Northview Titans Varsity Boys Game Summary
Northview v. Buford, 2-1
March 9th
Game conditions: 42 degrees at game time 7:30pm
It's all about opportunities - making them and exploiting them, or denying them.
This night, the Northview Titans denied the Buford Wolves from creating too many, and took advantage of their own opportunities, to end up the victors by a 2-1 margin.
The Titans started their offense early, with Andrew Cameron positioning himself within 25 yards of the goal, and successive runs by Jeff Scannella ending in passes to him. Cam's first shot was saved by the Wolves' keeper, and the keeper denied Cam on the 2nd attempt by collecting the ball at the 18 as Andrew closed in. Brandon McCollum also worked from midfield to find Cameron on the left side to keep the Titan attack going.
But at 8 minutes, the Wolves capitalized and took an early lead, as the Titan defense allowed an opportunity to develop on their own 18. A short pass back to the keeper couldn't be cleared, and the Wolves' striker found himself alone with a bouncing ball, for an easy score into an open net. Two minutes later the same striker got by the Titan defense and Luksis came out to the 18 to defend, and forced a shot wide left.
David Cantor and Andrew Stoniecki were called for pushing fouls near midfield as they worked to keep the Wolves from attacking; Stephen Gulia cleared the inbound free kick on the second foul with a fine header, the first of several he would execute tonight to keep the Wolves away from the door. At the 14th minute, Luksis -- determined to shut down Buford for the rest of the night -- made a lunging save to his left to catch a Buford shot from 25 yards. The Wolves and Titans each thwarted several attempted advances over the next several minutes, and AJ Johnson and Jeremy Stille subbed in at the 19th minute, looking to make opportunities. And did they ever.
With pressure from the Titan attack, the Wolves fouled and gave Northview a free kick from 20 yards out on the right touch line. After Stoniecki's header from 16 yards was saved, the Wolves came downfield, took a shot from 30 yards that went over the bar, and the Titans came back upfield. Then Stille took take a pass at 8 yards from Scannella, who had ripped thru three Buford defenders on the left side, but Stille's shot went high. As the Titans regained control after the goal kick, Stille again took over, taking a ball to within 20 yards on the right side, then feeding Cameron at 8 yards. His shot went wide right as he slipped on the turf.
At 27 minutes, Cameron Pratt drove a shot high right from 20 yards out on the right side. The Titans won possession after the goal kick, and the Wolves had to clear it out deep in their own end. A long throw in from the left touch line came toward the far post. The Titans' header toward the goal was blocked, but AJ Johnson finished it with a quick shot into the cords, for a GOAL that took the Titans back to even, at 1-1.
The Wolves weren't through yet, and after the kick off, the lumbering #26 spun at 25 yards, and shot a bicycle kick toward the top of the Titan net. Luksis leaped to punch it over the bar, and the Wolves corner kick was cleared by Gulia. At the 30th minute, Luksis denied the Wolves again and yet again. First he came out 15 yards to collect a crossing pass on the left side, and then a minute later shut down a lone Wolf in the middle of the box who was attempting to pass to himself around the keeper.
Back on the attack, Stille fed Scannella who came in to 8 yards on the left, and drove a low hard shot just outside the far post. Near the end of the half, the Titans had one more strong opportunity, as Alex Alonso drove in a free kick from 40 yards to Andrew Cameron, who put a sharp header toward the goal, which the Wolves keeper was able to save.
In the second half, the Titans won more balls at midfield and possessed the ball longer than in the earlier session. Alonso fed Sayeed Mehjerdian within the first two minutes as Northview began seeking out opportunities. Two minutes later, Cameron crossed from 40 yards toward Josh Carter making a run on the left at 20 yards; the Wolves' keeper was able to rush out to collect the ball at 15, denying the Titans a solid chance.
Defensively, Northview repeatedly shut down the Buford attack before it could push closer than 40 yards. Brian Colyer, Gulia, Stoniecki, Carter and others stood the test by either breaking up passes or shutting down Buford attempts to go past them with dribbling that just wasn't going to be allowed. The Wolves began shooting long range, and either missed the mark or gave Luksis chances to look like an outfielder on a baseball diamond hauling in fly balls. And when the Wolves did find an open attacker in Northview territory, the defense rushed in to protect, chasing down Buford attackers from behind at times.
At 62 minutes, the Titans strung together more opportunities, with Mehrjerdian passing to Cameron on the right, who crossed to Carter at 25 yards, with Carter's shot from 10 yards being cleared for a Titan corner kick. An ensuing header down toward the net was kicked out by the Wolves, but the Titans continued controlling the ball.
At 67 minutes the Wolves regained the attack, but not for long as Luksis came out to 18 yards to kick the ball clear. The Titan defense continued to frustrate the Wolves, denying them any controlled passing attack. Five minutes later, Gulia mounted an attack from 40 yards out with a deep pass to Andrew Cameron. Andrew brought it down, broke free of a defender and put the Titans second GOAL into the net from 20 yards.
The Wolves could get no closer than 30 yards in the next few minutes, with Colyer tackling well on the touchline. The Titans pushed the offensive end again, with Cameron Pratt being pulled down just outside the penalty area in the waning minutes of the match. Alonso reclaimed the ball after his free kick was blocked, shot again, then Tanner Chamblin took a final shot from 16 but went high. The match wrapped up with the Titan defense keeping the Wolves out at 25 yards on the touch line, ensuring the win.
