Northview Titans Varsity Boys Game Summary
Northview vs. Alpharetta, 4-1
April 12th
Game Conditions: 66 degrees at 5:30pm game time; muddy field
The Titans traveled west to play "the new school" and came home with a 4 to 1 victory.
With a field still recovering from prior rains, both teams did plenty of slipping on the year-old turf, but the Titans were sure-footed enough to work the ball for plenty of good shooting opportunities.
Northview came out strong and scored first with a beautiful goal by Sayeed Mehrjerdian.
In the latter part of the first half, Josh Carter, Jeff Scannella, Jimmy Mitchell all took good shots from 15 to 30 yards away, with solid saves by the Raiders' keeper. At 36 minutes, Mitchell crossed from the right side to Brandon McCollum, whose header from six yards out went over the bar.
Northview was determined to go into the half with better than a 1 - 0 lead, and at 38 minutes Scannella crossed the ball in from 40 yards out on the left side to Andrew Cameron at ten yards on the right. Cam banged it home for a 2 - 0 score. Scannella got the ball shortly after the kick-off, and tried to make it 3 - 0 by driving past two defenders and letting loose from 25 yards out on the left, but the keeper was able to run this one down near the far post. The Titans possessed again, and again Scannella shot from 25 yards. The keeper blocked it out for a Northview corner kick, then made another save on Brian Colyer's shot after the corner kick.
The Raiders made one last effort to attack at the end of the half, and got a crossing pass in to a lone Raider, who moved toward the right with the ball across the top of the penalty area. Andrew Stoniecki was called for a pushing foul with 2 ticks left on the clock, and the Raiders converted the penalty kick to narrow the Titans lead to 2 -1 at halftime.
Northview continued to dominate the field on the offensive end, by maintaining ball control thru midfield and then mounting attacks. In their own half, the Titans were inconsistent in marking, but kept Luksis and the net protected by stopping, tackling and just taking away the ball from Raiders who came within 20 yards of goal. In the early minutes of the second half, Alpharetta made a clean pass toward an unmarked man rushing in, but Titans' keeper BJ Luksis came out to 10 yards to scoop the ball up.
The Raiders' keeper had to struggle in the second half, including a hard shot from close range by McCollum, and making a high save on a free kick from Josh Carter taken from near midfield. Jeremy Stille alertly nabbed an errant clearing pass by Alpharetta, and turned it into a shot from 30 yards that missed the mark a bit high. Then Jimmy Mitchell found that plenty of touches can be a beautiful thing, even if you don't score the goal yourself. Mitchell drilled a shot from 15 yards at the Raiders' keeper, who couldn't control it; Jimmy attacked again off the rebound with a second shot. A Raider defender desperately tried to get a touch on it, the ball found the goal and Northview led 3 - 1 on the "own goal".
After more Titan attacking, with shots by Andrew Cameron, Josh Carter and AJ Johnson each forcing keeper saves, the Raiders got one last chance on a free kick from just outside the penalty area on the left side. Northview's wall limited the free kick to a narrow range around it, and Luksis made the save.
With just 3 minutes remaining, Jeff Scannella found Tanner Chamblin at 15 yards out, but Tanner's shot was saved. Then it was Mitchell's turn again to shine, as Scannella crossed from 16 yards on the left to a breaking Mitchell at the top of the goal area on the right. Jimmy crossed back across the goal mouth to give Jeff the open area, and Scannella notched another Titan goal for a 4 - 1 advantage.
