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Mid-Prairie falls, Bears now 4-0 on season
by Matthew Dickinson, sports editor · Sports · April 17, 2024
In the first boys’ soccer match held on Butch Pedersen Field at the Little Rose Bowl, the West Branch boys’ soccer team prevailed 4-0 over Mid-Prairie Monday night.
The Golden Hawks have been one of the top teams in the River Valley Conference in recent seasons, although West Branch had a 4-0 record against Mid-Prairie heading into the matchup. Of those victories, three came by a single score before a 4-1 victory last season.
“They’re a tough team,” Bears Head Coach Ted Miller said of the Golden Hawks. “They’re fast, they’re aggressive. But we probably played our best game tonight. I don’t know if it’s the magic of this field, but every part of our game was spot on. Defense, midfielders, forwards just played extremely well. Couldn’t be happier for them.”
The Bears attacked Mid-Prairie’s defense from the beginning, with Christian Scire booting a shot on goal seconds after the opening whistle. Reese Gingerich peppered the keeper’s box with a pair of shots at the 10-minute mark, while Scire added a shot off a header a minute later. Moments later, Hamann and Scire had scoring chances, while Hamann added a shot after 19 minutes. Baltazar Cedillo worked his way into the offensive mix two minutes later, thumping a long-range shot from the midfielder position.
Hamann nearly cracked the scoring ledger three minutes on a bicycle kick attempt near the goal, but Mid-Prairie was able to recover and get off a shot on goal in the same minute while almost finding a net after 25 minutes.
The Bears regrouped, with Reese Gingerich getting a shot on the other end after 27 minutes. Both teams settled down, with the action staying mostly in the midfield for about seven minutes. Jake Swisher had a nice defensive play at 34 minutes, clearing the ball away from danger after Mid-Prairie mounted a serious scoring effort. In the same minute Scire managed a shot, while Hamann got in another shot two minutes before the half. After 40 minutes, the score remained a 0-0 deadlock.
Hamann kept on the attack after the break with a shot just one minute into the second. His persistence paid off with a goal a minute later, giving West Branch a long-awaited goal after its seemingly endless scoring opportunities in the first half.
The Bears needed just two minutes to strike again. Cameron Gingerich had a quality look that nearly went in. The ball found its way to Scire near the goal, who made good on the close-range look and put the home team up 2-0 with 36 minutes to play.
The scoring burst came as a result of added patience, according to Miller. The coach said that most of the talk during the halftime break involved avoiding getting too excited to score and taking a moment to prepare a better scoring look
Moments later, Reese Gingerich had yet another strong scoring chance narrowly miss, while Tate Frantz had a good shot on goal after 53 minutes off the bench.
Hamann struck again a minute later, putting the Bears up to a relatively comfortable 3-0 lead in the hardfought match. Shae Farmer had to navigate one of his few moments of being tested moments later, leaping up in the air to collect a save at 55 minutes. The stop led to a golden scoring opportunity for Hamann, who had a breakaway chance with just the keeper in the way. The forward put a little too much English on the shot as the ball clanked off the left side of the goalpost.
West Branch kept looking for more scoring, with Scire and Hamann testing the defense before Cameron Gingerich worked his way back into the fold with another good shot from midfield. Cooper Burger had an impressive scoring look after 66 minutes from long range. Reese and Cameron Gingerich traded scoring chances down the stretch, while Frantz had another shot before the match ended.
Hamann had one of his best matches of the young season, finishing with two goals on an efficient shooting night. He attempted a team-high 12 shots but had seven on goal.
“The second half I tried him at the center striker position,” Miller said of Hamann. “That might be his spot the rest of the year. With his speed, his footwork, I think he played extremely well. You can’t teach speed, you either have it or you don’t, and it’s quite beneficial at his position.”
Fellow forward Scire had an assist in addition to his goal. Of his eight shots, three were on goal. Sam Liu had an assist from the forward spot as well.
The Bears’ defenders and midfielders played a key role in stifling Mid-Prairie’s attack, which allowed keeper Shae Farmer to field just four saves over 80 minutes.
Lincoln Edwards and Timmy Hosier provided their typical lockdown defense, while Swisher got involved with dribbling the ball upfield and putting pressure on the Golden Hawks. Elliot Hinkhouse helped on defense while also stepping into the midfield when needed.
