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.
