West Union keeper Colt Parker, left, smothers the rock in front of a sliding Weston Browning of Peebles as the two teams battled to a 0-0 draw on Sept. 10 at WUHS. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles’ Hunter White, center, goes high for the midfield header in action from Monday’s all-county soccer action at West Union High School. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

Peebles, West Union battle to 0-0 draw – 

By Mark Carpenter – 

An all-Adams County boys soccer rivalry came to West Union High School on Monday, Sept. 10 as the Dragons played host to the Peebles Indians in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. Any fans who were in attendance at WUHS on Monday and expecting to see an offensive show left disappointed as the entire 80 minutes produced a grand total of zero goals, clean sheets for both sides as neither team could illuminate any extra lights on the scoreboard, recording the double shutout for West Union keeper Colt Parker and Peebles keeper Kyle Lightner.
This SHAC battle was a defensive struggle from start to finish, neither team really coming close to any scoring opportunities in the early going. Most of the action took place on the Peebles offensive end and a few run outs by striker Weston Browning showed promise, but came up empty. A header from close range by the Indians’ Hunter White was stopped at the 15:30 mark of the first half and another shot from inside the 18 by Browning was smothered. In the half’s final minute, a nice slide tackle and steal by Logan Jackson led to a shot attempt by Browning that went wide and the two teams went to the half deadlocked at nil.
Browning had another scoring chance early in the second half, but his shot glanced off of the post and ricocheted away. At the 31:40 mark West Union’s Bowan Tomlin got loose on a run out but his shot also bounded off the post and harmlessly away before Lightner could get his hands on it. The Indians had a couple of corner kicks that were unsuccessful and the last chance at breaking the tie came with 1:15 remaining when Tomlin was awarded a direct kick from about 25 yards out, but that shot was off target and the final whistle blew with nothing but goose eggs on the scoreboard.
“I believe our boys have found their chemistry and are putting their trust into each other on the field,” said first-year Peebles head coach Logan Gordley. “The boys played their hardest the entire game tonight and lifted each other up when they could. Coach (Kevin) Hunter had his team well prepared for us at every angle and you could see that from how they were playing our strikers.”
“We’re starting to hit our stride and the boys are realizing that as well. It’s going to be fun to see how the rest of the season plays out.”
The tie left the Indians with a 2-2-1 record, 2-1-1 in the SHAC, while West Union left their home field on Monday with a record of 2-3-2, 2-1- in conference play.