Spring-Ford locks down defending champions
Threatening weather conditions delayed the start of the Spring-Ford-Boyertown soccer game a half-hour Wednesday night.
Lightning and rain never came, nor did a flood of goals.
But the only goal scored was one of the biggest Spring-Ford has had in recent years.
A tightly contested defensive battle saw Spring-Ford break through in the 59th minute. Off Chase Parr’s excellent corner kick following a near miss in front of the goal, Michael Hyduke emerged from a pack and powered the ball into the net. The Rams, playing stout defense, held on for a meaningful 1-0 victory over the defending league champions.
Spring-Ford is now 3-0 in the league.
“It feels great,” said first-year Rams coach Brent Kissel, a Ram assistant the previous eight seasons. “We’ve had trouble getting results here.
“We’ve won some close games this season in a very tough league. I’m proud of the guys and the way they’ve fought.”
The Bears returned a flock of experience but are now 1-3 in the early standings and were coming off a 1-0 loss to Owen J. Roberts last Friday. The Rams, fairly quiet the last couple of seasons – 7-3-3 in the league last season – are regrouping under Kissel.
“It’s a great confidence builder,” Ram defender Drew Rheaume said. “We hung in there.”
Boyertown coach Scott Didyoung has been the Bears’ soccer boss for a quarter century and has seen plenty of tight games like this one requiring patience and persistence.
“I can feel good for our kids tonight knowing they played well, passed well and controlled much of the flow of the game,” Didyoung said. “The goals we’ve given up in our losses have been on corner kicks. Things aren’t going our way, but we’ll persevere.”
In a scoreless first half, Boyertown dominated possession time over the first 30 minutes, generating five attacks in the first nine minutes alone. The shots were way wide or high, and the Rams had definitely dodged some bullets.
Spring-Ford had hardly had the ball when, suddenly, the Rams got a great opportunity in the 10th minute. Tyler Holms footed a cross and with a workable angle fired from 15 yards away on the right flank, but Connor McKeown gobbled up a nice save at the right post.
The Bears’ Garrett Halteman had
a great look from about the same spot on the other end but Spring-Ford goalkeeper Kyle Allan saved the line drive. It seemed just a matter of time before the Bears broke through. Boyertown midfielders Samuel Marks, Erik Recke and Nik Verma contained the Rams and created mini-surges offensively.
Boyertown sweeper Owen Kulig twice thwarted attacks in the middle portion of the first half. In the last 10 minutes of the half, Spring-Ford found more openings and managed to pick up the offensive pace. The Rams barely missed a goal on a nice McKeown save in the 38th minute.
Boyertown’s Sal Marciante got into a one-onnone situation in the second minute of the second half, but a sharply placed bullet toward the left post was saved by Allan. The action started surging on both ends of the field. Now it was Spring-Ford controlling possession early in the second half and doing so deep in the Bears’ end. McKeown denied a blistering shot. Then Holms broke from a pack and had about 12 yards between him and Allan. Allan made a terrific save in the 49th minute.
After Alban’s goal, the Bears put on some pressure with Marciante and Kidwell. Allan again was there to stop it. The defense in front of him – Aidan Mossip, Drew Rheaume and Calvin Thomas – played particularly well throughout the second half. With five minutes left Mossip won a ball from Holms near the net that easily could have gone in for a tie.
Another cluster attack was denied with two minutes left.
“Our defense has played well all season,” Kissel said, “and Kyle Allan has done a great job in goal.”