TORRINGTON – The Torrington High School boys’ soccer team pushed its winning streak to seven with weekend victories over Gering, Neb., and Buffalo.
On Friday, the Blazers handed the Bulldogs a 3-0 loss.
“I was really happy with how we played tonight. I thought we played great again as a team,” THS coach Jeshua Arnusch said. “We passed well and did a great job in possession and did a good job of protecting Kyler in the goal.”
After battling a stalemate most of the opening half, Torrington got on the scoreboard courtesy of a header from junior Nate Gutierrez with two minutes left in the half.
In the second half, Torrington added goals in the 48th and the 54th minutes from sophomore Ty Prall and freshman Kieser Wolfe.
“I was really impressed with how Aidyn Saucedo played tonight,” Arnusch said. “He played quite a bit of time at outside back and proved that he is becoming a worthy varsity player. He works hard every day and his solid work ethic is starting to pay off. He made some nice runs and attacked the space in front of him every minute he was in while still holding his defensive responsibilities.”
Freshman goalie Kyler Shields tallied five stops in the win.
The next day, the Blazers traveled to Buffalo, escaping town with a 3-1 overtime victory.
“This game was super close throughout most of the first and second half,” Arnusch said.
The Blazers trailed 1-0 into the last minute of the match.
That all changed when Prall scored on a corner kick to ultimately send the game into overtime.
“I was really happy with how we held our shape,” Arnusch said. “Buffalo is a good passing team and we did a good job of battling for possession while not over committing numbers on offense or defense. We just had a hard time scoring but when we finally made one it seemed like the flood gates opened up and we had a lot of great chances and looks.”
Senior Trace English made the match 2-1, connecting on a penalty kick.
A few moments later, Wolfe made it 3-1.
“My player of the game was Kieser Wolfe,” Arnusch said. “He came on in OT and dominated the back line of Buffalo and gave them fits. He did a great job of pressing them on defense and he also drew us a penalty kick that Trace English hit. Then he turned right around and outran four Buffalo defenders and dropped a goal in right past their goalie. I have been predicting that he will have a break out game soon and now he has scored twice in the last two games as a freshman. I’m really happy that his hard work at practice is translating to the games now.”
The Blazers (10-3 overall and 4-1 in the 3A East) now turn their attention to a pair of conference road games. They travel to Douglas (3-8-1 and 1-3-1) on Tuesday and Rawlins (6-4-1 and 2-1-1) on Saturday with the hopes of locking up the top seed from the East Conference for the state tournament.
“The tough part will be playing on turf in Douglas,” Arnusch said. “They have improved tremendously the last two years and will be a tough opponent. We will have to do a good job of making up passing lanes and finding our outside backs on their runs if we are going to be successful.”
Lady Blazers fall twice
The Torrington Lady Blazers fell to Gering, 10-0 on Friday.
Gering kicked in Nebraska’s 10-goal mercy rule with 10 minutes left in the match.
The next day, the Lady Blazers fell 8-1 to Buffalo.
The Torrington (0-12 and 0-5) will also travel to Douglas (6-3-2 and 3-1-1) on Tuesday and Rawlins (4-4-2 and 2-1-1) on Saturday.
Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
