Recap: Talawanda boys soccer season ends with 3-1 home defeat to Wilmington

An almost full moon shone above in the night sky, but wasn’t as bright as the lights at Marvin Wilhelm Athletic Complex during a postseason boys soccer match on Saturday night. 

The No. 7 Talawanda High School Brave began their quest for a postseason run against the No. 8 Wilmington High School Hurricane at home, but found themselves on the wrong side of mistakes, falling to the Hurricane 3-1 and ending a benchmark season for the program.

Opening possession went to the home team, as the Brave kicked the ball backwards at midfield to start the 40 minute clock. 

Possession bounced back and forth early, with both sides feeling out where pressure points might be in each other’s structure.

Action first came 12 minutes into the game, when Wilmington senior midfielder Zander Johnson received a yellow card for shoving a Brave defender down while running on the attack.

Just over a minute and a half later, Talawanda sophomore goalkeeper Sam Hogan made his first stop of the night on Wilmington’s leading goal scorer this season, senior striker Ben Angelica, after a good run on a through ball that beat the spread out Talawanda defense. 

Following the Hogan save was a corner kick for Wilmington. 

Hurricane senior midfielder Nicholas Zerkle jogged to the left corner of the attacking end and, after taking a moment to move a mat placed behind the flag, sent the ball to the far side of the box. The cross fell over the outstretched hand of Hogan and was sent back into the box by senior defender Brody Reynolds with his head.

Senior forward Colton Anderson had a wide open net to shoot at with no one around him. He brought his right foot around the ball and sent it into the goal to give the Hurricane a 1-0 lead.

Talawanda followed the goal with some staunch defensive play and had two of their best scoring chances of the first half with just over 21 minutes remaining. Two separate crosses fell into the middle of the box waiting for a player to run onto them, but Wilmington defenders cleared the ball before any danger was sent back toward the net.

Another Brave chance appeared out of thin air after Albarran took two touches at the 20-yard line on a deep ball from his defender. The Southwestern Buckeye League’s leading goal scorer fired a curving, left-footer toward the far corner of the Wilmington goal. But the ball sailed a little too high and smacked the crossbar with a little assistance from the fingertips of Hurricane senior goalkeeper Scott Hall. 

Three minutes later, Albarran drew a free kick in the middle of the field, but the ensuing header wasn’t strong enough and dribbled out of bounds.

Wilmington’s attack did not slow down despite the adversity. Once again, Angelica found the ball at his feet and forced Hogan to make another save with 11:30 remaining in the first half. 

With 6:45 left, freshman forward Josiah Perry made a run and fired a shot into the hands of Hall, and the second chance opportunity was sent out of bounds on a bicycle kick attempt. But Talawanda’s attack continued, as 15 seconds later, junior forward Barrett Markwell found a rolling ball in the box but fired it over the net.

After the chances in the Talawanda offensive end, the Hurricane came back with an attack of their own. The fast-paced forwards created another corner kick with 2:49 remaining in the half, and the same three players who combined for a goal on the first corner kick did the same thing on the second.

First, Zerkle sent the ball to the back post with his right foot. Next, Reynolds sent the ball backwards to the open man Anderson, and he deposited the ball in the net for a 2-0 lead, which remained for the rest of the half.

To begin the second half, Talawanda came out flying in the form of Alberran. The senior forward forced a turnover and ran with the ball to try and create offense through midfield. But two Hurricane defenders stifled any further attempt at progress.

Dominating the first three minutes of possession, the Brave continued where they had left off in the first half. An injury stoppage after a left-foot shot from Angelica went awry and struck Talawanda senior defender Austin Vonderhaar in the face from close range was a short obstacle, but Vonderhaar walked to the bench under his own power and eventually returned to the match.

Six minutes into the second half, Wilmington found themselves with another corner kick, and a couple of rejections by Hogan gave them two more, one from the left side and the other from the right. Adjustments were made, though. Despite the Hurricane running the same play that was successful earlier in the game, Talawanda’s defense held strong and denied any potential damage.

Ten minutes into the half, Talawanda received a corner kick, but the Brave couldn’t find the same fortune as their opponent. And seven minutes later, Angelica finally found the goal he had been searching for all game long. 

The 50-goal scorer during the regular season made a run through the right side of the Talawanda defense, took advantage of the space and sent a low, hard shot into the bottom corner for a Wilmington 3-0 lead. 

Freshman midfielder Ian Puzo responded with a shot from a distance to try and gain some momentum back for his squad, but the ball flew over the crossbar and between the uprights out of bounds.

Shots from distance were a common theme for Talawanda through the majority of the second half. Free kicks in the middle of the field bore no fruit, and a couple of tries from long range by Albarran did the same thing as Puzo’s.

Arguably Talawanda’s best chance of the night would come with 9:30 remaining, as Perry blocked an attempted clearance from a Wilmington central defender. The keeper Hall extended his arms and made the stop to keep the game 3-0 for the visitors, just as he had all game long.

The two teams came together after Johnson and Albarran collided going for a loose ball off a throw-in, with Albarran making first contact, sending Johnson into the ground and Johnson retaliating by bringing the Brave’s star player down with him. 

Albarran received Talawanda’s first yellow card of the game. 

With 1:50 remaining in the second half, a turnover off a Hogan long ball by Wilmington’s two-goal scorer Anderson found the feet of junior forward Ryder Hicks, who was rushing toward the ball. He carried down the left wing from the 30-yard line, beating another Hurricane defender attempting a tackle. 

Hicks threaded the ball through the keeper Hall and the trailing defender to a wide open Albarran, who slammed the ball home to end the shutout.

But that goal would be all Talawanda could muster through the rest of the game, and the final horn would sound with the Brave seeing their season come to a close by a score of 3-1.

“It is a tough loss, but Wilmington played a really good game,” Head Coach Jeremy Jones said. “They capitalized on two corner kicks that we didn't defend well We had some really excellent looks in the first half, but they played as a team and they knocked us off (our game) a little bit. But overall, what a great season for Talawanda. (I’m) really proud of our guys.”

While the scoreboard may have reflected a game that wasn’t close, the play on the field said the opposite. And after things were said and done, the heartbreak on the sideline was palpable. 

An inch or two here and there could have changed the outcome of the game. It wasn’t for a lack of chances that the Brave fell, and for the seniors on the roster, while the loss stings extra, it was a season worth remembering.

“This was my first year playing with Talawanda,” Vonderhaar said. “I was at another high school for my other three years, and it was a homeschool team. So riding the bus was a first for me, and it was so much fun being on the bus with the guys, just playing some music.It's a lot of fun. I think we did really well … (My fellow senior teammates) mean so much to me. I've known these guys practically my whole life, just playing club soccer with them. I think the rest of the team will be in good shape (next season).”

The year was not just one of new beginnings for different players, but it was also one of defying expectations. A 12-4-1 record, with all four losses against the same two teams, is nothing to scoff at. 

“I think that coming in we exceeded expectations, and we just need to do well next season,” Puzo said. “I think that we played physically with this young team that we had, and we did what we could.”

Looking ahead, the baton will be passed to what is, overall, a young group of players. After graduating 13 seniors the year prior, the Brave will graduate only five this spring. 

The six juniors, four sophomores and three freshmen (including two that were starters this season), will be tasked with continuing the culture of the program as they also look to defy expectations once again come next fall.

“The team really developed and grew a lot,” Jones said. “They've really grown in exceptional ways in terms of their knowledge of systems and different schemes that we try to work. … I think they’ll in turn pay that forward to the freshman class that we have coming in next year.”