Timberland Suffers Soccer Loss On Senior Night Against Fort Zumwalt South

It was Senior Night at  on Thursday, as the boys soccer team and its fans celebrated the careers of 2012 graduating players Brendan Barteau, Jordan Fischer, Rob Janssen, Matt Schulte, Hector Toledo and Jack West.

Parents and friends of each player came out to Scott Swofford Stadium on a blustery night to show their love and support for Timberland’s six seniors, who were playing their second-to-last home game against longtime GAC rival .

Unfortunately for the Wolves, the visiting Bulldogs weren’t in the mood to celebrate all things Timberland. They handed the home team a 2-1 loss in what proved to be a considerably emotional contest.

“We played tough, we really did,” Timberland coach Tim Shearin said. “We played well. We played our hearts out. They got a penalty shot in the first couple minutes of the game, on what I thought was a bad call. But then it was pretty evenly played the rest of the way.”

Indeed it was, as the teams took turns controlling the action, following the early penalty kick goal by Zumwalt South’s Austin Andrews.

South had a couple of really good scoring chances in the first half, while Timberland generated some of its best action in the second half.

But neither team seemed able to completely impose its will on the other.

“I thought both teams played well,” South coach Jim Layne said. “I’m happy to get out of here with the win.”

Timberland senior West, the GAC South’s leading goal scorer, left his calling card on Thursday’s proceedings when he scored his 18th goal of the year to tie the score at 1.

South leading scorer Alex Clark banged in his 12th goal of the season a bit later for what proved to be the game-winning score.

“I’m disappointed we lost,” Shearin said. “But both teams played extremely hard. And what I liked from my guys was, I think I saw total heart for the first time all year long. I mean, they just let loose and played soccer with everything they had.”

Shearin said he usually dreads Senior Night, not so much because of the extra emotions of watching his guys play their last home game, but because there’s usually a lot of extra pomp and circumstance surrounding that game, which tends to become a distraction for the players.

“It’s a problem sometimes,” Shearin said. “Tonight was great though. The kids were really fired up and ready to go right from the start.”

Both the Bulldogs and Wolves have identical 13-8 records, with one week left in the regular season.

Timberland will play its final home game of the season on Monday, when the Wolves will host at Scott Swofford Stadium at 6 p.m., before closing out the regular season with a road game, next Wednesday, at  at 4 p.m.

The Wolves also found out on Thursday that had received a No. 2 seed for the district playoffs, which begin in Missouri on Halloween night.

Being the two seed, Timberland received an automatic bid into the district semifinals, and will play the No. 3 seed, Fort Zumwalt West, at West’s Hoekel Stadium, at 7 p.m. Nov. 1.

The winner of that contest will advance to the Class 3 District 4 championship game, which will be held at Hoekel Stadium at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 3.

Seeding for South in the Class 3 District 5 playoff, which will be played at South’s Jack Ball Stadium, will be announced next week.

“We’re hoping for a No. 1 or a No. 2,” Layne said. “It’s gonna be a tough district no matter what.”

The Bulldogs do know that they’ll play their final home game, and conduct their own Senior Night festivities, at 7 p.m. Friday at Jack Ball.

Scoring Summary

Score by Halves

F

Fort Zumwalt South

2

0

2

Timberland

1

0

1

First Half

FZS: Austin Andrews (11), penalty kick.

Timb: Jack West (18), assisted by Brendan Barteau.

FZS: Alex Clark (12), assisted by Tyler Muehling.

Second Half

No scoring.