a run at it. The second half again, starts out well but when the Huskies score a third goal, the task to at least tie becomes insurmountable. The season end for the Panthers and its 13 seniors who were able to put in a better season than last years! The final record is 10-7-2 with three wins in NLC leaving Plymouth, Wawasee and Mishawaka behind us. For the 2026 season we will have quite a few players returning but just a few with a lot of playing time experience so a lot of spots to be filled on Varsity! The team turned in their jerseys (well most of the jerseys anyway), the locker room was cleaned out and the equipment is back at the High School. The city is already working on adding landscaping to the turf field and the banners have already been taken down.....all signs that the season is over. In early November we will have Awards Night. The date and time will be announced on Remind. A special thanks to all the parents that helped out with meals, snacks, hosting a team dinner, getting everything in place for Senior Night and the early practice on Sectionals Finals day. I want to give a special shout out to the Greenlee's. They have been Captain Club reps for 6-7 years and have done so much that it made life easier for the coaches to the point that there was little to worry about because things were taken care of. They will be greatly missed.It looks like they have worked with other parents to take over so we expect this all to continue seemlessly, knowing Josh and Haley. But thanks to all the other parents who helped and contributed to all the things that needed attention, food, drinks (Dosal cooler for example)and everything else that needed attention off the pitch. We also shift focus to the off season where open field will start up again the week of December 8th. There will be an announcement on Remind about days and times. One special note: this was the first time NW played in four consecutive Sectional Finals and therefore, Drew Davis is the only NorthWood soccer player to appear in four Sectional Finals. We also want to thank the game day crew that supports the boys at home throughout the season. Thank you to AJ Risedorph, our Athletic Director, Paul Widner ATC, our trainer, Bob Staats (school admin rep and mints dealer), Randy (announcing) and Kyle (scoreboard) Cripe as well as Lee Ann from the Athletic office for taking the tickets. I'm sure I have forgot someone and I apologize for that....it is not intentional (just ignorance).

Sectionals Final - NorthWood-South Bend St. Joe

The NorthWood Sectional features the South Bend St. Joe Huskies and the host NorthWood Panthers. The game will kick off tomorrow (Saturday) at 2 pm. The winner of the NorthWood Sectional will face the winner of the Bishop Noll-Hanover Central game. The Semi Regional game will be played at either Bishop Noll or Hanover Central, depending on who wins that game.The Semi Regional game will be played on Wednesday 10/15/25.

NorthWood-Bremen 2-1 (0-1)

The second Semi Final of Sectional 18 starts late due to the fact that the preceeding match goes into a PK shootout that is eventually won by South Bend St. Joe. By the way, compared to last season when we played our Sectionals games at Culver Academies, NorthWood is the much better location to host this torunament. To start with, things are organized, Randy Cripe does a great job announcing, Kyle Cripe does great on the scoreboard, AJ is a master at escorting people off the field (so far only one Coach) and his music selection from Pearl Jam to ELO to the Alan Parsons project hits the right notes so to speak. The facility is top notch of course and the City's Parks Department does a great job getting the field ready (it has been prepped twice already this week) and also takes care of the concession stand. All in all, for visitors, coming to NorthWood is a great experience. But all that aside, what happens on the pitch is now the important thing. After taking care of Wawasee in game 1, we shift our focus to Bremen. We played Bremen in August at our Invitational and beat them 2-1 so we know this will be a tough task. Bremen kicks off and NW attacks the south goal. After some back and forth play in the first few minutes, the Panthers settle in and pressure and attack more so then the Lions. Against the run of play, it is however Bremen who in a counter attack crosses from the right corner flag area into the box. A missed mark means that a Bremen player is open. He has no problems slotting the ball into the NW goal for a 0-1 Bremen lead. This is also the HT score. The talk at the Half is fairly simple; keep playing the way we do but drop Jager back some, get free kicks in the box and anticipate balls into the offensive third. Our energy has been good for the last 6 games and the second half starts like the first. We are lively, get open when we don't have the ball and work for each other. Our efforts get rewarded in the 55th when a ball in the box finds Gusy. His best finish of the season (when we need it most) finds the net in a hurry and changes the scoreboard to 1-1! The rest of the half, both teams get opportunities but none find the back of the net. Evander comes up with some big saves and does well on (not so much deserved) free kicks and corners, punching one of these efforts out of the box. More than halfway thru the second half, we need Mr. Widner to rush on to the field to check on Isaac Bell and a Bremen player who collided heads while both were attempting to head a ball near the box. Both need attention but both would resume play later on. Isaac would end up getting stitches after the game and is cleared to play Saturday albeit with probably less headers than we are used to. The score stays 1-1 when the final whistle blows at the end of regulation. We now need to play another 2 times 7 minutes in Extra Time. Again the Panthers come out with lots of energy, unwilling to give up. This is truly a team that has improved over time, understands what needs done on the field. The passing has definately improved over the last month which has made us more dangerous and also less vulnerable defensively. In the 89" (so in the second minute of ET) a NW free kick ends up near Jager inside the box. His well placed header hits the ropes for a well deserved 2-1 lead. The crowd has been terrific and loud all night long but now goes completely berserk. They truly are the 12th man tonight! Evander has to make one more unbelievable save on the ground as the frenzied Lions try one more time to score from inside our box. Evander is Michiana Promotions' Man of the Match! Other could qualify as well as there were many heroic efforts by so many. The final score is 2-1 for the Panthers and despite having practiced PK's for weeks now, we still do not have to go to a PK shootout. The Panthers move to 10-6-2 on the season tying their win total from last year with a chance of going to 11 wins on the season Saturday. This one is for a Championship!!! Saturdays game vs. South Bend St. Joe is at Wellfield Park at 2 pm. The weather looks to be great with a forecast of sunny and 70 degrees! We are hoping for a great crowd to cheer on our boys as they play for a Sectional Championship.

