Hawks celebrate homecoming with 4-0 triumph
While students took turns beating on an old mini van in the Hiland High School driveway Saturday afternoon to raise money for the student council, the Hawks' soccer team took to beating up Lake Center Christian (6-7) in a homecoming game which was not at all as lopsided as the final score might indicate.The two teams were locked in a scoreless tie through the first half, during which Hiland held a commanding presence in every statistical category — except the one that mattered the most.
Ten minutes into the second half, with the Hawks starters failing to mount any quality scoring opportunities, as Lake Center packed its defense in and dared Hiland (9-2-4) to come at them, Hiland coach Scott Bodiker went to his bench, and the results were to his satisfaction. Danny Beachy scored in the 54th minute of play, off a pass from John Lotut, who has been connected with a number of big goals this season. An own defensive goal off the leg of a Lake Center defender in the 64th minute made it 2-0, and seconds later Luke Burch took a Noah Boyd pass over the top of the defenders and drove home the third goal, and Alex Schmucker fed Cody Miller in the 78th minute to blow open what had been a close game.
Despite the four-goal victory, Bodiker was not all too pleased with his team's effort, thus instigating the offensive changes.
"It was pretty ugly at times," said Bodiker, of the game. "I think they would have been happy to play to a 0-0 tie, because they were missing their two leading scorers. We controlled everything the whole game, but we just didn't finish anything. The guys I put in there in the second half were a real mix and match bunch, but they gave us a spark. I think sometimes kids just need a wake-up call. We played with a general malaise attitude, and that was frustrating. We seemed to be stuck in the mud figuratively and literally today."
Bodiker said his players knew they hadn't played all that well, at least on offense. He said that one of the pitfalls of the homecoming game is that the kids oftentimes are looking ahead to a festive night.
The defense, however, proved to be as impenetrable as ever, throwing up its eighth shut-out of the year in 15 games. That leaves them one game away from breaking the school record of 10 goals in a season allowed, where they currently stand at a meager seven.
"I thought defensively we played well, although Lake Center wasn't looking to push the scoring issue," said Bodiker.