Balanced Effort Brings Wvw Victory Four Players Score In The Spartans’ Victory Over Milton, And A Strong Defense Keeps The Black Panthers Scoreless.
By MICHAEL LELLO [email protected]
Saturday, October 27, 2001 Page: 5B
LARKSVILLE – If Wyoming Valley West’s opponents design their game plan around
stopping prolific junior forward Jonathan Schmid, they might be in for a
surprise.
Yes, Schmid, who led the Wyoming Valley Conference in scoring this season,
scored a goal and had two assists in Valley West’s 4-0 shutout of Milton in
Friday’s District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal, but three other Spartans stepped up
as well. Scott Poplawski notched a goal and an assist, and Chris Barnard and
Jordan Hettrich each found the back of the net for Valley West at State Street
Elementary.
“The scoring was balanced,” said Valley West coach Ted Tsioles. “We had
Schmiddy score all the time (in the regular season), now we picked the slack
up. That’s going to help us in the next few games.”
The Spartans (14-2-1 regular season) earned the right to face their WVC
Class 3A nemesis Coughlin in a semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at King’s
College’s Betzler Fields. Valley West only lost two games – one to Dallas, and
one to Coughlin, who also tied the Spartans earlier in the year.
“It’s going to be like a war,” Tsioles said. “Sometimes the better team
doesn’t win, because both teams go at it very hard. Both teams respect each
other, so it’s going to be a very tough game and it’s going to be a close one
too.”
Poplawski scored first 8:09 into the game off an assist from Schmid. With
just more than nine minutes to go in the first half, Barnard gave his team a
scored again off an indirect kick from Poplawski less than three minutes into
the second. Hettrich scored an insurance goal near the 15-minute mark, off a
Schmid assist.
“I thought our midfield played nicely, especially in the second half,”
Tsioles said. “They moved the ball well and spread the field and created some
openings for the scores.”
Valley West goalkeeper Dominick Proctor faced only six Black Panthers
shots, but was impressive, making some particularly nifty saves early in the
second half. It’s the first season in the net for Proctor, who was a
fullback/stopper for the Spartans last year. Matt Stump had five saves for the
Black Panthers.
“Proctor’s been playing outstanding in goal,” Tsioles said. “He hasn’t
made any mistakes all season. He’s our surprise on the team. He catches
everything that goes to him. He’s a very good keeper, one of the best in the
league I think.”
Wyoming Valley West’s Chris Bernard (13) and Milton’s Ryan Kelchner battle
for control of the ball during a District 2, Class 3A playoff game Friday in
Larksville.
