THS pops Piper, loses to Jaguars
Thursday’s Tonganoxie-Piper might have been more fitting for a pen of pigs.
Chieftains and Pirates had trouble staying on foot at times in the soggy field, which featured areas of slop at midfield and near the goals.
Despite the conditions, and despite a Piper goal in the game’s opening minutes, Tonganoxie wallowed through, eventually erupting for three goals in the last 18 minutes. The Chieftains won, 3-1, and improved to 3-3-1 on the season.
“It was good because it taught the guys if they continued the team passing, they could win,” THS coach Harold Pittman said.
Tonganoxie had its share of near misses at the goal, but a Taylor Sneed kick sailed out of Piper goalkeeper Chad Reynolds’ grasp and into the Pirate net.
“We were just trying even harder,” Sneed said of finally getting the goal.
The score came a few minutes after Tonganoxie earned a free kick. Sophomore Chris Colon had a one-on-one shot with Reynolds, but the goalkeeper deflected it, and it then bounced off the crossbar.
The two then exchanged words, and after a shove by Colon, an official called him for a yellow card.
Despite the Piper momentum, Tonganoxie finally got its goal.
“Yeah, that shut them up after the penalty kick,” Sneed said.
About a minute and a half later, the Chieftains went up for good. Junior Nick Volk shot from the left side and into Reynolds’ hands.
The Pirate goalie, though, bobbled the ball and it headed into the net for the game-winning goal.
Colon then shot in the final goal from the right side in the 77th minute to stretch the lead to two.
THS had 23 shots on goal, 10 in the first half, 13 in the second. Piper, meanwhile, had 12 shots on goal, seven in the first and five in the second.
Mill Valley 2, Tonganoxie 1
Despite scoring the first goal Monday, Tonganoxie couldn’t hang on against Mill Valley in Shawnee.
The Chieftains scored midway through the first half on a Travis Andrews goal. Kirk Rodell had the assist from the left side and Andrews kicked it in from the right.
“It was a textbook goal, it really was,” Pittman said.
MVHS, though, answered soon after, and then kicked in another before the half. The score held in the second half.
Tonganoxie (3-4-1) will be back in action Thursday against Bonner Springs.