By Keith Knepp
InkFreeNews

LIGONIER — Revenge is a dish sometimes best served cold. Just ask Panther boys soccer head coach Brad Duerksen.

Exactly one year to the day, NorthWood said goodbye to its class of 2020 seniors. Players including Skyler Duerksen, Trent Edwards and Jerson Sanchez would never again put on the Panther red and black kit after Oct. 7, 2019. As the host team of the 2019 Sectional 20 and with a sparkling 13-2-1 regular season record, the 2019 silver anniversary NorthWood squad, arguably the best in the program’s then-25 year history, was ready to make a deep run in the tournament.

Stellar defensive play from senior Cam Iwema helped propel the Panthers to a 2-0 Sectional 20 semi-final victory over West Noble on Wednesday. InkFreeNews file photo by Mike Deak.

Then West Noble came to Nappanee to spoil the Panther party. Sporting a terrific 13-3 record of their own, the Chargers came to Wellfield Park and took down the host school in a 2-1 hard scrabble match. NorthWood was on the outside looking without a single 2019 tournament victory added to their ledger. West Noble would go on to win the sectional championship before bowing out of the tournament in the regional semifinal to South Bend St. Joseph.

Fast forward 366 days (because, of course, 2020 had to be a leap year) to Oct. 7, 2020. This time it was West Noble that played the role of host school to Sectional 20. Both the Chargers and the Panthers played first round games two days earlier with NorthWood overrunning Lakeland 9-1 and West Noble squeaking by a pesky Wawasee side on penalty kicks. The two results set up a rematch of their 2019 battle, this time to be contested around 23 miles to the east.

For the first 15 minutes of play, the contest was waged fairly evenly with each team feeling the other out for the first time in 2020, as they did not meet during the regular season. In the 16th minute however, NorthWood found itself in a strong position with the ball on the foot of one of their outstanding seniors, Sebastian Guillen. A hard shot in traffic from the top of the 18 clanged off the left post and caromed diagonally across the goal box. Fellow senior and the program’s all-time leading scorer Andre DeFreitas found himself behind the ball with the West Noble keeper nowhere in sight. In a can’t-miss opportunity, DeFreitas didn’t, offering a light tap on the Wilson Forte Fybrid II ball and rolling it into the back of the net.

The goal turned out to be the only one of the first half. Both teams had a few opportunities to score, including two potentially convertible free kicks for West Noble, one of which went wide right and the other which went wide left.

The second half started out with more of the same back-and-forth play. West Noble’s game plan seemed to include a very concerted effort to physically pester Guillen and DeFreitas. Several hard fouls against Guillen, including one that resulted in a Charger yellow card, left number 11 visibly frustrated and flustered. Eventually, Guillen received a yellow card of his own. leaving the Panther faithful in fear that the aggressive play that surrounded their star might result in a second card and a match disqualification, which would also render him ineligible for a potential sectional championship game on Saturday. The other concern was that the overly-aggressive actions of the Chargers might leave Guillen with an injury that would affect his health for the near future.

In the midst of the physical tactics of the Chargers, NorthWood would find its second goal of the match in the 61st minute. After a foul on Guillen just across the midfield line in the Panthers’ attacking half, senior Panther defender Nick Lechlitner launched a banger from 45 yards out that carried over the outstretched arms of the West Noble keeper.

The insurance goal turned out to be too much for the Chargers to overcome in the last 19 minutes of play, as they knew they had to get one before they could get two and potentially extend the game. West Noble pressed the ball forward, pushing their defenders up the field to try to garner some offense.

Eventually, it was all for naught as NorthWood was content with their two tallies and West Noble never got its first. Senior Andrew Graber was credited with the shutout between the Panther pipes.

NorthWood (12-3-3) will return to Ligonier at 7 p.m. Saturday to vie for a sectional title. They’ll take on the 12-4-1 Angola Hornets, who eliminated Garrett 3-1 in the evening’s nightcap match.