Northview Titans Varsity Boys Game Summary
Northview v. Pope - 4-2
February 25th
Coach Cianciola talks to his Titan Men
to tell them how proud he is of the win against Pope.
You came out here to win and you did!
Conditions: 53 degrees at game time 7:30pm
The Titans are a team to be reckoned with.
As a team -- Luksis, Pratt, Colyer, Carter, Cantor, Johnson, Gulia, McCollum, Perazza, Scannella, Alonso, Mehrjerdian, Mitchell, Stoniecki, Cameron, Chamblin, Stille -- the Northview Titans took down the Pope Greyhounds, scoring well, and defending with tremendous tenacity.
In the first 5 minutes, keeper BJ Luksis set the tone for the defense, handling two hard balls on shots from deep angles. And on offense, Brandon McCollum, Jeff Scannella and Andrew Cameron all cranked up shots from within 20 yards in the next several minutes, but couldn't find the mark, each going wide right.
At 14 minutes, Sayeed Mehrjerdian found Cameron open on the left side of the penalty area. Cam's shot was blocked, he collected the rebound and banged another shot off the near post, and then Josh Carter pulled in a pass in front of the net to drive home the Titans' first goal of the night.
As the Greyhounds rushed back on their next drive, Brian Colyer shut down two attackers breaking at 30 yards with a solid clearing tackle, preventing what would have been a scoring opportunity. The Titans passed up to Scannella, who made it look easy as he split two defenders and moved toward goal. Pope had to clear for a corner kick for the Titans, and Pope's keeper punched out a strong in-swinger.
In the 20th minute, Luksis saved a ball shot from 8 yards out, and the Greyhounds got 2 successive corner kicks in a lengthy possession.
A few minutes later, hard charging play at midfield led to a Northview foul for holding, but Pope received a yellow card after the foul. Northview's Alex Alonso also was shown the yellow card at the stoppage. When play resumed, Pope soon found an opening, and Luksis again made a quick save on a crossing ball thru the box to shut down the attack.
At 24 minutes, the Titans struck for the 2nd time, with Scannella dribbling in from midfield past two Greyhounds, and striking perfectly on a low screaming ball that netted just inside the far post. Pope appeared shocked at their two goal deficit.
The Titans upped the lead to 3-0 at 35 minutes, when Andrew Cameron took a pass 10 yards out, circled around the marking defender and scored into the left side of the goal.
But Pope came back hard - twice - and showed its passing and shooting skills. Their first goal was from a line shot to the left side, off Luksis' outstretched hands, then just a minute later a Pope attacker circled around the left side of the Titan defense, passed out to a wide open attacker who drove home the 2nd Greyhound goal. What had seemed like a commanding lead, had shrunk quickly to a slim one goal advantage, and the half ended with the Titans up 3-2.
The second half was a tale of two very different segments. For the first fifteen minutes the Titans dominated, even as Pope threatened a few times, then a mighty defensive effort by Northview ensued until near the game's end.
Among the Titans many scoring chances, a feed from Stephen Gulia on a free kick from just inside midfield, found Mehrjerdian, and his header to Cameron led to a strong shot that went off the crossbar. After Pope cleared desperately, the Titans' corner kick was headed by Cameron from the 18 into Sayeed, whose header to the net was just saved by Pope's keeper.
At the 48th minute, the Titans got a free kick from 25, as Sayeed was fouled as he challenged for a header on a high ball. The free kick was played short to Jeff Scannella, who dribbled in on the left side and was taken down and awarded a penalty kick. Jeff converted as he went left past the keeper, and the Titans took a 4-2 lead that they spent the rest of the match defending mightily.
At 51 minutes, Luksis made a diving save to his left after Pope's free kick from 30 yards was crossed to the right side of the box.
At 54 minutes, Pope was awarded another yellow card, which pushed the intensity level up a notch. Pope's drives downfield in the next few minutes often were thwarted by solid tackles by the Titan defensive corps led by Brian Colyer. Luksis then made another save on a ball shot hard and low from the right corner.
On what would be the last Titan offensive push for awhile, Scannella took a lead pass into the left corner, passed back out to Josh Carter making a run at the 20, and the Pope keeper had to punch out Carter's shot for a Northview corner.
Then the Greyhounds came a-running, drew a line at midfield, and wouldn't let the Titans out for nearly 14 minutes. Shot after shot was rebuffed by Luksis, and again and again the Greyhounds were shut down in the penalty area as the Titans cleared, but couldn't mount an attack. Three separate drives deep into and around the right corner by Pope found keeper Luksis eyeball to eyeball with an attacker, as he came out to block balls shot at him from just outside the post again and again. Three successive corners by Pope were either headed out by the defense, or punched away by the Titan keeper.
With 10 minutes remaining, Luksis dove right for a ball shot from 8 yards out, saving the Titans yet again from the relentless Pope attack. Pope had two free kicks from 25 yards out during this onslaught. On one, the Titan wall stood the test with one block, and on the other, a double feint by Pope turned into a pass around the wall, where the rest of the Titan defense stood firm.
With the clock seeming never to count down fast enough, BJ Luksis found himself with 5 minutes left staring upfield at three oncoming Pope attackers. His quick rush out from the box to collect a leading pass surely prevented a score.
After the Northview team withstood these challenges, they finally broke out in the last three minutes. Controlled ball handling by Jimmy Mitchell and Scannella drained the last seconds off the clock, and the Titans preserved their sweet victory.
