(PHOTOS BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
NWOAL TILT … Jake Farley sends the ball up field for the Vikings in a 2-0 win over Wauseon. VIEW 148 PHOTOS OF THIS CONTEST FOR FREE AT WWW.THEVILLAGEREPORTER.COM
BALL HANDLING … Wauseon’s Masyn Buehrer controls the ball in front of an Evergreen player.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
METAMORA (August 29, 2024) – Last season Brady Kanneman’s goal off a corner kick with five minutes left gave Evergreen a 3-2 win at Wauseon.
The Vikings went on to 18 wins, won the NWOAL title along with the district championship. This year with the graduated Kanneman observing from the press box, it took just 68 seconds for the Vikings to jump out to a 1-0 lead and go on to a 2-0 win over previously unscathed Wauseon before a large and electric crowd at Pifer Field.
The Vikes are now 2-2-1 on the year, 1-0-1 in league play while the Indians fell to 3-1, 1-1 in the league.
“This is a good win, and we did some things right moving the ball the created some openings”, Coach David Skoczyn II said after.
“Beating a team that was undefeated is always big especially before a crowd like this. Good game for the kids.”
Fans had barely settled in when Jake Farley dropped a pass to Konnor Sanford on the left sideline and from the 20-yard line, the Viking senior hammered a hooking shot over Brody Balser to give Evergreen an early advantage with 38:52 on the clock.
“We’ve had problems scoring early this year and a big goal by Konnor early to get one on the board and really get our energy going.”
“Jake made a good play with the ball and Konnor hit a great shot, it was really important to get the first one and even better getting it that early in the game,” explained Skoczyn II.
Scoring chances were minimal for Wauseon as they had just three shots in the first half, Alex Mossing making an easy save on one.
The Vikings struck again with 9:08 to go in the first with Sanford again doing the honors. This time it was Blake Fisher who found Sanford in the middle of the field where his low shot bounced into the left side of the net for a 2-0 margin.
Evergreen had a chance for a third in the last minute of the half, but Balser made a diving save against Luke Woodring’s punch from in front to hold the score at 2-0.
Woodring had one more try in the second when he got ahead of the pack after a pass up field, but his 1-v-1 attempt bounced wide right.
Balser made two more saves on the Vikings four second half shots while Mossing went untested pretty much the whole game getting a pair of saves out of the seven attempts Wauseon had for the night.
“Having Alex back there always makes you feel confident, and for him not to have to do very much in a game, well that’s our defense doing a great job in front of him.”
“We have a good deal of experience on that line, and it starts in the middle of the field defensively as well. It was a good all-around effort by our team,” Skoczyn II said.
Skoczyn II, who traded places with his dad Dave Skoczyn in the coaching ranks after last season, talked about the Vikings early season schedule which included a 5-0 loss to Division IV Liberty Benton, who is a threat to win the state title in that division.
“We had a great film session on Tuesday and went over a number of things we could do better. Did we get all of them right? Not yet, but we were much better. Our aggressiveness was much better.”
Evergreen is off until September 5 when they travel to Toledo Christian before returning home to play Pettisville on September 7. Wauseon goes to Pettisville on September 5 and hosts Central Catholic on September 7.