The Ram final regular season soccer matches were played on Friday night at Linduska Field in Jefferson as Greene County hosted East Sac County. The Raiders won 9-0 in the girls contest while the Class 2A No. 6 Rams boys team won 10-0 by the 10-goal margin rule with just under 10 minutes to play in the second half.
Greene County opened up a 6-0 lead at the break in the boys game. “It was a great night for the Rams,” said coach Carl Behne.
Gesser Gutierres ran the offense with six goals. Bork Ersnes booted two scores with single goals going to Jose Velazco and Landon Carstens. Cody McCollom and Ersnes were charted with three assists each and Velazco added one.
Goalie Gabe Ebersole grabbed five saves. “All but the last were routine. The last one took a great diving effort to stop and secure the clean sheet,” Behne said.
It was Senior Night for the Rams. Honored were Jose Velazco, Cody McCollom, Lucas Jablonski, Chad Maston and Bork Ernes. Two seniors were unable to compete due to injury: Brayden Roberts and Mylo Taute.
ESC’s girls improved to 5-8 while the Rams fell to 1-10. The Raiders led 4-0 at the half and increased the lead to 9-0 with just under 20 minutes to play in the second half. Seniors are Bella Linberg, Alexa Peters, Kaitlin Fields, Katrina Heupel, and Natalie Heupel.
The two teams meet again on May 15 in Wall Lake to begin postseason play in Class 1A Region 6.
Earlier in the week, Nevada and Greene County met May 9 in Heart of Iowa Activities Conference action with the girls playing in Jefferson and the boys at Nevada. The Cubs won both games by shutout.
The boys’ contest was for the HOIAC title and matched up the Class 2A No. 5 and 6 teams in the state. The fifth-ranked Cubs won by a 3-0 final to improve to 12-4 while the Rams fell to 10-4.
After a scoreless first half, Nevada scored their three goals within the first 17 minutes of the second half.
The Nevada girls’ team is state-ranked in Class 1A and they topped the Rams 11-0 in one half by the 10-goal rule to improve to 11-3. Greene County fell to 1-10.
Greene County boys will play on May 22 vs. the winner of the May 15 first round regional contest in Huxley between Ballard and Panorama. Chariton is the two seed in Substate 7 and they also have a first round bye. The Clarke (Osceola) vs. Creston winner meets Chariton in the semifinal round. ~courtesy of The Scranton Journal
