Wildcats knocked out in semi-finals

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead early in the first half in their Section 7AAAAA semifinal game against Duluth Marshall. But Marshall came roaring back and, helped a little bit by the referees (not an uncommon occurrence for any team, young or old, that travels to the Duluth area to play soccer), beat the Wildcats 4-2 to move on to the section finals. The game was played at Duluth Marshall on Tuesday, October 16. Tory Copeland played two very good balls that led to the Wildcat goals. First, Miles Peterson assisted on Copeland’s goal and then Copeland assisted on a goal by Zack Pautz. The Wildcats continued to put pressure on Marshall, hitting a post and narrowly missing the net on another occasion. They were hitting on all cylinders. But top-seeded Marshall came back to take a 3-2 lead before halftime. “They took advantage of our offsides trap,” said Leigh. “There are two things that need to happen in order to be successful,” said Leigh. “First, your team has to execute the trap properly. Second, you actually have to trap them. The traps weren’t all that successful and I think that’s what happened to allow them back in the game.” It probably didn’t help that, on Marshall’s third goal, the Wildcat trap appeared to work but fooled the referees. So, instead of the play being blown dead for offsides, Marshall scored to take the lead. With 24 minutes left in the game, Marshall played a long ball into the Wildcat penalty area. A hustling Trevor Gervais ran back into the box and slid to kick the ball out of harm’s way. A Marshall player kept running, fell over Gervais and was somehow awarded a penalty kick. The Wildcat players protested so vehemently that the referees gave them three yellow cards and a red card on the play. Marshall converted the penalty kick to go up 4-2 and hung on for the win. “Our guys played a heck of a game,” said Leigh. “They had a big, strong team loaded with seniors that knocked us around and wore us down. We had just two senior starters, Hans Gulbranson and Kyle Wilkerson. But we hung in there and nearly pulled off a big win.” Looking ahead to next year, the Wildcats should be in good shape to make a run at the state tournament. Most of the starters will have at least a full year of experience under their belts and the Wildcats ended the season playing well against the top team in the section.