Northview Titans Varsity Boys Game Summaries
Northview v. Wheeler Wildcats 4-5
March 6, 2007
Tonight the Titans went back on the road again following their heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to the Pope High School Greyhounds. It was a great evening for this second region game against the Wheeler Wildcats with the temperature at 57F. Coach C. was able to welcome back Caulin Collier and his starting line-up was:-
Will Whorton
Tanner Chamblin Jarrod Nesser Stephen Glover Caulin Collier
Russell Bradford Jacob Lee Sam Bevan
Dan Schwartz Eric Carrion Cameron Pratt
What a strange start we had! Wheeler hoped to catch Will Whorton asleep so immediately from the kick-off they tried a long range shot on goal which went wide. Since there were no ball boys or girls, Will had to seek the ball so after 30 seconds of play the ball had only been touched twice. After two minutes the Wheeler forwards, two brothers who were very fast, forced Tanner Chamblin to concede a corner. The field was narrow and the first corner was so long it went out for a throw-in on the other side of play. Two minutes after that Eric Carrion managed Northview’s first shot on goal which the keeper saved. In the 5th minute, the Titans had Jarrod Neser take one of his long throws which Cameron Pratt headed –in only to be called back for some infringement. Cameron was in the thick of things and in the 7th minute he drew a foul just outside of the Wildcats’ box. Sam Bevan took the free kick which the Wheeler keeper managed to hold on to as Cameron bore down on him. With 9 minutes gone, Wheeler won a free kick 10 yds outside of the Titan penalty area following some shirt pulling. Fortunately, they shot wide of the target.
Cameron Pratt was carrying an injury so he was replaced by Steve Kim after 10 minutes. Jacob Lee then went through the middle but side-footed his shot wide of the right hand post. The Titans were made to pay for their missed opportunities in the 13th minute when, against the run of play, a slip by one of our defenders let Wheeler through and they handily beat Will Whorton to give Wheeler the lead. Cameron Pratt came back on and, nearly immediately, he tried to pass to Eric Carrion who was called for offside. A few minutes later Eric Carrion came close to equalizing when, following a nice pass from Sam Bevan, he tried to chip the goalie but his shot was just too high. In the 22nd minute Russell Bradford was replaced by Josh Taylor. The Wildcats looked dangerous as they took the ball down the right side of the field, played the ball to the left side and then back again to the right only for Caulin Collier to stand firm and head the ball clear. Following a long clearance by Will Whorton in the 25th minute, Cameron Pratt was clear through but he hit his shot high. Sam Bevan won a debatable free kick just near the Wildcats box in the 28th minute and from his cross Cameron Pratt who was at the back post headed-in a well deserved goal to tie the game at 1 – 1.
Unfortunately, it only took Wheeler 22 seconds to regain the lead when Will Whorton was injured as a Wheeler forward got to the ball first and headed the go-ahead goal with the Titans’ defense at sixes and sevens. The Titans were in the midst of a horrible spell and another 53 seconds later Wheeler stretched their lead from a corner when a forward was totally unmarked at the back post. Northview were playing very tentatively at this stage and seemed scared of making any more mistakes so the Wildcats looked in control of the game. The Wildcats flattered to deceive and if the Titans could get their heads back in the game they could come back.
With six minutes left in the first half Cameron Pratt picked up a yellow card for a late tackle and was replaced by Pall Kornmayer. Stephen Glover then made a great defensive play on one of the Wheeler forwards but the ball cruelly fell to a Wheeler forward who made it a 4 – 1 score to Wheeler. Northview tried to get back a goal in the 38th minute when Josh Taylor broke through to win a corner but nothing came of it. Will Whorton still had time left to make a brilliant save and tip over the bar a free kick from Wheeler just as the half came to an end.
Coach C. obviously had something to say to the boys at half time and as the original starting line up returned for the start of the second half, they looked a different team, playing more aggressively and more confidently. Northview players, Dan Schwartz, Cameron Pratt, Russell Bradford, Jarrod Pratt, Sam Bevan and Jacob Lee were pushing forward looking for a goal but had to be aware of the counter attack from Wheeler and in the 48th minute Caulin Collier was yellow carded after hauling down a Wheeler forward. Caulin was replaced by Ramu Annamalai.
Tanner Chamblin made a nice defensive play in the 52nd minute but was hurt making the tackle. He had to be helped off the field and was replaced by Caulin Collier who had been waiting for a break in the action to come back on. Josh Taylor replaced Dan Schwartz and in the 55th minute Jacob Lee played a ball to Russell Bradford and he passed to Josh Taylor whose shot was just a little too high.
Northview had Ramu Annamalai to thank a minute later when, following a poor clearance by the Titans, one of the two dangerous forwards for Wheeler broke through on goal but Ramu’s tight marking forced him to shoot high.
With 58 minutes gone Northview were really threatening the Wildcats goal. Jacob Lee had one corner headed off the line and as Cameron Pratt chased the return ball the Wheeler goalie put it out for a corner. Russell Bradford took the corner from the right wing and the goalie caught it on the line but then stepped back over the line to reduce the deficit to 4 – 2 with twenty minutes left. This time it was Northview’s turn to score quickly and a couple of minutes later, Sam Bevan took a free kick from 28 yds. The goalie dived to his right to push the ball around the post and as it rolled towards the line Cameron Pratt, in those blue suede shiny shoes, back-heeled the ball towards the six yard box. A feeding frenzy took place as both forwards and defenders went for the ball however it ended back with Jarrod Neser who hammered it home to bring he Titans back to only one goal down. In the 63rd minute the Titans pushed for the equalizer when Jarrod Neser passed the ball to Jacob Lee. Jacob gave the ball to Stephen Glover and he laid it off for Sam Bevan, who returned it to Jacob. He then tried to slot through a great ball to Eric Carrion but he couldn’t quite get there.
There were 11 minutes left when the musical chairs saw Russell Bradford come off for Steve Kim and then 30 seconds later Russell went back to replace Dan Schwartz. As the Titans kept looking for another goal, Dan Schwartz came back on for Steve Kim. Coach C. was trying to work his magic and with 57 seconds left in the game, Eric Carrion fed Sam Bevan and he found Jacob Lee who then exchanged passes with Dan Schwartz. Jacob dribbled his way towards goal and was knocked over to win a penalty. Under the watchful gaze of his future college coach, Sam Bevan tucked away the penalty to tie the score at 4 – 4 with 36 seconds left.
What a heart stopping 80 minutes but, frankly, 6 of the 8 regular time goals in this game were the result of bad defense or dubious decisions and 1 – 1 would have been a better score!
Extra time was five minutes each way and the Titans looked the more likely of the two to score but neither team could find the net and it ended up in a penalty shoot-out for the second time in two games for the Titans. Stephen Glover and Dan Schwartz had the first two penalties saved and Will Whorton saved one of Wheeler’s first two so with four penalties taken Wheeler led 1 – 0. Sam Bevan, Cameron Pratt and Jacob Lee all scored their penalties but so did Wheeler and they won 4 – 3 on penalties.
Final score: Wheeler Wildcats 5 – 4 Northview Titans
(Wheeler wins the penalty kicks 4 – 3)
