West Plains Zizzer Soccer

In District Semifinal action on Monday night, the Bolivar Liberators defeated the Zizzers 3-2 in Overtime. Bolivar got on the board first in the 5th minute. A long throw-in went to Adam Spaulding who knocked it in for a 1-0 Zizzer lead. The quick goal unsettled the Zizzers a little and Bolivar had the better of play for most of the first half. In the 34 th minute, Justin Scicluna fired a shot on goal. Bolivar Keeper, Dale Baker, made the initial save, but Brice Hunt raced for the rebound. Hunt’s first shot was stopped by Baker, but Brice put the rebound in to tie things up at 1-1. That’s how the first half would end.

In the second half, the Zizzers came out strong. Early in the half, Brice Hunt scored a goal, but had it called back for offsides. In the 62nd minute, Justin Scicluna beat a couple of defenders and fired a shot into the net for a 2-1 Zizzer lead. Bolivar would strike back in the 72nd minute as Ryan Toombs found Matt Magana who turned a fired a shot past Landon Perry to tie the game at 2-2. The game would go to overtime tied at 2. In the 5th minute of Overtime, Bolivar sent a free kick in near the box. The ball was knocked around a couple of times before Nolan West headed it into the goal for the game winner. The Zizzers end the season with a record of 17-8-0. Bolivar advances to face Cassville in the District Final on Wednesday.

The loss ended the High School Careers of 13 Zizzer Seniors who will be missed. They include: Shane Corl, Brice Hunt, Nathaniel Keating, David Mills, Mike Moore, Landon Perry, Anton Pleshka, Chris Saner, Justin Scicluna, Josh Sims, Ethan Stoops, Brandon Wood, and Stuart Ziegler. Thanks for all you have done Seniors. It has been a pleasure to coach you guys.

The Neosho County Panthers lost to Barton County 2-1 in Double Overtime in the NJCAA Region VI Championship Game yesterday in Topeka, KS. The loss ends a great season for the Panthers. Matt Saner has completed his Sophomore season and Dustin Smith has completeed his Freshman season. Congrats guys!

The last Regular Season State Rankings were due out Friday, but because of technical difficulties, weren’t released until this morning. The West Plains Zizzers fropped one spot to #7 in the latest rankings.

Here are the complete Class 2 Rankings:

1. Westminster Christian 16-8-0 (92)
2. Cape Notre Dame 15-5-0 (85)
3. Priory 15-5-0 (81)
4. St. Dominic 14-9-0 (78)
5. Duchesne 13-9-0 (53)
6. St. Charles West 15-8-0 (32)
7. West Plains 16-7-0 (30)
8. Hannibal 16-5-0 (20)
9. Cassville 18-1 (18)
10. Lutheran South 16-8-0 (17)

Others: Harrisonville 14, Smithville 13, Bolivar 7, Kennedy 4, Ladue 1

Note: The #1 team in the state Westminster Christian lost to Kennedy 1-0 in the 1st Round of Districts on Saturday.

The Neosho County Panthers advanced to the NJCAA Region VI Championship Game with a 3-0 Victory over Allen County Community College on Saturday Night in Topeka, KS. The #2 Seeded Panthers will now face #1 Seed Barton County Community College in the Region VI Championship match at 4:00pm Sunday in Topeka.

Good Luck Matt and Dustin!!

In the First Round of District play, the Zizzers faced the Monett Cubs just as they did last year. The result this year was also the same, a 4-0 win for the Zizzers. In the first half, the Zizzers played slow, not getting the movement or good passes that they wanted. Despite not playing their best, West Plains scored three first half goals. Chris Saner netted the first two. In the 21st minute, Saner finished off a cross from Stuart Ziegler to give the Zizzers a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Brice Hunt found Saner again. This time Saner’s shot got past the keeper and Saner beat a defender to the ball and knocked it across the line for a 2-0 Zizzer lead. In the 27th minute, Justin Scicluna beat a couple of defenders and fired a shot past the keeper for a 3-0 lead.

In the second half, the Zizzers played more together and moved the ball better. The only goal of the half came in the 47th minute. Chris Saner crossed a ball to a streaking Brice Hunt who blasted a shot into the back of the net for a 4-0 Zizzer lead. The Zizzers created several other chances, but could not put any more points on the board. The defense played pretty well most of the game. Landon Perry made 3 saves in goal to record the win and the shutout. The Zizzers improve to 17-7-0 on the season and advance to face Bolivar at 7:00pm Monday in the District Semifinals. Bolivar defeated Carl Junction 4-1 to advance. In other games, Cassville defeated Marshfield 5-1 and Carthage defeated Webb City 5-3. Cassville and Carthage will meet in the first Semifinal Monday at 5:00pm.

The Neosho County Panthers Men’s Soccer Team Advanced to the Region VI Semifinals last night with a Win over Coffeyville.
The teams met for the second time in two weeks and had a similiar result. Both games ended 0-0 after regulation and Two Overtimes. In the Playoffs, they went to a Penalty Kick Shootout. The Neosho Keeper stopped 4 PKs to help Neosho County prevail. The Panthers advance to play Allen County in the semifinals on Saturday at 7:00pm. The game will be played in Topeka, KS. Neosho County defeated Allen County 2-1 on September 6. Neosho County is the #2 Seed and Allen County is the #3 Seed. In the other semifinal, #1 Seed Barton County will take on #5 Seed Garden City.

The Region VI Championship Match is set for Sunday, October 28 at 3:00pm in Topeka.

