Game Day #15

Hard to believe, but tonight will be the last regular game of the season. It also Senior Night which means this will be the last home game for Tanner and Ethan. Bethany Christian comes to Nappanee with a 8-5-1 record. Senior Nate Nussbaum just broke Femi Hollinger-Janzen's (IU) record of 67 goals on Tuesday night. Nussbaum has 68 goals scored in his career at Bethany, 30 alone this season. The #15 will be a player our defense needs to pay close attention to tonight. The Panthers and Bruins play 7 common opponents. Both teams lost to Central, Concord, Goshen and Northridge. We lost to Memorial (2-1) while Bethany tied at 1-1. Both teams beat Lakeland Christian and Elkhart Christian. So, in common opponents we have similar records and results. The JV starts at 5 pm, Varsity around 6:45. The WSBT weather forsecast predicts mostly cloudy skies and a 20% chance of precip and temperatures around 70-72. See you there and GO PANTHERS!!!!!!

Plymouth-NorthWood 0-0 (0-0)

In a seesaw battle, the JV draws the short end of the stick despite scoring three goals. In a 4-3 loss, Tony Lopez scores twice and Matt Thornton once (after a nice Antonio Gonzalez free kick that explodes off the crossbar right in front of Matt). The JV game is a perfect prelude to an exciting Varsity contest which starts about five minutes late in front of a Plymouth Senior Night crowd. Fortunately for us, the festivities will not take place until after the Varsity game concludes. FIRST HALF- Plymouth has posted some robust numbers on both sides of the ball as of late so the pre-game talk does focus on tight defense, taking cracks at the Plymouth goal and working hard. If you were at the game or listening to 106.1 FM or 1050am on WTCA(we had some confirmed listeners), you would agree that those three talking points were well adhered to. On a cool but pleasant night, it is the Panthers who take some offensive control from the start. But in the 7th, Cody has to come up with a big save to avert disaster. In the 20th, same story, a near post shot needs a Cripe hand to prevent a goal. A nice Brayton to Isaac cross in the 24th has Isaac taking the ball to his right and he than passes it to AC. AC rips a nice shot that needs a tip from the beefy Plymouth keeper. Another Plymouth shot in the box in the 39th requires Cody to spring into action again. Even though the score board registers only 2 SOG's for NW in the first, our score book shows a couple more. HALF TIME- Coach Duerksen addresses a few minor issues and stresses that the work rate needs to remain at least the same. SECOND HALF- The game picks right back up where it left off in the first. Every loose ball is reason for a battle and the Panthers don't shy away from it. AC plays a rough and tough forward position (maybe he should start wearing "99" on his back). He works hard to get in a passing lane position and Brayton and Dennyz find him on numerous occasions. Our threat also comes from the back where our defenders not only do a nice job playing tight and tough defense but are also at the start of very many attacks. Connor and Juan do well in the middle, Pipp and Dylan defend the outside well. Tanner is a great vacuum cleaner and Derek has a nice night as well. Eli and Ethan work hard coming off the bench to make sure the level of play doesn't go down and that the intensity stays high. Isaac's positioning is better then it has been as of late. In the 63rd, Coach Duerksen disagrees with the arbiter on a call and just when we think the discussion has come to an end, the ref pulls a yellow and presents it to Coach. In the 67th, a Plymouth attack concludes with a shot on the post. A thru ball on the NW defensive third rolls in the box. Cody dives in and greets Plymouth cleats right in his face. The Panthers defense comes to Cody's defense and the melee that follows and involves just about all players, requires intervention from all referees. NW gets to take the free kick after all players have settled down. This was a good message to send and if we would play Plymouth again in the next week or so, this situation should not happen again. In the 68th a barrage of three ugly shots pepper the NW goal but Cody stands tall again and the score remains 0-0. A Brayton Taylor cross in the 69th almost finds AC and the net but the ball lands behind AC who inadvertently reaches for the ball with his hands. With 6 seconds to go, Plymouth (are they Rockies or Pilgrims?)crosses the ball in the NW box but Cody makes another save. NorthWood's best opportunity comes in the 75th minute of play when Connor launches a long ball over the Plymouth defense. Eli runs on to the ball and keeps the ball close to his feet. Once in the box, he tries to chip the keeper who at the last second, gets a finger on the ball to push the ball to the right side of the frame for a corner. The final score is 0-0. The coaches agree that this is one our best performances of the season (the Central game being the other one that stands out). We have had to make adjustments in the back, middle and in the front. With David out, it has taken time to adjust and he is still missed but we have to deal with the fact that he is not in the lineup now and it is how you deal with adversity that counts. If David can make a comeback in the next week it is only going to make us stronger! In summary, we played hard, we played physical -not dirty- and we played well. Next up is Bethany Christian tomorrow night (Senior Night previously known as Craven Night). Our Seniors Ethan Craven and Tanner Fervida (not Ferveeeeda as in Velveeeeta) will get their moment in the spotlight. Hopefully we can count on a big crowd. The rest of the practices will be at the game field. Today will be JV's last practice.

