Boys at top of conference standings

The Wolverines had two adrenaline-filled games this last week, that included last minute goals to win, and an injury that took one of the senior players out for the rest of the season. The Wolverines SRV Conference record now stands at 9-0-1.
 In their final regular season contest, Weiser and Fruitland battled it out on Fruitland’s home turf on Thursday. Weiser came out ahead 2-1, all while trying to adjust their playing to account for one of their forwards being out injured.
 The first half of the game ended with neither team scoring despite multiple attempts by both sides. The first goal didn’t come until less than 2 minutes into the second half when Weiser’s Triston Kautz took a corner kick, which Cris Cornejo was able to boot into the Grizzly’s net.
 It looked like Fruitland was going to answer back minutes later when a foul was called on Weiser’s Justin Estes in the goalie box. Grizzly Cesar Meza took the penalty kick, which Wolverine keeper Gabe Rasmussen deflected into play, and another Grizzly kicked it in. The goal was no good after a foul was called on Fruitland because their offense went into the goalie box before the kick was taken.
 Fruitland wanted that goal, though, and at 12 minutes in, a foul was called on Weiser. Fruitland took the kick, crossed the ball to the other side where Grizzly Jaden Pineda was able to kick it in, making the score a tied up 1-1.
 Both teams played aggressively, trying to break the tie. But it was Weiser’s Alfonso Hernandez who pushed down the field and scored the final goal of the game with just 4 minutes left. Fruitland wasn’t able to do anything to tie it up again before the end, so the final score stood at 2-1, Weiser.
 Coach Kathy Bokides felt that the game was fun to watch. “It was fun to watch them use some of the things we practiced on the day before,” she said.
 Bokides does feel that there are some things the team still needs to work on heading toward districts.
 “We need to work on keeping our heads up, and getting the ball out of the middle,” she said.
 When speaking about the adjustments the team is making for the absence of Bryce Bake, Bokides said, “We wanted to ‘win this one for the Gipper.’ It’s been an adjustment because we had a solid lineup. And the kids miss him.”
 Tuesday’s game was in cold McCall, and included snow trying to make an appearance. Weiser pulled out a 3-2 win, but it came at a steep cost.
 Senior Bryce Bake, one of the Wolverine forwards and lead scorers, was involved in a play just minutes into the second half that left him with a broken leg.
 Play started quickly and aggressively, with Weiser coming out strong with an early lead. Ninety seconds into play, Weiser was already in front of McCall-Donnelly’s net. Cornejo headed the ball toward the goal, and the Vandal’s goalie fumbled it a little bit, giving Caden Cramer and chance to get his foot on the ball and toe it to the back of the net.
 After that, McCall-Donnelly became more aggressive, and play went back and forth between the two teams. At 12 minutes in, the aggression became physical and Vandal Kaden Pate received a yellow card for pushing. His coach, Brad Kindall, also received a yellow card for his behavior towards the referees.
 Play resumed and Weiser again gained control of the ball and took several shots at the Vandals goal. Eventually the ball was out on McCall-Donnelly, and Cornejo racked up another assist when he took the corner kick and Bake headed the ball into the Vandal’s net to score the second goal of the night with 25 minutes left in the first half.
 Weiser kept up the momentum and stole the ball from McCall-Donnelly 40 seconds later, and brought it back down to their net. Bake had a foul happen to him in the goal box, and Weiser was awarded a penalty kick. Travis Schimmel took the kick, the ball hit the top cross bar and went down. Schimmel followed his kick and tried to finish off the goal, but had a foul called on him for interfering with the keeper.
 The Vandals got their first goal with just over 10 minutes left on the clock after Pate pushed down the field and made a shot that got past Weiser’s goalie Rasmussen. This brought the score to 2-1, Weiser, and that’s what it stayed at until the second half.
 Only 3 minutes into the second half, Bake was involved in a play with a McCall-Donnelly player. The collision sent Bake to the turf with an injured leg and the Vandal received a yellow card. Bake had to be removed from the field and was taken to the hospital by his parent.
 McCall-Donnelly kept up the aggressive playing, and Jimmy Ayllon from the Vandals received a yellow card 8 minutes into the second half.
 The sudden loss of Bake had the Wolverines off kilter, and the Vandals took advantage of that. They pushed the ball down to the Weiser net, and there was intense play in the goalie box. McCall-Donnelly came close to scoring again, but the ball hit the side of the net and went out.
 With 21 minutes left, Vandal Hudson VanMiddendorp got a ball past Weiser defenses to tie up the score 2-2.
 Weiser became determined to not leave with a tie, and brought the game back to McCall’s side of the field and took several more shots at their goal. It wasn’t until there was just 40 seconds left on the clock that Weiser was able to get another goal.
 The Vandals fouled, and Marcos Tarelo took the resulting long, outside shot for Weiser. It soared in perfectly to the goal to bring the score to 3-2 in Weiser’s favor.
 It was hard to put into words how the team was feeling after the game. There was elation at the win, but worry about their injured teammate.
 Bokides commented, “Our boys did incredible. They kept their cool, and stayed together as a team.”