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September 18, 2001
BY JIM THOMAS Montezuma-Cortez High School head boys soccer coach Todd Starr told his players following their game on Saturday to "feel good about Friday, forget about Saturday, and focus on Montrose." That pretty much sums up the Panthers’ weekend. They tied Central of Grand Junction 2-2 Friday afternoon, Sept. 14, but were clobbered by Fruita-Monument 7-0 on Saturday morning, Sept. 15, at Norman Johnson Memorial Field. "We played a very good game on Friday. We were ready to play and we showed a lot intensity. We went to the ball well and we attacked. But on today (Saturday) it was like we didn’t even show up. It was like we had no energy," Starr added. The game against the Warriors was a game of one half of scoring and one half of playing defense. Central dominated the first half and Cortez dominated the second. And when it came to push to shove in the two overtimes, neither team prevailed. Central started attacking early and often in the first half. They kept the ball on the attacking half of the field. They took three shots during the first 10 minutes of play. Central, on a breakaway, scored when Robert Saunders scored. MCHS goalie Dusty Bell came out of the crease and missed an attempt, leaving a wide open shot. But Cortez was resilient and came back. Matt Percy got a shot off but it was too short. Central attempted two more shots mid-way through the half. Cortez got a break-away opportunity but couldn’t get a shot off. Cortez’ Jon Cullington tried to score off a direct kick but it sailed into the hands of the goalkeeper. Central got an opportunity on a penalty kick and converted at the 25-minute mark. Pat Walter made the goal for a 2-0 lead. But a few minutes later at the 33-minute, Cortez got on the scoreboard. Pat Managan booted the ball as the Central goalie slipped. With just a couple minutes to play, the Panthers tied the game when Jeff Yarbrough kicked the ball from the far corner. The ball hit the goalie right in the chest as he turned and the ball rebounded into the net for a 2-2 half-time score. The Panthers attacked hard in the second half. They kept the pressure on Central. Cortez got opportunity after opportunity. They tried several times but came up empty. About the 50-minute mark, Central got off a rash of shots but also came up empty. Cullington tried but missed. Percy tried but missed. Managan tried but missed. Central’s Mark MacDonald almost scored but he sent the ball sailing too high over the cross-bar. Cortez did get a break when a shot hit the top of the cross-bar and bounced away. Yarbrough got one last chance to score but the ball missed the mark at 39:13. In the first overtime, Central took a couple shots but both missed way wide. Cortez’ Chris Buckholtz got a chance but missed high. In the second overtime, neither team could mount much of an offense. The ball stayed in the middle of the field. On Saturday, it was a different story. Fruita showed off its speed, dribbling, passing and shooting skills. The Wildcats dominated play right from the beginning. They anticipated well and placed shots up where their strikers would be. Or they would simply get a breakaway and outrun the defense. Fruita got four shots off in the first nine minutes of play. One of those attempts hit the cross-bar and bounced away. Fruita finally hit the net when James Sharman scored off a nice assist from Matt Atkins at the 16:40 mark. Fruita came right back and scored again at 18:14 when Aaron Scroggins zipped it past when the Cortez goalie overplayed the ball and was out of position. Cortez did attack at the 19-minute mark but never got a shot off. Fruita came right back with they went right down the middle of the field and Scroggins scored which made the score 3-0. Cortez made a couple weak shots. Yarbrough did make a nice shot but it missed wide at 27:18. Fruita dominated play the rest of the half. With just a little more than six minutes gone in the second half, Atkins found the back of the net as he dribbled past two Cortez defenders. The Wildcats made it 5-0 at the 55-minute mark off another goal off a break-away by Atkins. Fruita stormed right back with a goal less than a minute later when Atkins scored again. The Wildcats final goal came at 19:07 when Garrett Morrison scored. The Panthers now must focus on the Indians for a game set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, in Montrose. If the Panthers want to make the playoffs again this season, this is one game they need to win desperately. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
All rights reserved. |