NorthWood- Wawasee 6-0 (3-0)

The Panthers move on to the Sectional Semi Final tonight after taking care of business in short order. By minute 11 we are leading 3-0. The Panthers add another 3 in the second half. Jager scores four times while Brian and Braden score the other two. Next up is Bremen tonight in the late game (7pm start). The Wawasee Head Coach is ejected early on and after winning only one game all season, who can blame him for being frustrated. The Panthers move to 9-6-2 on the season. Earlier this year the Panthers defeated the Bremen Lions 2-1 so tonight's match up will be a close one, one would assume. The Panthers would love to play in another Sectional Final, especially at Wellfield Park. Tonight's kick off weather is 56 degrees (NNE winds at 7 mph), so a cool night which is perfect soccer playing weather!

2025 Sectionals

Last night SB St. Joe defeated New Prairie 2-0; tonight's first matchup will be NorthWood vs. Wawasee at 5 pm. Michiana Promotions will start their broadcast at 4:40 pm (michianapromotions.com). The 7 pm fixture is between Bremen and Glenn. Tonight's winners play tomorrow night (second game of the night Wednesday). The 5 pm game tomorrow is between Culver Academies and SB St. Joe. Winners of tomorrow night's semi final game will meet at 2 pm Saturday. All games are played at Wellfield Park, Home of NorthWood Soccer.

NorthWood - Plymouth 2-1 (2-0)

Senior Night at Wellfield Park means we always have to make adjustments. The warm up is different, announcing the starters and seniors running thru signs is another deviation. Therefore it throws off the routine and one never knows what impact that will have on the game, especially the start of the game. And tonight's game is important for a variety of reasons. First of all, this is an NLC matchup and with a win, we will finish ahaed of Plymouth, Mishawaka and Wawasee respectively. It will then give us some more All NLC spots as well. It also is important to go into the Post Season with some momentum and a win would give us 3 wins and a draw in the last four regular season games.

A nice and noisy crowd -just the way we like it- has selected Wellfield as their spot for entertainment tonight. In attendance tonight are the Principal Mr. Lambert, Asst. Principal Mr. Berg, our Athletic Director AJ Risedorph, Paul Widner, our Athletic Trainer, Randy and Kyle Cripe on the microphone and scoreboard and the Soccer Staff at Michiana Promotions (Ron, Ryan and Phil). Fortunately, NW's soccer players come back strong after a somehwat scary start. The play does go back and forth quite a bit with NW trying to build thru the middle third and the Pilgrims/Rockies (which is it?) mainly looking to attack by sending long balls over their right flank. Casin Truex holds his own on the NW left defense and thwarts most attacks with the help of the outside MF's. The scoring drought ends when Jager Bute serves Trae Brandys into the left side of the box. Trae's consequent dribble towards the goal concludes with a very composed shot into the corner and past the keeper for the 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. The Panthers collect a ball on defense in the 36th and start a counter attack that sees Jager Bute sending the ball to Isaac Bell who in turn serves Lucas Mullett. Lucas is typically in the right spot once he is inside the box and tonight is no exception His finish is sublime and gives NW a 2-0 lead.Even though experts disagree on what the most dangerous lead in soccer is -if there even is such a thing- but in general a 2-0 lead is considered just that. The Half Time discussion is partly strategy and adjustment as well as a warning that Plymouth will come out and attack in order to get a goal and get back into the game. The second act does start with some additional Plymouth pressure and attacks but we weather the storm. The best action off the field occurs when a ball is kicked high and off the field towards the NW dugout. A perfect touch to control is executed by none other then our own Bob Staats (Event Supervisor extraordinaire)as witnessed by the below video -although somewhat hard to see-. He would earn the "honorary play of the match" for his skillfull display of ball touch by Michiana Promotions! The Rockies/Pilgrims ball kickers are apparently not very impressed by Bob's performance because they get the ball and take it upfield right away and take advantage of some lackluster man marking and score the connecting goal to change the scoreboard to 2-1. The Panthers do end up with a couple of good scoring opportunities. In the 71st, Jager dribbles a ball alongside the top of the 18 and takes a shot that hits the crossbar. And the 74th minute of play sees the same Jager go one on one with the Plymouth stopper but his effort to chip the ball over the keeper also sees the ball just go over the woodwork. The last 13 minutes are somewhat nervewrecking but the Panthers hold on to the smallest of margins and cross the finish line with the 2-1 lead. Evander Magana has a stellar performance, especially in the second half and is selected by Michiana Promotions as the Player of the Match. The win propels the Panthers to 8-6-2 (3-4 NLC) and guarantees another winning season!! The JV falls to Plymouth 0-1. Their final record is 5-7-2. The Varsity gets today off and will be back at Wellfield on Thursday (hopefully after the Cubs have advanced to the next round in the NL play offs). Next week Sectionals start that is hosted by NorthWood. Game days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. The schedule for games and ball boys is listed in a post below.