North Adams’ Daulton Pence (right) goes into the slide to attack the ball and a West Union opponent as the Devils pulled off a 5-0 conference victory. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
In traffic, West Union goalkeeper Brylee Mills takes form possession as the Dragons dropped a 5-0 decision to North Adams on September 11. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It was an all-county Southern Hills Athletic Conference boys soccer battle on September 11 at North Adams High School as the Green Devils played host to the West Union Dragons. The Devils came into the game unbeaten in conference action, while the Dragons were looking to pull off an upset to get their season on the right track.
Under a bright and sunny sky, it turned out to be the home team that controlled most of the action. After a slow start, the host Green Devils found their mark with three goals in a seven-minute span in the first half and made that hold up in a 5-0 victory.
The SHAC match up was a defensive struggle for most of the first half, any scoring attempts by the Devils handled by West Union goalkeeper Brylee Mills. Finally at the 9:18 mark of the first half, the home team broke through with a goal by junior Beau Hesler, one that turned out to be the only one the Devils would need. Less than a minute later, it was 2-0 as North Adams sophomore Jaydon Reckers finding the back of the net. The trio of goals continued with 2:07 left in the half when a bullet off the left foot of junior Preston Call got past Mills and into the corner of the net for a three-goal North Adams halftime advantage.
Less than four minutes into the second half, the Devils struck again, this time a goal by freshman Jaxon Baldwin and the fifth and final score for the winners came with 17:18 to play when a rebound laid in front of the goal and with his coaches and teammates urging him to “Kick it in”, junior Colin Tolle took their advice and tallied his third goal of the season.
The win was the fifth shutout in a a row for North Adams senior goalie Jayce Rothwell as he only had to make one save in the game, a testament to his team’s solid defensive effort.
“We’ve been starting slow every game so far,” said North Adams head coach Kirk Bunn after the win. “It’s hard to get them fired up but once they go, they go. So far our defense has held up to allow us to survive those slow starts. We’ve got some guys up the middle that don’t always get a lot of recognition, Beau Hesler being one that comes to mind. His stats may not be eye-catching but he starts a lot of our offense. It’s really a group effort. Last year we had a big stud of offense and this year we don’t have that one but six or seven combined have really worked well.”
Both teams had games later in the week, with the Green Devils getting a 1-1 tie at Georgetown and the Dragons forging a 2-2 tie at Ripley. At press time, North Adams stood 6-1-1 on the season, 4-0 in conference play while West Union was at 1-5-1, 0-5-1 in the SHAC. The Devils traveled to Williamsburg on Monday night in a non-conference match up.
