By Mark Schnabel
Newton Kansan
ELBING — A pair of Owen Beverlin throw-ins in the second proved to be season savers for the Berean Academy Warrior soccer team.
Down 1-0 early in the second half, Berean converted on the throw-ins to claim a 2-1 win over Independence Tuesday afternoon in the Class 4-3-2-1A state quarterfinals in Elbing.
Berean Academy, 14-4, advances to the semifinals Friday at the Circle High School athletic complex in nearby Towanda. Independence ends the season 13-5.
“I need to praise God for this opportunity to be here today,” Berean coach Russ Busenitz said. “That’s what we’re about here at Berean. The wind was a big factor today. I hoped we could get a goal to start the second half. We hit the post. We had a couple of good chances in the first half I thought we would convert on with a header. Those didn’t materialize. We talked about that in pre-game that we might need a header.
“Then we had a miscue and played a little panicky for the next few minutes. It wasn’t our best game in that respect. With the wind, we were able to get chances in their third repeatedly. When we scored that first goal, we relaxed a little bit and that led to the second goal.”
A Tyler Sprague direct kick in the 49th minute was put in by Independence’s Connor Cushing, who took advantage of some Warrior defensive miscues to slip the ball past Warrior keeper Karlin Wiebe.
After some moments of near panic for the Warriors, Lonnie Penner converted a Beverlin throw-in for a short shot in the 63rd minute. Nine minutes later, a Beverlin throw-in was deflected by an Independence defender inside the penalty area, where Blaine Buzenitz picked up the ball and fired it to the back of the net.
“I had a lot of them drop in,” Beverlin said. “A couple went through. Lonnie and Blaine were there to pick them up. It wasn’t all me. It was the team. We got a little flustered, but we’ve faced trials before.”
“We use him for that because his throws are so strong,” Russ Busenitz said. “He’s able to center the ball with his throws. With the wind at his back (in the second half), that helped him even more. He was able to put the ball in the center, and we were able to work from it.”
Each team had several scoring chances in the first half, but shots ended up even at 3-3. Berean had a shot that went off the inside of the post early in the second half, but bounced out. After the Warriors gained the lead, Independence had a couple of scoring chances, including one in the final seconds that Warrior keeper Karlin Wiebe was able to stop.
Wiebe had five saves in goal for the win. Independence’s Wesley Goodrich had nine saves.
“This is a pretty determined bunch of guys,” Russ Busenitz said. “They hung tough today when it wasn’t going perfectly for us. That determination carried them through. Indepenence, I have to give them some credit. They traveled 2 1/2 hours to get here. They scored first and put pressure on us. They gave us a good struggle.”
The Warriors reach the state semifinals for the first time in school history. Berean opens play Friday most likely against DeSoto.
“There’s a lot of unknowns now,” Russ Busenitz said. “You don’t know what you’re going to get. We’ll try to get some scouting, but I told these guys we’ve got to do what we do the best we can. We have to focus on us.”
“We just need to keep our heads,” Beverlin said. “We need to continue to play hard — play for God’s glory.”
Independence 0 1 —1
Berean Acad. 0 2 —2
1. I Connor Cushing (Tyler Sprague) 48:09
2. BA Lonnie Penner (Owen Beverlin) 62:10
3. BA Blaine Busenitz (unassisted) 71:12
Total shots — Ind. 3-5—8, BA 3-10—13. Shots on goal — Ind. 1-5—6, BA 2-9—11. Saves — Ind.: Wesley Goodrich (L) 2-7—9. BA: Karlin Wiebe (W) 1-4—5. Corner kicks — Ind. 2, BA 8. Fouls — Ind. 10, BA 10. Offsides — Ind. 2, BA 1. Cautions — Ind.: Austin Schroeder 49:55.
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By Mark Schnabel
Newton Kansan
ELBING — A pair of Owen Beverlin throw-ins in the second proved to be season savers for the Berean Academy Warrior soccer team.
Down 1-0 early in the second half, Berean converted on the throw-ins to claim a 2-1 win over Independence Tuesday afternoon in the Class 4-3-2-1A state quarterfinals in Elbing.
Berean Academy, 14-4, advances to the semifinals Friday at the Circle High School athletic complex in nearby Towanda. Independence ends the season 13-5.
“I need to praise God for this opportunity to be here today,” Berean coach Russ Busenitz said. “That’s what we’re about here at Berean. The wind was a big factor today. I hoped we could get a goal to start the second half. We hit the post. We had a couple of good chances in the first half I thought we would convert on with a header. Those didn’t materialize. We talked about that in pre-game that we might need a header.
“Then we had a miscue and played a little panicky for the next few minutes. It wasn’t our best game in that respect. With the wind, we were able to get chances in their third repeatedly. When we scored that first goal, we relaxed a little bit and that led to the second goal.”
A Tyler Sprague direct kick in the 49th minute was put in by Independence’s Connor Cushing, who took advantage of some Warrior defensive miscues to slip the ball past Warrior keeper Karlin Wiebe.
After some moments of near panic for the Warriors, Lonnie Penner converted a Beverlin throw-in for a short shot in the 63rd minute. Nine minutes later, a Beverlin throw-in was deflected by an Independence defender inside the penalty area, where Blaine Buzenitz picked up the ball and fired it to the back of the net.
“I had a lot of them drop in,” Beverlin said. “A couple went through. Lonnie and Blaine were there to pick them up. It wasn’t all me. It was the team. We got a little flustered, but we’ve faced trials before.”
“We use him for that because his throws are so strong,” Russ Busenitz said. “He’s able to center the ball with his throws. With the wind at his back (in the second half), that helped him even more. He was able to put the ball in the center, and we were able to work from it.”
Each team had several scoring chances in the first half, but shots ended up even at 3-3. Berean had a shot that went off the inside of the post early in the second half, but bounced out. After the Warriors gained the lead, Independence had a couple of scoring chances, including one in the final seconds that Warrior keeper Karlin Wiebe was able to stop.
Wiebe had five saves in goal for the win. Independence’s Wesley Goodrich had nine saves.
“This is a pretty determined bunch of guys,” Russ Busenitz said. “They hung tough today when it wasn’t going perfectly for us. That determination carried them through. Indepenence, I have to give them some credit. They traveled 2 1/2 hours to get here. They scored first and put pressure on us. They gave us a good struggle.”
The Warriors reach the state semifinals for the first time in school history. Berean opens play Friday most likely against DeSoto.
“There’s a lot of unknowns now,” Russ Busenitz said. “You don’t know what you’re going to get. We’ll try to get some scouting, but I told these guys we’ve got to do what we do the best we can. We have to focus on us.”
“We just need to keep our heads,” Beverlin said. “We need to continue to play hard — play for God’s glory.”
Independence 0 1 —1
Berean Acad. 0 2 —2
1. I Connor Cushing (Tyler Sprague) 48:09
2. BA Lonnie Penner (Owen Beverlin) 62:10
3. BA Blaine Busenitz (unassisted) 71:12
Total shots — Ind. 3-5—8, BA 3-10—13. Shots on goal — Ind. 1-5—6, BA 2-9—11. Saves — Ind.: Wesley Goodrich (L) 2-7—9. BA: Karlin Wiebe (W) 1-4—5. Corner kicks — Ind. 2, BA 8. Fouls — Ind. 10, BA 10. Offsides — Ind. 2, BA 1. Cautions — Ind.: Austin Schroeder 49:55.
