by Jeff Wickerham
The Tri-Valley Scotties at 5-1 (3-1 MVL) ranked 27th in Division 2 and 78 overall in Ohio had an out of conference game against the Hiland Hawks, who were 5-0-1 , ranked 2nd in Division 3 and 18 overall in the state of Ohio. The game took place on a beautiful pitch in Berlin, on an ideal fall evening.
This game wasn’t as physical as the previous games, but the play was quick. Hiland was well trained, playing balls to feet, as well as to open space, depending on what the Scotties gave them. The scoring started with Hiland in the 20th minute, on a set piece played in the box and finished by the Hawks. 1-0
The remainder of the half went scoreless with only a few shots on goal by each team. Coach Laughlin made a specific point to the team at halftime. “You want to attack the zone and get behind it. How do we score? We get behind them. We need to get behind them.” In addition to Coach Laughlin’s message, Senior Captian Sam Schott and Senior Gael Oseguera individually went up to Coach to get feedback. The team seemed loose, not worried being down in an away game against a tough opponent.
The lesson at halftime worked and in the 43 minute, Sophomore Chris Carpenter passed to Schott, who saw Oseguera getting behind the Hiland defense. Goal for Gael!!! 1-1
In the 51st minute though, the Hawks countered, putting the score at 2-1. Then, 8 minutes later, they scored again, putting the Scotties down 3-1. If you haven’t seen this Tri-Valley team play before, you would have thought they were done. Not this team.
From the sideline, Laughlin asked Schott to be vocal. He asked Sam to demand the ball. What happened? 2 minutes later, in the 63rd minute, Schott asked for the ball, received it, got it to Freshmen Corbin Ryan who put the ball in the box, a deflection was made, but Schott capitalized! 3-2 Hawks.
7 minutes later, the Schott to Oseguera combination worked again, giving Gael his second goal of the game and knotting the score at 3 with 10 minutes to play. The intensity picked up on both sides, but neither team was able to capitalize, ending the game with a draw.
Sophomore keeper Owen Harney made 7 saves, but with 15 minutes left in the match, Junior Lincoln Rhodes went in for Harney and made 2 saves of his own.
Defensively, the Scotties allowed 3 goals, which was tied for the most against them this season. Senior Captains Camden Wickerham and Devin Watts played in the middle and Senior Ethan McLellan and Sophomore Oliver Baker played on the outside.
In the midfield, Freshman Corbin Ryan and Junior Nick Flarey started on the outside with Oseguera and Junior Dominic Dale in the center. Schott and Junior Yuvi Bastola started at the forward position. Sophomores Cris Carpenter and Ty Young subbed in for the midfield and Freshman Lewis Mozena subbed in as a forward throughout the game.
After the game, Laughlin’s message to the team was that if they would have continued to play behind the defense, he felt they would have scored another goal and taken this game away from Hiland. He also emphasized the team showed a lot of character, coming back to tie a good team.
Next up, the Scotties take their 5-1-1 record and host the Johnstown-Monroe Johnnies, who are 2-1-2. JV will kickoff at 10:00 a.m. with Varsity to follow on Saturday, September 9 at Kenny Wolford Park.
