by Ryan Duvall ‘21

Last season in the first round of the playoffs, the boys varsity soccer team was knocked off  by the Northwood Gladiators. On Wednesday, October 2, the Warriors got their revenge, defeating Northwood 2-1. 

The game started out well for the Warriors, as they created many chances early on. However, Northwood got their fair share of shots in as well, but the strong goalkeeping of junior Bronson Shepherd kept the game tied at zero going into halftime. And whatever halftime adjustments Sherwood made, worked. The Warriors took momentum and created a plethora of goal scoring opportunities. With 11 minutes left in the game, senior Jason Turner scored the first goal of the match, putting the Warriors up 1-0. Just three minutes later, Sherwood drew a penalty after a hard foul. Junior Derrick Ventura stepped in to take the penalty, and with one kick, he put the Warriors up by two goals.

 The game seemed to be over, with the Warriors being up two, and less than eight minutes to go. This was not the case though, as the Gladiators scored with just three minutes left, narrowing Sherwood’s lead to one. Then, in the last minute of the game, Sherwood conceded what appeared to be a goal, the Northwood bench went crazy, thinking that they had achieved the comeback, but it was ruled a handball. The call resulted in the Warriors squeaking out a win.

The team was very happy about the win, considering that Northwood was the team to end their season last year. “Honestly … it felt great to beat the team that knocked us out last year, said Ventura. “This year, we came back stronger, knowing we had to beat them. I am really proud of the work we put in, and the fight that we gave on Wednesday.”

The Warriors have now improved to a record of 6-2, which is very impressive considering the number of injuries they have had this year. Now, Sherwood will try to get another win on Monday at home against the Montgomery Blair Blazers. The Blazers are also off to an impressive start, going 7-3, along with three straight wins.