[He's talks more with his play than he does in this interview, but we like him anyway]

The Parkview Vikings picked up two wins on Saturday, both in quite exciting fashion. The Vikings beat Nixa 3-2, and then Waynesville 4-4 (4-2 in Pks). Brian Otradovec scored five goals in two games on Saturday, (www.sgfsoccer.com has a rundown of the rest of the KHS Tournament games, as well as taking both videos on posted on this article.)

Parkview had lost to Waynesville 0-1 on Waynesville’s field, and got some great revenge in their third game of the KHS Tournament. Parkview was playing without starters Alex Blanco, Tanner Bennett, and Jordan Houseeman due to injuries. The Vikings, down 2-0 with a minute left in the half, scored a breakaway goal from Brian Otradovec thanks to a nice through ball by Jared Moore, which sent the match into halftime 1-2 Waynesville’s lead.

The Vikings focused on passes to feet and having open players show in better areas of the field, and the remedy worked. Parkview scored two straight goals early in the second half, both coming from Otradovec. Up 3-2 with about 12 minutes to go, Waynesville answered back to tie the match 3-3, before Otradovec scored his fourth goal of the match to give the Vikings the lead again. With about a minute left in the match the Vikings dropped back and defended too much, with no one really addressing the ball, and allowed Waynesville to score their fourth goal of the match to send the match into overtime at 4-4. The four goals against could be blamed on a handful of mistakes, but none by senior keeper Jonathan Malter, who had a much better game than the score would imply. Check out this save…

After two scoreless overtimes, Otradovec (sophomore), Blake White (junior), Dane Knapp (senior), and TJ Joy (freshmen) all hit there penalty kicks, while Parkview’s senior keeper Jon Malter saved Waynesville’s 2nd and 4th shots, so Jared Moore did not even half to shoot the #5 shot from the mark as the Vikings picked up their 7th win of the season.

(Scoring summary: Brian Otradovec 4g, Jared Moore 3a)

Parkview 3, Nixa 2
The Vikings played Nixa in their first game on Saturday, the second of the tournament. Parkview had beaten the Eagles earlier in the season 3-1, and came out victorious in a much tighter match this time, 3-2.

Nixa scored first against Parkview, and after losing Jordan Houseman to an injury following his collision with the Eagle’s keeper, the Vikings brought in Pedro Pitonez at striker. Pitonez, a senior who has played mostly JV this year, scored two goals for the Vikings on pure hustle and effort, to give the Vikings a 2-1 halftime lead. In the second half, the Eagles answered to equalize the match at 2-2, before Brian Otradovec scored with four minutes left to give the Vikings the victory.

(Scoring summary: Pedro Pitonez 2g, Brian Otradovec 1g)

Don’t forget: The Vikings play Joplin on the PHS grass field on Monday. This is a reschedule from last week’s “rainout,” and the Varsity will kickoff at 4:00pm, with the JV match to follow.

The negative is that Parkview has lost 10 games this season; the positive is that all but one of those losses has been by one goal. Parkview opened the KHS tournament with a 1-2 loss on Friday night, after taking a 1-0 lead into halftime on a Jared Moore PK. Dane Knapp was hit hard in the penalty area after he had given the ball up, and the referee awarded a penalty kick to the Vikings, who had been out-possessed for the first 20 minutes of the first half. After Moore put his PK in upper-90, the Vikings evened up the possession the rest of the half.

In the second half possession was dominated by Eureka. Their first goal came when a striker was allowed to receive and settle the ball, then turn with it and shoot inside the 18. The second goal came on poor marking/miscommunication when a forward was allowed to get inside him man and finish a mostly uncontested opportunity. The Vikings had a few chances late when Coach Clint Nurnberg put 3 forwards up-top in an effort to kickstart the offense, but the Vikings were unable to capitalize. Parkview is clearly missing Alex Blanco, who whose play has been slim to none after a muscle injury about a week ago. His aggressiveness, marking ability, and field vision is sorely missed.

Parkview will now face Nixa at Ozark’s turf field on Saturday morning at 10:00am. Players are expected to take the bus from KHS, which departs at 8:30am.

The Varsity Parkview boys won their second conference game of the season against a hard fighting West Plains squad on Tuesday evening, 5-0. Nine minutes into the first half Brian Otradovec received a through-ball and beat a defender, and was subsequently tackled in the box. A penalty kick was awarded, and Otradovec slotted it into the corner for a 1-0 lead. The Zizzers, however, kept their composure and continued to team defend well in the first half. Although the Vikings controlled possession, West Plains was able to limit Parkview’s offense opportunities for most of the next 40, and half-time it was still a 1-0 game.

In the second half the Vikings offense began to click. Jared Moore played a great through-ball to Otradovec, who got his second of the night, and Otradovec was able to get a hat-trick with his third goal of the night a few minutes later. Dane Knapp and Jared Moore both also scored, with Knapp’s goal coming on a hard shot inside the low post from outside the 18, and Moore’s coming from beat his defender on goal line and slotting it in near post.

West Plains also wrote a fair and balanced article about the match, while SGF has the rest of the scores from the night.

Scoring summary: Brian Otradovec 3g, Jared Moore 1g 1a, Dane Knapp 1g

The Junior Varsity match found the Parkview squad with a fair amount of scoring opportunities in the first half, but unable to finish very many. With Shane Maloney playing in the center mid, he was able to create some nice opportunities on crosses, as were Austin Hess and TJ Joy. In a nice change of pace for the Vikings, forwards Pedro Pitonez and John Bogue connected on multiple give and goes and flicks in the first half, creating a handful of opportunities on their own. Pitonez scored three goals for the Vikings, with assists coming from Kristian Dalmas and Misael Manzo. John Bogue also scored off of a header from Kyle Adams.

Scoring summary: Pedro Pitonez 3g, John Bogue 1g, Kristian Dalmas 1a, Misael Manzo 1a

The Parkview Viking Varsity beat Nixa 3-1 on Friday night in a great performance on their way to a key District victory. The Viking squad has been struggling a bit this year, but this is a sign that Parkview is moving the right direction still. Nixa came out strong and dominated possession for the first twenty minutes or so, but the second twenty went to the Vikings on their way to two first half goals. Tanner Bennett got the scoring started when he received the ball from Alex Blanco and didn’t bother beating his defender to get the shot off. Bennett struck the ball pass his defender, through the crowd, and inside the post to the keeper’s right. Parkview scored again when Alex Blanco won the ball outside the 18, struck it early, and put it upper-90 for the second goal of the night.

The Vikings took their 2-0 lead into halftime, having given up lead before. Parkview stayed focus right off the bat in the second half, getting a third goal when Jared Moore beat the offside trap by timing it perfectly, and one touched the over the top ball over the on-rushing keeper’s hands. Late in the match, the Eagles were awarded a free kick when a Viking defender clipped an Eagle attacker in the box. Kaleb Romero finished the opportunity to get the Eagle’s on the board.

Scoring summary: Tanner Bennett 1g, Alex Blanco 1g 1a, Jared Moore 1g, Michael Duff 1a (Nixa: Kaleb Romero 1g)

Junior Varsity
Parkview 1
Nixa 2

PHS Scoring Summary: Kevin Daugherty 1g