Panthers, Mustangs open soccer season with solid victories
Ed O’LEARY
EXPOSITOR STAFF
Brantford
Mike Petrella, despite being closely defended, scored in the final minutes to give the Paris District High School Panthers a 2-1 victory over the North Park Trojans Tuesday afternoon at John Wright Soccer Fields.
It was the opening game of the Brant County high school boys’ soccer season for both teams.
The Brantford Collegiate Institute Mustangs defeated the Pauline Johnson Collegiate Thunderbirds 2-0 in other action.
Jay Kilec, a Grade 9 student, gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead late in the first half with Paris District was playing into a strong wind.
The goal came after the Trojans had stormed the Panthers’ goal throughout the first half only to come away empty-handed.
North Park did a masterful job of keeping the Panthers from adding to their lead in the first 30 minutes of the second half.
HARD WORK PAYS OFF
The Trojans’ hard work paid off when Shawn Sandhu scored from close range despite falling to the ground on the play.
Petrella got the deciding goal with about five minute remaining.
“I thought it was a fairly even game in terms of chances,” said Panthers’coach George Szabo.
“I thought it was a pretty good effort for the first game. They never stopped working and the effort was there.
“They’ve still got a long way to go. I'm still feeling out the positions so I’m going to have a new lineup each, game.”
Jay Hall and Adam Hall played well defensively for the Panthers, who also got a strong effort out of midfielder Josh Speagle.
North Park coaches Andrea (Gump) Hawkins and Gerry Vitiello were pleased with the play of the Trojans.
“We’ve got a mixed batch of kids, kids in Grades 9, 10 and 11, who haven’t played together,” Hawkins said.
“I thought we played good as a team for that being our first game.”
STRONG DEFENCE
Hawkins was particularly pleased with the defensive work of Joey Jenkins, who was assigned to defend Paris star Jon Hillis.
She also noted that Craig Chittenden and Sandhu played well in the midfield.
Ryan Marcella and Matt Allman shared the goalkeeping duties for the Mustangs to earn the shutout. Yohan Kagoma took a pass from Simon Fleming to give the Mustangs 1-0 lead in the 25th minute.
Jesse Jenkins got BCI's second goal which came off a pass from Kagoma in the 63rd minute.
Jesse Jamieson, Ricky Britton and Matt Hoogkamp played well for the T-Birds.
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