By Mike Stechschulte
Junior – Oxford High School
On Sept. 18, in what turned out to be a bizarre and strange soccer game, the Wildcats lost to the Pontiac Notre Dame Prep Fighting Irish by 4-2.
In the first half, the Wildcats had good control of the ball with senior Jimmy Henry opening the scoring at 29:38 with an assist from freshman Zach Wazolina. Henry redirected a kick from Wazolina with his head that found its way past the Notre Dame Prep goaltender.
About eight minutes later, Henry scored again on a similar play, assisted by senior Eddie Summers. Summers took advantage of a long free kick from midfield, landing it in perfect position for Henry to deflect the ball into the net, making the score 2-0 in favor of Oxford. The Wildcats were able to hold the lead into halftime, giving them momentum into the last half of the game.
The second half, however, brought a complete turnaround, as the Fighting Irish put a long lofting kick past Oxford goalie Chris Schnur at 30:49, cutting the Cats lead in half. For eight long minutes, the game was fiercely contended to the point that players from both teams were getting injured on the field.
At 22:12, Notre Dame scored again, setting the game at 2 each. Less than two minutes later, the Irish scored a third goal, giving them the lead for the first time in the game.
But the match up was immediately interrupted following the Irish’s 3rd goal when warning sirens sounded loudly over the field, and both teams and their fans started to run for cover. The game stalled for almost five minutes before a false alarm was announced.
After play resumed, the Irish scored one more time at 12:06, putting them up by two goals. Despite several opportunities late in the game, including a shot that hit the goalpost, the Wildcats could not score again, ultimately losing 4-2.
The Wildcats’ next game will be away against Holly on September 24. Earlier in the season, the Wildcats tied the Bronchos by a score of 2-2.
Mike Stechschulte is a Junior at Oxford High School and plans to major in the field of journalism.