David update

David is on the bike and lifting weights, he is done with the mobilizer and is working on getting his strength back. The goal is to return for the Wawasee game!!!

Game Day #14

Today we travel to Plymouth. The jV game kicks off at 5 pm, the Varsity at 6:45. Plymouth is 6-7-1, NorthWood is 4-8-2. This is possibly Plymouth's Senior Night (it is every year we travel to Plymouth so tonight is probably no exception). This might delay the start of the Varsity game by a few minutes. For your GPS, you can use 1 Big Red Drive, Plymouth but that address places you in the horseshoe drive in front of the High School. You will need to continue north on Randolph, take a right or go East on Baker and you will see the Varsity and JV fields to your left. If you do not use your GPS, just take Baker Street east off of Michigan. When you get to the intersection of Baker & Randolph, continue east and then turn right into the parking lot to the south. After you park, you just cross the road into the soccer stadium entrance. Typically the JV plays on the north field and the Varsity on the south field. The Panthers are in desperate need of a -NLC- win! This is the last away game of the season and even though it might be cooler tonight then it has been, it will still be dry so we are hoping for a lot of fans tonight. See you there! GO PANTHERS!!!! I will post a David Eshelman update as soon as we find out what the doctor said yesterday.

TWINS

The last week of the regular season starts today. Monday is a regular practice day (at the High School practice field). On Tuesday 9/30, we travel to Plymouth for a 5 pm JV and 6:45 Varsity start. Wednesday's practice is at the game field for the Varsity. Thursday is Senior Night when we face Bethany Christian (5pm JV/6:45 Varsity). The Senior Night festivities will take place before the game. Friday will be a normal 3:30 - 5ish Friday practice and will probably be at the game field. This will be for Varsity only ( for all players on the Sectional Roster). The JV season will be done after Thursday's game.

Concord-NorthWood 3-0 (2-0)

Varsity loses 3-0, JV 4-0.

2014 Sectional Draw

10/6 6 pm Game 1 Warsaw-Culver Academies. 10/8 5 pm NorthWood-Wawasee, 7 pm Plymouth - Warsaw/Culver winner. 10/11 6 pm winner of the 10/8 games.

NorthWood - John Glenn 2-2 (1-1)

Scoring Summary; 22" #17 Hockett- 0-1 Glenn, 36" 1-1 (Brayton from the middle on offensive half to Tanner. Tanner crosses in and across the box, Tony's attempt falls short but AC is in he trailer position and decidedly places the ball on frame and in the goal). 56" #17 Hockett- 1-2 Glenn. 67" 2-2; Isaac to Brayton who takes the ball thru the box for a 1v1, the shot gets touched by the keeper but slowly rolls over the line.) In the last seconds of the game, Cody prevents a Glenn goal by sacrificing his body to block another Glenn break trough to keep the score even. Brayton creates a lot of danger, AC scores a nice goal, Tanner works hard but defensively we struggle at times and so in the end, when we give up two goals, the bottom line is that we have to score. We do,but not enough to get us a win. After losing David in the central defense position, we are still trying to figure some of the marking out in the middle of the field. Hopefully we will be able to improve that part of our game and get a result tomorrow at Concord. Thanks to all the parents who put together the Senior Dinner last night, it was very good!!!

