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#20 American Heritage/Plantation Pulls Away For 12-7 Win Over Cardinal Gibbons

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
  Sometimes you get a game that disappoints you and sometimes you get one that surprises you. Last night I got a game that was really fun to watch. Physical but never a dirty hit. Lots of outside looks . . . and more than a couple of posts and crossbars . . . and some sweet saves. A really nice sunset too . . . Even picked up Popeyes on the way to the field . . . first time I tried it. The ‘Surf and Turf’ . . . when exactly did chicken get allocated to the Turf category?  I thought that was solely for red meat? The fried shrimp and chicken tenders were fine and the Mardi Gras Mustard dipping sauce was PERFECT. The Mac and Cheese was a little on the Velveeta-ish side . . . too much of it. But the Biscuit was to DIE FOR . . . lots of butter and I thought some garlic in it too!  Give me 6 of those next time! And of course a Dr. Pepper . . . after all the girlfriend wasn’t with me to give me grief on the dinner choices. Tonight it’s Jupiter and Benjamin at the JCP, no stands . . . and no way I can repeat that type of meal. Maybe I need a new Vichyssoise challenge . . . just kidding Daisy! The game was played at an intense, fast-paced approach in transition and defense. One team continued that pace on offense and one did not.  The one that didn’t won the game. The statistics weren’t that far apart, except for one.  CG took 8 penalties and frankly I couldn’t really pick one out that I disagreed with, and that difference was big in changing momentum in the second quarter as four of them came then.  CG’s game was very much like what I saw against University School.  They got away with the offense that night but didn’t last night. One other statistic that is really revealing is that AH/P assisted on 7 of their 12 goals while CG only assisted on 2 of theirs.  There’s plenty of offensive firepower, it just needs to learn to play together better and with more off ball movement.  AH/P’s offense was far more patient and used spacing very well, not just as a way to get openings to dodge to but also to open passing lanes off those dodges.  That’s what is missing with CG’s attack right now.  When one of their star players goes on their dodge to the net the other players start watching instead of going to where the ball carrier can see them open for better looks.  Right now, when you watch CG you see a team that really has to work it’s butt off to get their looks and they never seem to get an easy goal. It’s out there for the taking . . . and when they finally get it they will be a real challenge to the best teams down here.  You can’t beat those teams with all the one on one, no matter how good you are at it.  All those posts you hit tonight?  A few more yards closer to the net after the extra pass and they mostly go in. Remember that old military recruiting commercial? Be All That You Can Be . . . it’ll be a lot of fun to watch when you do!  Because you’ve got the rest of the game going well.  The ride of the clear is good, the team defense is very good and the goaltending is good too. The game itself went back and forth until midway through the third quarter, as each team kept on going on a mini-run that switched the lead back and forth.  At that point AH/P was able to go on a 5-goal run bridging the 3rd and 4th quarters and take control for good.  CG attempted a late run but the lead held up as the posts hit mounted. One really good stat . . . combined the two teams hit the net with 67% of all shots attempted, and I DON’T count posts in that number.  If I did it would be about 75%. That’s outstanding for high school and at every level of the sport. Turnovers were more of a second half phenomenon and partly tied into the difficulty each team had in clearing in settled situations, as each team rode very well.  Some were just passes that got away. And a special wish to AH/P staring long pole Reese Chase, who injured himself in the first seconds of the game as he looked to take a bad step and maybe caught a slight crease in the field turf. Hope it isn’t that serious and that the recovery is swift and full. CG started quickly as James Foster scored twice in 31 seconds to make it 2-0 early in the game.  At 10:07 he used a spin move on the left wing to get off a left-hand shot that eluded AH/P goalie Joe Weisberg, who got a good piece of it only to have the ball crawl just over the line.  Then at 9:36 he curled left from behind the cage, splitting two defenders and finished to the low left corner.  AH/P’s Matt Kirchmeier made it 2-1 at 8:00 as Jacob Couvertier took a feed in the middle from the right wing and found Kirchmeier cutting to the crease from behind for the easy goal all alone in front.  At 5:47, on EMO, the game was tied as Will Welch fed Dante Cloutier on the left wing for the step down shot to the top right corner and with just 11 seconds left in the quarter is was Welch curling from behind the left side of the cage for the mid right hand shot to make it 3-2 AH/P after one. CG came out in the second and regained the lead with two goals in the first 75 seconds.  11 seconds into the quarter it was Cole O’Halloran on the left wing for the step down to the low right side and at 10:45 Caleb Fiedler split the defense from the right wing and got to the crease for the low shot.  AH/P evened it back up on EMO at 9:27 as Kirchmeier took Couvertier’s top middle pass on the right wing for the step down low shot.  Another EMO led to them retaking the lead at 7:02 as long pole Jason Brown got off the left hand shot after Couvertier fed him on the right wing.  The lead was stretched to 6-4 with 3:55 left as Cloutier was found by Welch all alone on the low left for the easy put away and it was 6-4 at the half. After some sloppy play to start the half CG finally cut it to one at 7:07 as Chris Benestad picked off a pass on his end and went down the right wing and fired from 10 yards to the low left corner for 6-5, but then AH/P took control of the game.  29 seconds later it was 7-5 as Cloutier walked in from the top left and his right hand hit the top short side.  At 4:24 is was Kirchmeier with the right wing face dodge, hitting the top left corner for 8-5 and with 47 seconds left in the quarter Welch found Cloutier on the top left from lower on the wing for the low shot for 9-5 after three. Welch continued the run at 10:11 on the right wing and found some space to let go with the low right corner for 10-5 and at 8:37 it was Brown again getting free with the long pole as he faked going to the bench and his reversal caught the CG defense short handed, with Couvertier feeding him on the wing to end the run at 11-5.  Benestad got one back at 7:01 splitting two poles on the left wing and getting inside to hit the top left with a low to high shot and RJ Breton made it 11-7 at 4:13 off the feed from O’Halloran in the middle.  Kirchmeier closed it out with 17 seconds left into the open net after CG goalie Joe Maguire came out to try to contest on the wing and the game ended at 12-7. CG has five games left in eight days, including finishing up district play Friday night at Calvary Christian while AH/P hosts Palmer Trinity Friday in their last home game before road trips to Boca/Delray for their namesake Derby and Belen Jesuit.   Team Statistics   Faceoffs:  CG 14-10 Shots:  AH/P  27-24 Shots on Goal:  AH/P  19-15 Turnovers:  AH/P  16-24 Penalties:  CG  8-3   Individual Statistics   AH/P   Dante Cloutier  4G Matt Kirchmeier  3G/1A Will Welch  2G/3A Jacob Couvertier  1G/3A Jason Brown  2G Joe Weisberg with 8 saves   CG   James Foster and Chris Benestad with 2G each Caleb Fielder and RJ Breton with 1G each Cole O’Halloran with 1G/2A Joe Maguire with 7 saves   Thanks to Coach Williams and Coach Moore for talking to me before and after the game