In the midfield, Trenton Schutte had a quiet night offensively with just one shot. The senior did impact the match in the middle of the field, roaming large areas along with Cameron Gingerich to push the Bears up the field with timely passes.
Cedillo also helped out of the midfield, beating defenders one-on-one and setting up scoring opportunities as well.
“The defense played extremely well protecting the 18-yard box,” the coach said. “That’s been our Achilles heel these last couple years. It seems about 80 percent of our goals scored against us are situations where the opposing team gets a foot out and scores. We worked on that in practice last night, just clearing it out of there. They did a fantastic job.”
More available team members allowed West Branch to give its starters more rest as the win started to solidify in the second half. In addition to regular role players Burger, Frantz, Jarrett Ellyson, and Liu seeing time, the Bears were able to dig deeper into their bench on an evening that saw temperatures in the 70-degree range. Bradyn Sexton and Cale Seydel had some minutes in defense, while Dilan Kazlauskas and Julian Weckman played about half of the second.
“They know their role,” Miller said. “There’s going to be games where they get quite a few minutes, there’s going to be games where they don’t. They go out there, they don’t complain, they step up and play well.”
The venue also had special significance for a large swath of the team, as several members played football under the late namesake of the field. Each team member wore tape around their wrist with Pedersen’s initials, “BP,” and broke out of their postgame huddle by yelling “Butch!” in tribute to the legendary coach.
“I can finally take pride in our field,” Miller said. “We didn’t have that up at the track because it’s still under construction. Maybe at some point it might be like this. There’s a lot of pride in this field. All the soccer players, whether they played football or not, showed it tonight. I think a lot of their excitement was because they had a chance to play on this field.”
While the Bears’ April 16 home slate against Tipton was pushed back for the second time this year due to weather, West Branch would have another chance to play on Butch Pedersen Field April 19 against Monticello. The coach said that the win was a “definite confidence builder,” adding that he hopes the Bears can sweep their remaining home matches.
1 2 T
M-P 0 0 0
WB 0 3 3
West Branch offense: Reese Gingerich 1 assist, 1 point, 7 shots, 4 SOG; Cameron Gingerich 5 shots, 1 SOG; Christian Scire 1 assist, 1 goal, 3 points, 8 shots, 3 SOG; Trenton Schutte 1 shot; Joe Hamann 2 goals, 4 points, 12 shots, 7 SOG; Tate Frantz 2 shots, 1 SOG; Cooper Burger 2 shots, 1 SOG; Baltazar Cedillo 1 shot, 1 SOG; Sam Liu 1 assist, 1 goal. Team totals: 3 assists, 3 goals, 9 points, 38 shots, 18 SOG.
West Branch goalkeeping: Shae Farmer 0 goals allowed, 4 saves, 100 PCT.
Mid-Prairie offense n/a
Mid-Prairie goalkeeping n/a
West Branch 3, Cascade 1
The Bears hit the road to Cascade on April 12, defeating their hosts, 3-1.
1 2 T
WB 1 2 3
Cas 1 0 1
West Branch offense: Reese Gingerich 2 shots, 1 SOG; Cameron Gingerich 9 shots, 4 SOG; Timmy Hosier 1 shot, 1 SOG; Elliot Hinkhouse 1 goal, 2 points, 2 shots, 1 SOG; Jarrett Ellyson 2 shots, 1 SOG; Christian Scire 2 goals, 4 points, 6 shots, 4 SOG; Trenton Schutte 1 assist, 1 point, 1 shot; Joe Hamann 5 shots, 2 SOG; Cooper Burger 1 shot, 1 SOG; Baltazar Cedillo 3 shots, 1 SOG. Team totals: 1 assist, 3 goals, 7 points, 32 shots, 16 SOG.
West Branch goalkeeping: Shae Farmer 1 goal allowed, 3 saves, 75 PCT. Team totals: 1 goal allowed, 3 saves, 75 PCT.
Cascade offense: Bradley Dolphin 1 shot; Juan Alvarado 1 goal, 2 points, 4 shots, 2 SOG; Marion Ortiz 2 shots; Charlie Thole 1 assist, 1 point, 2 shots, 1 SOG; Justin Pry 1 shot. Team totals: 1 assist, 1 goal, 3 points, 10 shots, 3 SOG.
Cascade goalkeeping: Troy Lehman 3 goals allowed, 21 saves, 87.5 PCT.
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