The Parkview Varsity played Glendale an even first half, which ended with no score. PHS had a couple of excellent opportunities in the second half to put the ball in the net, but no goals were scored by the Vikings. Glendale was successful and pulled out a victory, 2 to 0.

The Parkview JV opened the evening against the Glendale JV, which came into the match with only one loss. Despite scoring first, the Falcons fought back to pull out a victory 3 to 1. The JV Vikings end their season with a fine 11-4-1 record against other JV squads.

District 12 Seedings

1st – Kickapoo
2nd – Parkview
3rd – Joplin
4th – Neosho
5th – Nixa
6th – Ozark

Game Schedule
(All games will be played at Kickapoo High School)

Monday, Oct. 30
5 PM – Joplin defeated Ozark 1-0
7 PM – Nixa defeated Neosho 3-2(OT)

Tuesday, Oct. 31
5 PM – Kickapoo vs. Nixa
7 PM – Parkview vs. Joplin

Thursday, Nov. 2
6 PM – District Championship

On a crisp fall afternoon, the Varsity Vikings kicked off against the Ozark Tigers on the PHS field. After a first half dominated by Parkview, in terms of possession time and shots on goal, the Varsity boys shockingly found themselves behind 2 to 1 at the half.

The second half started with a sense of urgency, and the results were positive. A goal by Tim Griffin tied the game early in the half, followed later by a go ahead goal by Tim Brooks. Joey Ekstam’s late goal provided the extra margin.

The large number of PHS fans were then treated to a Senior Night ceremony, recognizing the 9 Seniors on the team. Soccer mom and graphic wizard Linda Regan produced a colorful and informative Senior booklet. Master of cermonies Ray Medley spoke about the accomplishments and memories of the Seniors.

The JV boys got to work against the Ozark JV, trying to get things going, as darkness would force a shortened game. The PHS JV scored not long into the first half, and held on for a 1 to 0 victory.

The Parkview Varsity heads into Thursday’s battle against city rival Glendale with second place in the Ozark Conference on the line. PHS enters the game 6-2 in conference play; the Falcons are 5-2-1. A win or a tie by the Vikings will gain the second spot in the final standings to Kickapoo.

posted by Steve Brooks

The annual Senior Night recognition is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24. The Vikings host Ozark at the PHS soccer field with the Varsity game slated to kick off at 4:00 pm. The ceremony recognizing the Seniors will take place immediately following the Varsity game.

The Parkview Varsity hosted Camdenton October 10 in an Ozark Conference match and came out on top, 3 to 1. Two days later, the sqaud traveled to district rival Neosho and again won by a 3 to 1 score. The Vikings now claim a 15-5 record; 5-2 in the conference. PHS is 3rd in the standings, following Kickapoo at 7-0 and Glendale at 4-1-1. Key matches between the three leaders remain during the last two weeks of the season to determine the final standings.

The PHS Junior Varsity played till dark on October 10, coming up with a late goal to tie Camdenton 1 to 1. They then dominated Neosho’s JV later in the week, winning by a 4 to 0 score. The JV boys have now played seven matches without a loss.

Parkview’s recent swing through Jefferson City offered a little something for everyone. The weather was cold, cool and warm. The competition was weak, challenging and tough. In addition, fans saw lots of goals scored, a Viking shutout, trains galore and an amazing soccer ball/hot chocolate incident.

PHS faced off against PHS Friday night–Parkview vs. Pacific High School. It quickly became obvious that Parkview should not only win the game but win big. With most of the action occuring on Pacific’s end of the field, the Vikings won 7-0 in a game where the most exciting “play” actually took place on the bleachers.

As temperatures dropped, fans were enjoying an extra-tall cup of hot chocolate available from the concession stand. One Pacific mom sat blowing on her steaming, just-purchased cup when spectators watched one of those classic, “slow-motion” scenes unfold before their eyes that they were helpless to prevent.

A miss-kicked ball sailed off the foot of a Pacific player, spun high in the air and took dead-aim at the unsuspecting mom. Because she was looking down at her cocoa, she did not see the approaching ball that landed squarely on her lap and bounced up, directly under her cup. The contents then exploded onto the woman’s face and blouse. Fans’ immediate concern that the hot liquid would burn her skin gave way to relief and sympathy as she indicated she was okay, but now dripping with cooling, sticky chocolate. Like any good parent, however, she stayed and cheered for her struggling team!

The game against Smith-Cotton High (from Sedalia) kicked off Saturday morning with temperatures in the 40s. While fans sat protecting their coffee and hot chocolate, Parkview took control of the game and went into halftime with a comfortable 3-0 lead. However “down” Smith-Cotton may have seemed, the team never considered itself “out” and proceeded to make things interesting by narrowing the PHS lead to 3-2. Fans then sat through a classic, second-half nail-biter while the Vikings held onto their win.

Against Helias High at 3 p.m., the Vikings faced a mid-fielder who will be playing for Marquette University next fall. His size and speed, combined with the talents of Helias’ 11 additional seniors, challenged the Vikings throughout the game. Helias scored one unanswered goal in each half while Parkview battled to even things up. Despite two great, PHS scoring opportunities, Helias went home with a 2-0 win over the Vikings.

The Varsity Vikings got their scoring in early Tuesday night against the West Plains Zizzers and then let fans bite their nails for the remaining 75 minutes of play. Seniors Joey Ekstam and Tim Brooks each put an unassisted goal on the scoreboard within the first five minutes of the game. By all accounts, Parkview then controlled most of the match but could not “finish” any more shots on goal.

Ragged play by the team in the second half of the game had Parkview fans worriedly recalling the Parkview Shootout just a few weeks prior. That day, a 2-0 lead against the very same West Plains club disappeared and then became a 2-3 deficit. PHS eventually lost the game in a shoot-out following two overtime periods. When West Plains put a nice, “low far post” shot past Tyler Kutz Tuesday night, fan concern grew. Only the occassional announcement of a comfortable, St. Louis Cardinal lead over the San Diego Padres from PHS soccer dad Bob Florez cut the tension on the field.

While West Plains put together a couple of nice, offensive runs in the second half of the game, the Vikings were able to reorganize enough to hold onto their shakey, 2-1 lead over the state-ranked, Class 2-seventh place Zizzers.

This time of year, the junior varsity Vikings begin their games on the PHS pitch in bright sunlight and finish up well into dusk. Such was the case Tuesday when their game kicked off following the varsity victory. The majority of the game was played on West Plains’ half of the field. Never-the-less, repeated Viking attempts to score failed and the first half ended with the teams tied at 0-0.

With shadows filling the field, the Vikings began the second half of the game where the first half let off. With better ball movement and more aggresive play, the Vikings easily controlled the game but remained scoreless until junior Danny Perches sent a ball from the left side of the field to the middle. After settling it and finding himself some space, freshman Will Hopkins let fly a shot from beyond the box to put the junior varsity Vikings on the scoreboard. Not more than 10 minutes later, Hopkins found his range again and put an unstoppable shot past the West Plains keeper.

In the disappearing light, the Vikings kept things under control to maintain their 2-0 lead. The win over West Plains was the JV squad’s fifth consecutive victory.