The Marion Giants might have gotten their third win of the season against Pendleton Heights on Thursday evening, but it certainly wasn’t pretty.
Despite an up-and-down offensive attack, and some undisciplined actions at the tail end of the contest, the Giants did just enough to come away with a 1-0 victory over the Arabians.
In the early stages, Pendleton Heights had all the momentum, as the Giants offense struggled tremendously in the first half. Throughout the first 40 minutes, the Arabians applied great pressure on defense and were able to limit Marion’s stars from creating offensive opportunities.
“We just couldn’t find our touches [in the first half,”] Berry said. “[Furthermore,] our spacing was horrible, but you learn with each game.”
Luckily for Marion, their defense was their saving grace. Time and time again, Christian Lemans, Tyler Anger, Connor Moritz, and Sonny Gray made big plays to keep the Arabians’ offense at bay. When Pendleton Heights was able to create an opportunity, big senior goalkeeper, Caleb Oliver, stopped everything that came his way.
“The way they played – they came out [and executed,]” Berry said. “I’m proud of the defense and how they stuck together. Each game they have gotten better and better. If I can get everyone to play as one at one time, the sky is the limit for this team.”
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, the offense finally came to life. After a great scoring chance by RJ Macomber was denied, forward Jonas Reed converted a header on a beautiful cross, courtesy of Macomber, to give Marion the 1-0 lead.
“RJ served a great ball, and Jonas was there to knock it home – that is what we are about,” Reed said. “We want to create a lot of opportunities, but more importantly, we want to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Then, in the last 20 minutes of the contest, chaos ensued.
With both teams playing more physically in the second half, tempers were bound to flare up, and sometimes, it’s only a matter of time before the fuse is lit.
After forward Jose Esquivel was taken down on a questionable hit on Pendleton’s side of the pitch, the tension that had been building up over the second half finally boiled over. All the players on the field, including goalkeeper, Oliver, rushed to the aid of their teammate. Words were exchanged, players pushed and shoved one another, and it took the referees several minutes to restore order.
Both Esquivel and Moritz were given yellow cards because of the altercation, and the tension between the team teams remained for the rest of the game.
Berry liked that his players stood up for their teammate, but he was not happy with the way that the situation was handled.
“I appreciate how they responded, but the actions that [resulted in us] getting cards is not acceptable. In a bigger game, in a bigger setting, that could be [disastrous.]”
Though it was a rough game in several different areas for the Giants, they still got the win, and Berry hopes that they will learn from this contest and use it as a teaching tool as the season continues.
“If we keep growing, better things are going to come.”
On Saturday, the Giants once again got off to a slow start, as long-time rival Muncie Central capitalized early in the match to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.
Marion was able to create scoring opportunities, but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
“Honestly, we came out really flat,” Berry said after the game. “We created a normal amount of opportunities – [we just didn’t convert.]”
After Berry pumped the boys up during halftime, that all changed.
Tyler Anger took a pass at the top of box from defender, Jalen Spurgeon, and fired a beautiful shot to knot the score at one. Then Macomber, as he has many times in his Giants’ career, took over. After being fouled in the box, Macomber took the penalty shot and scored off the rebound to give the Giants a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish. Macomber scored again later in the second half on another assist from Spurgeon to give the Giants some insurance.
“We were more relaxed in the second half, and we played to our ability,” Berry said.
Though the Giants already have four victories on the young season, sluggish starts have become an issue. Heading into next week, Berry hopes that his team finds it in themselves to change that.
“On Monday and Tuesday, [we are going to focus] on coming out ready to play at the beginning of games,” Berry said. “I have 12 seniors, so these young men need to realize that this is their last hurrah, so if they want to shake things up and make a run, then they need to find the motivation in themselves.”