Good Luck Matt and Dustin!

It was Senior Night on Monday night as the Central Bulldogs came to town. When the first whistle blew, Brice Hunt set a new record. The game was Brice’s 100th Varsity game of his high school career, making him the first Zizzer to hit the century mark. The old record was 99 games by Jake Brixey. On a cold, wet night, it didn’t take long for the Zizzers to get things going. Shane Corl netted the first goal of the game off an assist from Josh Sims in the 2nd minute. In the 4th minute, Chris Saner picked up a goal. In the 5th minute, Stuart Ziegler scored his 25th goal of the season, setting a new Zizzer single season record. Shane Corl assisted on the record breaking goal. Twenty seconds later, Brice Hunt scored with assists going to Stuart Ziegler and Chris Saner. In the 8th minute, Josh Sims pushed the lead to 5-0. David Mills made the score 6-0 with his goal in the 14th minute. Nathaniel Keating added a goal in the 20th minute. Nathan Moore finished the first half scoring with a goal in the 36th minute on an assist from Brice Hunt. The halftime score was 8-0.

In the second half, Anton Pleshka scored in the 44th minute on an assist from Brice Hunt. Ethan Stoops tallied the final goal in the 55th minute off a cross from Brice Hunt. 10-0 Zizzers. The boys played pretty well. They moved the ball and got a lot of shots. Eighteen players saw playing time in the game and 10 different players scored goals. Good job boys! With the win, the Zizzers record improves to 16-7-0 on the season. Up next, a First Round District Game against Monett at Bolivar at 5:00pm on Saturday.

As pretty as Friday nights game with Parkway Central was, the game against Affton on Saturday was that ugly. Feeling the effects of playing 4 games in 6 days with basically 13 players (including the 15 minutes of extra time with Parkway Central), the Zizzers were running on empty. Banged and bruised and playing without much energy, the boys were able to pull out a 2-0 victory over the Affton Cougars. Things started out slow as Affton had the better of play early as the Zizzers struggled to get things going. The halftime score was 0-0. The game would remain scoreless until the 45th minute. Justin Scicluna took a pass from Chris Saner, beat a defender a slid a shot inside the post for a 1-0 Zizzer lead. It looked like that might be the only goal of the game despite some chances by both teams. In the 72nd minute however, Scicluna would strike again. Chris Saner found Stuart Ziegler with a throw-in. Ziegler passed to Scicluna, who turned took a touch and fired a bomb just under the crossbar on the far side from about 20 yards out for a 2-0 Zizzer lead. That’s how the game would end. Landon Perry earned the shutout and the win in the goal. The Zizzers improved their record to 15-7-0 on the season. Next up, The last Regular Season Game of the year on Monday at home against Springfield Central. It will be Senior Night. It will be a Varsity Game Only starting at 6:00pm. Senior Night activities will take place prior to the game.

In JV action, the Cougars defeatedthe Zizzers 2-1. The Cougars scored two early goals, but the Zizzers battled for that elusive goal. Despite several opportunities the couldn’t find the net until the 66th minute. The Cougars were called for a foul in the box and the Zizzers were awarded a Penalty Kick. Freshman Dylan York took the kick and put his shot into the side netting for the JV Zizzers first goal of the season. The game was the last of the season for the JV. Despite playing much of the season with only 12 players, the boys kept working and didn’t quit. Keep up the work in the off-season and get ready for next.

The Zizzers traveled to St. Louis on Friday night to take on the Parkway Central Colts. The Colts entered the game with a 13-6-3 record (Including wins over #8 St. Marys 1-0, Bubble Team Marguette 3-1, Small Schools Bubble Team Ladue 1-0, and played #7 Vianney to a 1-1 Tie). The Colts are one of the teams On The Bubble in the St.Louis Post-Dispatch Large School Rankings. Last season, the Zizzers lost 2-1 to Parkway Central.

The match proved to be a beautiful one (This was the funnest game all year to watch as both teams played very good soccer). Both teams came out strong from the first whistle, moving the ball around the field and creating scoring chances. According to West Plains stats (good job Mike Moore!), the shots were even at 19 each. The defensive effort was great, from the forwards all the way back. It was a great team effort.

The Colts scored what they thought was the go-ahead goal in the second half, but it was disallowed. The Colts player pushed a Zizzer defender out of the way to get to the ball in a crowd in front of the goal. At the end of Regulation Time, the score remained 0-0. It remained that way after the first 10-minute Overtime period. In the second Overtime period, each team took 2 shots before Stuart Ziegler ended the game in the 95th minute of play. Ziegler took a pass in the middle of the field and raced in on goal, just poking a shot past the keeeper for a 1-0 Zizzer win. The goal for Ziegler was his 24th of the season, tieing the Zizzer Single Season Record set by Nick Dryden in 2004. Landon Perry picked up the shuout and Win in the goal. The Zizzer record improves to 14-7-0 on the season.

In JV action, Parkway Central defeated the Zizzers 6-0. Playing well at times, the Zizzers managed to create a few good scoring chances, but were unable to capitalize on them. The boys never gave up despite the score.

Former Lady Zizzer Jessica Brixey is enjoying a productive Freshman season for the Neosho County Community College Panthers. Neosho County is an NJCAA school that plays in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Jessica has tallied seven goals on the season while seeing time as a Forward and Midfielder. The Panthers are currently 2-14 on the season with 1 regular season game remaining. Neosho is a young team with 3 Sophomores and 12 Freshmen in Coach Damon Solomon’s First Season.

Congrats Jessica!