Above – Steven Torres scored a game high four goals against Boone An old rivalry that has been reignited due to district realignment has once again brought Boone and Timber Creek together in a battle for a district championship this season.

This game was hard fought from the start.  The first four minutes saw up and down the field action, few whistles, and tough play.  Finally, Steven Torres took a feed from Nate Gillan to get the Wolves on the board first at the 7:49 mark.  Less than a minute later Bruce Preeschl scored again to give the Wolves a 2-0 lead.  Seconds later Connor Curry scored for the Braves, letting Timber Creek know they were not going to run away with this game. Kevin Spear scored for the Braves to tie it at two a piece but :38 seconds later Parker Quigley would give the Wolves the lead back and the first quarter would wind down with the Wolves were up 3-2. The even battle continued throughout the first eleven minutes of the second quarter.  Both teams had to fight for every ground ball and every possession.  Both teams traded goals with TC getting their fourth from big defenseman Dakota Ortiz as goalie Bennet Hopkins found him uncovered on a clear.  Hopkins rifled a perfect pass to Ortiz who was all alone just yards away from the Boone restraining line.  He ran the ball straight toward the pipes and when the slide was late ripped a great shot just past the right hip of Joe Kissick. Two minutes later Kevin Spear would score again as he exploited an overly aggressive pursuit by a TC defender and made an inside roll for a right handed finish off the near post.    As the second quarter wore on the TC defense began to get control of the Boone offense and the momentum began to swing toward Timber Creek.  Finally, with 1:09 left in the quarter the Wolves would see Nate Gillan hit Mike McAllister on the wing who used a quick release to get a shot past Kissick to give Timber Creek a two goal advantage at 5-3.  :50 seconds later Joe Cassata drove down the right alley and spotted Mike McAllister open on the crease who put it away for his second goal in less than a minute to give the Wolves a three goal advantage with :19 remaining in the half.

Boone made some good adjustments offensively coming out after the half.  They spread it out and made the slide a little tougher for the TC defenders.  It worked for a while and they got a goal from Kyle Irwin who took a pass from Conor Curry and got a hard low shot from just inside the restraining line past Hopkins.  At the midway mark of the third Torres scored again for the Wolves taking a feed from McAllister in the middle and going low to high to beat Kissick.  TC won the next face off but turned it over to Boone who got the ball into the stick of Kevin Irwin who scored on a long shot over the shoulder of Hopkins to bring the score 7-5. Curry would score again for the Braves after Connelly found himself matched up on a short stick middie and beat him topside to draw the slide.  He dumped to Curry who finished easily.  Two minutes later the Wolves came back when McAllister found Preeschl open on a back door cut.  A perfect feed and a quick stick over the right shoulder of Kissick gave TC an 8-6 advantage which would last through the end of the quarter. Boone scored a goal four and half minutes into the fourth quarter when Kyle Irwin simply ran past his defender and shot before help could arrive.  But that would be the end of it for the Braves.  The last seven minutes of the game saw Timber Creek run away with it.  TC finished up with a five goal run which started when Preeschl picked up a ground ball and moved it to Austin Herborn.  Herborn took advantage of the unsettled transition and hit Marco Montero in front of the net who finished off the far post.  Less than a minute later Torres isolated his defender and drove up the field from “X.”  He executed a text book question mark dodge and finished off his hat trick. Forty Five seconds later he took a pass from Montero on and EMO and scored his fourth of the evening.  Less than a minute after that Hopkins hit Brock St. John with an outlet pass he caught in stride at the midfield line.  He drove straight to the near pipe and no Boone defenders were able to slide in time and he scored easily to bring the lead to five with 5:17 left in the game.  Nate Gillan added one more goal on a great inside roll with 1:11 remaining  and the game ended at 13-7. It is highly likely that these two teams will meet in the District 12 Play Offs.  This was a very even game with the exception of the last seven minutes.  This is going to get interesting.