TUMWATER — The back line that Jackie Zvirzdys Wood expected to trot out this season didn’t go as planned.
The Black Hills High School boys soccer team has dealt with a fair share of injuries of defensemen. A returning starter and some depth pieces aren’t available. It has led to a six-man rotation in front of senior goalkeeper Jonas Versaw.
“It starts with that back line,” Zvirzdys Wood, the Wolves head coach, said.
Mixing and matching has kept Black Hills in Evergreen Conference games over the last month. It got over the hump on Tuesday night.
Versaw came away with five saves and the Wolves, without a single shot on goal in the second half, staved off Centralia 1-0 at home to have the tiebreaker for the fourth and final Class 2A District 4 tournament berth out of the league.
At six points in the league standings, two up on the Tigers, Black Hills (4-6-2, 2-4 EvCo) controls its fate to reach districts. It still has to play the top-three teams in the league – Tumwater, W.F. West and Aberdeen – and two of those matches are on the road.
Yet on senior night, the Wolves came away with an important verdict.
“It will really help our morale,” Versaw said. “We have a lot of good skill and we needed a win to show that we’re still in it.”
The rotation of Porter Neklason, Luke Fourtner, Josiah Knight, James Morgan, Zach Cammack and Zachary Welch marked their guys in the second half and never put Versaw in immediate danger.
Neklason and Morgan, stars for the Wolves’ wrestling and basketball teams, respectively, have provided gusto for their back four. Neklason is next to Cammack at centerback and Morgan comes in on the outside.
“He’s just my solid dude,” Zvirzdys Wood said of Neklason. “James brings a whole new energy to our team. He’s the guy that is like ‘Coach, put me anywhere’ and I love that.”
Versaw dealt with six shots his way in the second half, but only two were on frame. He had to leap for one of them.
Centralia’s Gabriel Cruz took a free kick in the 69th minute and went airborne only for Versaw to leap and swat it away. The ensuing corner kick was cleared out of the box, so too were the next pair of corners.
“I was anticipating ground to the far post, but it wasn't the best struck ball,” Versaw stated. “They really held it together.”
The Tigers never found the back of the net despite 13 total shots. They’ve been shutout in back-to-back games amidst their current three-match skid.
“We seem to struggle finding the right space in the right place,” Centralia head coach Noel Vazquez said. “We can out-shoot and out-possess, but if we don’t put it in the back of the net, it doesn't matter.”
There were some questionable calls throughout the night.
Centralia’s Miles Paige was brought down hard in the box and a penalty wasn’t called in the second half. The Tigers (5-7, 1-5) had a couple other instances within the 18-yard box that didn’t lead to a stoppage.
They were called for three yellow cards despite both sides tugging and pulling. Vazquez admitted he let the emotions get to him and it rubbed off on his group.
“A lot of things didn’t go our way, but I can tell you that the officiating, today, made an impact on how we play,” Vazquez said. “I appreciate what they do. We struggled with our finishing. I think we need to find a different identity.”
In the 33rd minute, the Wolves broke through.
On a free kick from 30-plus yards, Luke Grunenfelder found the feet of Ethan Badger, who juggled it once while onside and placed a shot in the upper left corner for the only goal of the night.
“We mainly work on our game which is possession,” Zvirzdys Wood said. “I would love to (say) we work on set pieces all the time, but that is not reality.”
Centralia will attempt to hoist the Chronicle Cup on Friday in the second meeting against W.F. West at home while Black Hills will take on its top rival in Tumwater, also on Friday night.
Both coaches aren’t looking far ahead too much, rather focusing on the staple of one game at a time.
“These guys, there is something so special about them,” Zvirzdys Wood said. “They want to win.”
