In a repeat of a semi-final in the district from a year ago in which Joplin ended Parkview’s season, Parkview came out and took care of business in a very exciting match 5-3. Parkview- Goals: Hat-trick by Matt Beckett (one assist from Tim Griffin), goal by Tim Griffin, goal by Matt Medley. Parkview scored early when Matt Beckett sent Tim Griffin out into space. Tim left three defenders in his wake, winding through them, and finished near post, slotting the keeper. A few minutes later Joplin answered on a set piece, a ball from 40 yards bounced into the box and the player (?) running on put it by the keeper. Parkview answered with a goal from senior Matt Beckett, a laser struck from the 18 into the top left corner. In the last two minutes of the half, Matt Medley scored a beautiful goal from the top of the box when he calmly finished with his left foot far post, 3-1 at half. Joplin came out with a vengeance in the second half, scoring two goals and tying up the match at 3-3. A perfectly weighted touch around a defender and into space by Matt Medley allowed Matt Beckett to run on to the ball with the keeper coming out to contest and Beckett finished giving Parkview the 4-3 lead. With time running down Tim Griffin took a throw in and beat a defender down the line to the touch line, he hit the ball hard at the goal and the keeper got a piece, slowing it down, but did not control it. Matt Beckett was there, and tapped it in for the hat trick and the final score 5-3.

This brings the record for this team to 17-6-1 going into the final Thursday vs. Kickapoo. The game is at 6:00pm in Joplin.

Ozark Conference, Class 3, District 12 Seeding & Game Information - Games held at Joplin
#1 - Kickapoo
#2 - PARKVIEW
#3 - Joplin
#4 - Ozark
#5 - Neosho
#6 - Nixa

First round: Monday, October 29th
Kickapoo & Parkview - bye -
#4 Ozark #5 Neosho
#3 Joplin vs. #6 Nixa

Semi-Finals: Tuesday, October 30th
#1 Kickapoo vs. winner of Ozark/Neosho 5:00pm
#2 Parkview vs. winner of Nixa/Joplin 7:00pm
Come out to Joplin and support our team Tuesday night

Finals: Thursday, November 1st at 6:00PM

The Varsity came out and handed Ozark a 2-0 defeat in the last regular season game of the year. Playing against a howling wind, Parkview came out and got a goal on a cross by Rudy Fotsch (junior) to Tim Griffin. The score was 1-0 at half. In the second half Tim Griffin made a fantastic run through the defense and crossed a ball diagonally backward into the path of Jared Moore who finished for a 2-0 lead. Ozark pressured at the end of the match, putting one ball off the crossbar, but Jon Malter did an excellent job in goal and was able to preserve the blank sheet.

In a game that reminded everyone in green how frustrating “Murphy’s Law” can be, it seemed that everything that could go wrong did go wrong in the Vikings’ 2-1 (shootout) loss to Columbia-Rock Bridge. After a bit of a slow start the Vikings offense attempted to open up play by using the wings as much as possible for crosses and this adjustment paid off on a beautiful cross by Derek Rosbrugh and finish in the air by Matt Beckett. Beckett was issued a yellow card for a hard tackle, and later a second yellow for dissent, resulting in a soft-red (which means the team doesn’t have to play a man down because the red-card resulted from two yellows instead of a straight red card). Later in the match a Rock Bridge player was also issued a soft red as well. The Vikings held on to their lead for a good portion of the second half before giving up a goal late in the game on a hard low shot from inside the left corner of the penalty area. In penalty kicks Matt Medley, Morgan Holt, and Tim Griffin were successful but two other Vikings were not, and 4 Rock Bridge players were able to put their penalty kicks away. The Vikings played a hard fought and physical match against Columbia but were not able to come away with the result that they were looking for. The most important thing about this match though is that it was a hard fought one between two quality teams and it gave the Vikings their first taste of penalty kicks, two things that will help prepare them for the district tournament.

The Junior Varsity squad lost 2-0 to Rock Bridge, and stayed in the game for a long time thanks to fantastic goal keeping by Ben Haldiman. The Vikings’ best chance on goal was a well struck shot by Jordan Houseman, which the goalkeeper was barely able to push over the crossbar for a corner kick. The Parkview boys played well in this match on saturday against a strong Columbia team, but were clearly worn out in their second match of the day against Columbia-Hickman. The Vikings dropped this match badly and did not look like the same team that had played earlier in the day. Clearly missing a few key players and playing two games in the day caught up with the Junior Varsity who will play their last game of the season against Waynesville Monday night.

After a half hour rain delay before the start of the game, the Parkview Varsity boys picked up a win against the first year Catholic squad. Catholic, the first seed in Class 1 District 6, battled well throughout the game and challenged Parkview early by playing well up the middle of the field, but Parkview regrouped and scored two goals in the first half dominating the majority of play. The Vikings possessed well on the back line, passing around instead of forcing the ball up the middle of the field, Parkview used their wings well and although the Irish were able to get a goal in the second half the Vikings won the physical match 4-1.

The Junior Varsity boys played before the rain delay, and were able to hold on to a 1-0 lead against Catholic JV squad. The Vikings were missing a few players for this match but were able to overcome their shortage thanks to a goal by Blake White that got under the keeper. White continues lead the Junior Varsity in goals despite splitting time between outside back and outside midfielder. Strong play by the defense as a whole helped the Vikings keep the shutout, especially from outside backs Travis Dillard and Taylor Rich.

Joseph Florez