Hal High Footie clubs open season at home

Red Hawks’ footie clubs rip one huge win/ one squeaker loss in openers

By Terrance Gavan - PTE Editor – County Voice Sports Reporter

   Hal High Red Hawk junior footie players ran a veritable pastiche of TSN-worthy highlight reel goals past their struggling counterparts from Brock High School last Tuesday afternoon.

   The Trilliums Lakelands sports body prohibits teams from showing actual scores during lopsided games, so it was hard to accurately manage the books after the home-town Hawks ran their advantage to 5-1.

   That’s where the home town clock technician literally clocked off.

   Deadline issues – Voice goes to print proofs on Tuesday afternoon – prevent a final airing of the score, but suffice to say that the junior Hawks soccer squad ran the score to 8-1 at one point in a wind-aided second half.

   The impressive home opener bodes well for junior footie at Hal High.

   They show a well organized front end attack, bulwarked by a solid cadre of high styled footmen.

   They finish with flourish and their open-ended attacking style provided the fans on hand with plenty to talk about.

   Stylish club with some hard-core offensive players, capable of finish. Obviously.

   Meanwhile the senior footie squad fell prey to some opening day jitters in a lackluster first 40 minutes.

   They dug themselves a huge 4-0 hole before rallying in the latter stages of the contest.

   Alex Monk-Cray, Jesse Schmidt, Brett Yake and Mike Mazara rallied the cause with some stellar crosses, ball movement, and a heady counter-punching demeanor with the wind at their backs and blowing out to Head Lake in the second half.

   They scored their first wind-aided goal with less than 30 minutes remaining and then rallied huge in the closing minutes to close the advantage to 4-3. Their second and third goals came during an absolutely awe-inspiring flurry of offensive activity in the closing three minutes of regular time.

   During a minute and a half of extra time the senior Hawks had one glorious chance to knot the score, but fell just shy as the clock dwindled to the final whistle after 85 seconds of added time.

   This senior club possesses some very potent weapons and should be all right this year.

   Brock seniors play a disciplined ball control game and the senior Hawks like to freewheel. Despite that ugly first half, the senior Hawks showed dig deep heart, and some emotional flourish in the face of some dire odds.

   Last Tuesday they had patches of brilliance in that second half, which shattered the composure of Brock’s back line.

   Kudos goes to Brock’s backstop, who was superb when needed, and eventually he turned the tide in the closing moments.

   However those late flashes should provide momentum for the senior club who travel to St. Thomas Aquinas today.

   Both footie clubs are on the road to KCVI next Tuesday.

   The Brohman pitch will turn into Brohman Field next Tuesday (Sept 28) for the twin bill football home opener against KCVI.

    reach the gav at gav@pardontheeruption.com / twitter.com/terrancegavan