Game Day #12

7-4-1 Glenn visits the 4-7-1 Panthers in a Varsity only 5 pm contest this afternoon (Thursday). Glenn's results have been similar to ours when playing common opponents. Last year was the first time in NW program history that we lost to the Falcons. Hopefully we will be able to revenge last year's defeat. After today's game, we will have the Senior Dinner in the cafeteria of the Elementary School. All players (JV & V) are invited!! The only injury listing for today is David Eshelman (knee) although Dennyz's toe injury still bothers him but that is an injury that will probably linger for the rest of the season. Our home record is 2-3-1 and the worst home loss was by two goals (once). The weather will be absolutely perfect so we are hoping for another good sized crowd in our next to last home game of the season. Yesterday's focus at practice was on attacking/finishing and corners. If we play the way we practiced we should come away with a victory tonight. GO PANTHERS!!

Wednesday practice

Both teams will practice at the game field today (Wednesday). Varsity prepares for tomorrow's game versus Glenn. The next game for JV is the Saturday matchup with Concord (away, 10 am).Today's practice will run from 3:30 - 5 ish.

Main characters

The two main players of the NW-Memorial game; goal scorer Eli Aukerman and ball boy Kyle Cripe.

NorthWood - Memorial 1-2 (0-1)

Nice weather, nice crowd, good effort but just fell short. Scoring summary; 27" 0-1 Memorial, 56" 0-2 Memorial, 60" Eli Aukerman (Brayton Taylor assist). The goal was the highlight of the game. It is something we have worked on in practice (take ball wide, then to endline, cross in and target between 6 & 12 and shoot. The more we do this, the more we will score. JV loses 0-3. Varsity record is now 4-7-1. Next up are the John Glenn Falcons tomorrow (5 pm VARSITY only). The senior dinner will follow the game.

Game Day #11

8-2-3 Memorial rolls into town this afternoon hoping to put away a 4-6-1 NorthWood squad. The Panthers have plans of upsetting the Chargers tonight. The JV starts off at 5 pm and the Varsity will kick its first pig bladder at 6:45 pm. This sandwich home game (Glenn visits Thursday) will once again experience temps in the 70's and good field conditions. Winless in NLC so far this season, the Panthers would like to gather their first conference points tonight. David Eshelman is the only known injury for tonight. A few players collected a couple of dings last night but should be ready for action. See you at the game field and GO PANTHERS!!!

David in Rehab, spending time in Paul's Pain Palace

David is working on coming back from his serious knee injury before the ECA game.

Four things worth noting................

THE SCOREBOARD HAS SO MANY LIGHTS OUT, THAT IS HAS BECOME HARD TO SEE HOW MUCH TIME IS LEFT ON THE CLOCK. DENNYZ HAS A NEW DO AND HE SCORES WINNING GOAL; COINCIDENCE??? THE DUGOUTS WERE REPAIRED ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE REASON THE STARTERS ARE LOOKING AT THE DUGOUT? WELL, TANNER FELL OUT OF IT!

NorthWood-Elkhart Christian Academy 2-1 (0-1)

As the picture above shows, the field is in great shape, the weather is perfect so it seems to be a good night to experience some good soccer. FIRST HALF- Well, that is what a perfect night might look like but that is not really the way the first half will play out. It starts out well when Brayton Taylor cuts through the Eagles defense like a hot knife thru butter 120 seconds into the game but his 1V1 is denied by the ECA keeper. For the next ten minutes, most of the action takes place on the ECA side of the field. But in the 13th minute, ECA clears a ball thru the middle that ends up near the NW defense. A bad clearance presents the ball right back to ECA. With a long distance shot, the ball flies over Cody and into the net, 0-1. Not much quality soccer takes place until the 39th, when Brayton gets tackled from what seems to be inside the box and judging by the center referee's reaction (pointing to the penalty kick spot). Somehow, he changes his call to a free kick outside the box (after advise from the AR?). The free kick misses its target. HALF TIME- Working harder, making runs off the ball are the main focus although a secondary focus should be "better ball touch"; our passes were off in the first half!. SECOND HALF- Right from the kick off, NW plays with a little more passion and the more up tempo type of play gives us more possession of the ball. The first dangerous moment occurs in the 53rd minute when Dylan Weldy hits a free kick and loops it on Isaac's head. The header is saved by the ECA GK. Two minutes later, Brayton shows up in the box, ball on his foot and rips a shot. After a deflection it lands in front of AC who with some finesse, puts it past the keeper but the ball is saved off the line by an ECA defender to prevent the equalizer from going in. Finally, in the 63rd, a break for the Panthers. Again it is Brayton who goes into the box to take on the ECA defense and gets nailed. This time the PK is awarded. Brayton takes the pk and despite the ECA keeper getting a glove on it, the ball ends up in the goal, 1-1. NW keeps pressing and in the 73rd, Connor Miller takes a corner that ends up in the mix, with some pinball type wizardry, Tanner gets a foot on the ball. The ball goes to Dennyz who shoots the ball on the ground thru a maze of feet but into the goal, 2-1! The last 17 minutes we see a lot of exciting action in front of both goals. The ECA coach apparently is not aware of his technical area and spends most of the half ON the field directing his players. None of this seems to bother the AR who seems oblivious to quite a few things this half although he seems to call a lot after getting advise from that same ECA coach. In the 78th, Tony Lopez enters the box and he gets tangled up with the ECA goalie. After the ball is gone, the goalie keeps hanging on to Tony's legs as if he suddenly fell in love with them. It might have been another PK call but the wrestling action is ignored by the center ref. With a couple of more chances for NW near the end and the crowd (good size crowd by the way)going crazy, the Panthers are able to hang on to the lead. When the final whistle blows, the bottom line is the 2-1 win which we desperately needed.

