Comets, Sailors play to a scoreless draw

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Though the scoreboard showed nothing but zeros, both Amherst and Vermilion had plenty of positives to carry into the postseason.

Meeting in the final regular season game for the third year in a row, the host Comets stymied a potent Vermilion attack that featured goal-scorer extraordinaire Zack Kelly. Unfortunately, Amherst was unable to get an offense generated as the two teams battled to a 0-0 nonconference tie Oct. 14.

The defensive effort was a stark contrast from a week ago when Amherst gave up a pair of goals in the second half to Sandusky.

“Clearly, we wanted to win and we had a couple of chances,” Amherst coach Drew Biedenbach said. “It was exactly what I expected. A perfectly even game … three years in a row we’ve played each other dead-even.”

It didn’t take long to see just how even the two teams are as there were only a handful of chances total in the first half. It also showed how Amherst (6-7-3) was going to slow down the Sailors’ (14-1-1) duo of Kelly (35 goals) and Logan Penton (17 assists).

Going on the offensive early in the second half, Vermilion had a corner kick and a free kick. But Amherst’s defense was up to the task and thwarted the Sailors. After the early offensive push, the Comets’ defense started to control things a bit more in the second half.

Two shots by the Comets were saved by Vermilion goalie Ryan Habermehl, but the Comets continued to push. Two more attempts to get on the board slipped away.

On a corner kick, the Sailors were unable to clear the ball. A nice crossing pass led to a header attempt by Allen Matakovich, which was saved by Habermehl. The second offensive surge resulted in a shot going wide.

The physical and hardfought game showed its toll with play being stopped on a few occasions. Vermilion coach Kurt Innes was happy to see the way his team responded.

“I liked the way we battled,” Innes said. “Amherst is a battled-tested team and they play in a gantlet of a conference.

“I was proud of the way our boys handled it. Last Saturday, we didn’t handle adversity very well. I wanted to see how we handled adversity … I was very pleased with the way we played.”

With the focus on Kelly, the Comets’ defense was stellar in the back. They didn’t allow Vermilion to get Kelly into a one-onone situation where he has been so effective this season.

According to Biedenbach, the effort was the best defended game his team played this season.

“They had two up top and Zack is really good,” Amherst senior Kyle Mantin said. “We had one marking (Kelly) and one shadowing him. I stayed back to mark (Penton) and we limited their chances.

“We didn’t perform very well (last week), but we worked on it. So, we knew we had to play better and knew this was a good offense. So, we came out and just played better. When we know we can shut (an offense) down … we can control the game and (know) it starts with us in the back.”