Goliath gets his day over David
The Hiland Hawks played the role of David against the mighty warrior Goliath on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Gahanna, with Div. III’s top-ranked team and defending State runner-up Worthington Christian Warriors playing the role of Goliath.
But unlike the Biblical version of this ultimate underdog story, Goliath kept getting back up on his feet, and eventually the Warriors eked out a 4-3 win in overtime that left the Hawks hurting, especially with the way the game played out.
David’s first stone was thrown by Luke Burch, who drove a left-footed corner kick off the far post and into the back of the net just six minutes into the game.
Goliath staggered, but got back up.
David chucked his second stone five minutes later, when Burch’s corner led to a Cameron Stutzman header and a 2-0 Hawks lead.
Goliath fell to the round, gasping, picked himself up and proved that giants can be tough to kill.
Then the Warriors went to work.
In the 15th minute Brett Elder scored the 100th goal of his career by driving home a blistering shot from the left side to make it 2-1.
Apparently ticked off from the early bludgeoning from David, Goliath had swung back and connected.
And he kept connecting. Worthington Christian completely dominated play over the final 25 minutes of the first half.
With the ball out in front of the mouth of Hiland’s goal for the whole half, it was something of a miracle that the Warriors hadn’t racked up a ton of goals. Give credit to the Hawks defense and keeper Dylan Kaufman for keeping it at 2-1 until 1:15 left to play in the half, when Sam Condon drove home a goal to tie it at 2-2.
Goliath, now officially peeved, was on the warpath, looking for fresh blood.
David, having witnessed the wrath of the giant warrior, could have fled the premises, as momentum moved directly into Goliath’s corner.
The Philistines were hungry.
But turning tail and running isn’t exactly David’s style, and the Hawks came out in the second half with a new resolve.
For more than 20 minutes the two teams battled ferociously, David dishing it out as well as he took it. But just past the midway point in the second half, Hiland was whistled for a shove just outside the penalty box. The direct kick taken by Elder went through the Hiland wall and into the net, giving Worthington Christian a 3-2 lead.
Goliath had bared his teeth, flexed his muscles and roared.
Not intimidated, David fought back, and with six minutes left to play, Burch drove his second corner kick into the net.
Goliath staggered. He reeled. He wheezed, falling to a knee.
David had taken the upper hand.
Now, in a relentless rush, Hiland attacked with a fury. With 2:36 left to play in regulation, Thomas Troyer sent a high, spiraling kick into the box. Grant Stutzman chested it, gathered it, and knocked it in for a 4-3 lead.
Pandemonium for the Israelites — David had flung the fatal stone.
However, unlike the epic Biblical battle, where the underdog wins, this story had a third party involved.
A yellow flag held high on the sideline.
Offsides on Stutzman.
Goliath was given a reprieve.
“There was no way I was offsides on that play... no way,” said Stutzman.
Still, with Goliath wheezing, out of energy, and with David flying high despite the misfortune, David would surely win this battle and end the string of four Regional losses in six years to Worthington Christian.
Seven minutes into the first extra period, Goliath raised his hands in victory, the ball laying forlornly in the back of the Hiland net, glancing off of Albert Miller on a corner. Goliath had recovered enough to topple David. The streak now stands at five in seven years.
“What do you say at a time like this,” said Hiland coach Scott Bodiker. “I am so proud of these kids. We played our hearts out tonight. We played a smart game, and I really thought with momentum with us, we really were going to find a way to get it done this time.”
But it was as though the soccer gods had a beef with the Hawks. There were three key calls in the game: The penalty just outside the Hiland box, a throw-in goal that was waved off and the offsides call, the latter two wiping out Hiland goals.
All three went against the Hawks (13-5, all five losses coming to State-ranked teams).
“I thought overall the refs did a really good job tonight, but there were three really huge calls and all three went against us,” said Bodiker. “That’s tough when those big calls go against you. Right or wrong, it wasn’t a clear cut decision either way, and that makes it tough to take.”
After getting the early lead only to watch the Warriors dominate play in the first half, it would have been easy for the Hawks to fold against a team of this caliber, but instead they fought valiantly, at times outplaying the more talented Warriors simply on heart and smarts.
That second half effort alone was something Bodiker said made him proud of his troops.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids had they won,” said Bodiker. “The theme all week that we focused on was responding to adversity. Something was going to happen tonight that wasn’t going to go our way, whether it was a goal or a missed call. In a game like this, you have to keep your chin up, keep pushing, put those things behind you, or a team like this will make you pay.”
The Hawks handled adversity well, only it wasn’t just one moment in time, but three that they had to fight through.
As for Worthington Christian (15-4-1, all four losses coming to D-I schools), an experienced, veteran team with a marquee player in Elder helped them to weather the early storm, remain focused and not panic.
“These kids know what it takes, and they knew coming into the tournament that there would be a nail-biter like this along the way,” said Warriors head coach Dan Rhoads. “We knew we could settle down and play our game, and good things would happen. Tonight we did all the big things right and didn’t do the little things right. Give Berlin Hiland credit, because they did all the little things right tonight. That made them dangerous. We learned a valuable lesson tonight, that those little things matter. Berlin Hiland came out here and played great soccer for 80-plus minutes tonight.
“I think that both teams sacrificed everything they had tonight and left it all out there on the field. It was an amazing game, and we were able to scrape by.”
High praise from Goliath, but while it may make David feel good, those words of praise are still hard to accept when a team comes that close, because in the end, it was still David lying on the ground, defeated.
“This was one of the most exciting high school soccer games I have ever been a part of. We started out great and really caught Worthington by surprise,” said Bodiker. “It was a great game, we played great soccer, but still, here we are, wondering what ifs and wondering when we will get by this team.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys though,” continued Bodiker. “They left it all on the field and did everything that we asked of them. To have your season end in golden goal overtime is tough, but we have nothing to hang our heads about. It was another excellent season.”
Published: November 2, 2011