TWINS

The busiest week of the season is upon us. Between the JV and Varsity, we will play seven games this week. For the Varsity it will be the beginning of a three game home stand. Tonight's game (Monday) features the Varsity only matchup against Elkhart Christian Academy (6:45 PM). The Eagles have a 6-2-0 record. Tomorrow we will host Elkhart Memorial (5pm JV/6:45 V) which until last week was undefeated. John Glenn is the guest (once again; the school not the astronaut) on Thursday (Varsity 5 PM). Saturday features the second NLC contest of the week when we make our way to Dunlap to face Concord (10AM JV, 11:45 V). The JV travels to Penn tonight for a 5 pm game. Tomorrow the JV game at home against Memorial starts at 5 pm but since John Glenn does not have a JV squad, there will not be a JV game Thursday. A decision about Thursday's JV practice will be made by Coach Douwsma later on. The status of injured players: David Eshelman - out this week and next week. We are hoping for a return for Sectionals. Tanner Fervida - It sounds like Tanner is probable for tonight but we will know more later this morning. Friday morning (9/26) at 8 am is the IHSAA Sectional Draw. The results will be posted as soon as the information is available. Our Sectional will be held at Plymouth. The following schools are in our Sectional; Plymouth, Warsaw, Wawasee, Culver Military Academy and NorthWood. Kyle will be joining us for Friday's practice (there will be specific GK training) and the Concord game. Go Panthers!!!Beat Penn and ECA tonight!!!

More off field problems......

THE SATURDAY EVENING STORM TOOK ITS TOLL ON BOTH DUG OUTS. WE ARE UNSURE AT THIS TIME IF THEY WILL BE USABLE BY THE TIME WE PLAY ECA ON MONDAY.

JV Tourney results

The record book will show a loss and a tie as results from the JV NLC Invitational. The first game was lost 2-3 to Memorial. Tony Lopez scores 2 goals. In the second game NW faces Northridge. After a productive first half (another two Tony Lopez goals), Northridge comes back with a goal in the second half and deep into the game, the arbiter whistles Dylan for grabbing an opponent's jersey (foul looked to be taking place outside the box) but Mr. Deed's butler points to the 12. The penalty goes in and the 2-2 is a fact. We go to a pk shoot out and despite missing our first pk, we are still tied after the first round of 5 alternating pk's. In the second round, Northridge scores their first effort and unfortunately, Brock is not as lucky as his shot is stopped by the NR keeper. It was nice to see a (almost) full JV squad -only Antonio was MIA- and nice fan turn out as well on a absolutely gorgeous late summer day. Some nice performances were turned in by numerous players. Of course we already mentioned Tony's four (!) goals but his fourth came off a perfect free kick by Dylan. That free kick hit the cross bar and fell right in front of Tony (right time/right place). The other Weldy (Josh) had a good day on defense as did Mason. After experiencing a few first game/first half defensive jitters, the next three halves were better after some adjustments. It was nice to have three subs so players could catch their breath occasionally. All 14 players did well and it would have been nice if the results would have been a little bit better. Tomorrow (Monday), the JV travels to Penn. Josh and Tony need to check in with Coach Duerksen to find out with what team they need to play. Whoever goes with JV, still needs to join the Varsity when they return from Penn. This also goes for Micah. More on TWINS tomorrow.