By Bill MurphY Staff Writer
Sitting here wondering how important opening games of any team’s season actually are. Coaches usually inflate their importance but there are so many intangibles which are in play, including the quality of the opponent. Looking for some kind of consensus, I would say most coaches would agree that what is most important is how a team grows from opening game until the end of the season and that qualifying teams are at their pinnacle when the postseason arrives.
Regardless of how one looks at it, Justin Parrott has to feel more comfortable today than Bruce Ferland as Parrott’s Fall Mountain boys won their opener over Kearsarge on the road 2-1 and Ferland’s Lady Wildcats fell 4-1 at home to Hillsboro-Deering.
Parrott feels, “we played a really difficult schedule last season and didn’t win, but, we were in almost every game. We got use to defending, lost six of our nine games by one goal and we are a better defensive team now because we had to spend a lot of time focusing on that side of the game.”
Senior Goalie Brayden Ring is the backbone of that Wildcat defense and he had a superb game in the net in the opener leading the way for Fall Mountain to pull off a big road win. Ten minutes into the game senior Will Bellows tallied a goal with an assist from sophomore Aiden Belden and then after the Cougars tied matters at 1-1 15 minutes into the second half, the Wildcats pulled off a passarama beauty to settle the score about 10 minutes later.
First, Belden won a challenge from a Cougar defender for the ball and quickly shuffled a pass to Bellows, who found junior Jager Klema, who then gave a perfect cross to sophomore Troy Tenney which was converted into basically an empty net score. Ring had 14 saves and handled several other passes to control the action. Parrott’s team continues with its second straight road game Tuesday against a lesser opponent Derryfield at 4 p.m.
Ferland has the ingredients for an interesting blend this fall, but, it will take time to mix the unit into what could be a possible contender.Six somewhat experienced seniors are aided by some less experienced underclassmen, especially a large freshman class with budding talent, which will fit the varsity well some day, the big question is when.
“I know many of them will fit our program, but, it takes time to learn my system and even though I see good things at times, it won’t happen overnight. I am hoping they come together this year. The team is a good group,” he says. A more than respectable Hillsboro-Deering team took advantage of the Lady Wildcats work in progress to build a 3-0 lead on the way to the victory. in the opening contest. The lone tally for Fall Mountain came from freshman Mariella Tsitsonis, a Wildcat soccer royal family St. Pierre bloodline athlete. Ferland offered, “she has good skills and is already showing them as she put this shot in the corner of the net.”
Ferland went on to say, “I’m hoping there are enough freshmen, who can be quick learners and make a possible impact to the strong senior group we have.” The Fall Mountain girls hit their home turf again this evening at 6:15 when they host a Mascoma team which also dropped their opener 6-2 to Belmont last Friday.
Wildcat clawsLarry Sayers’ cross country teams hosted a four-team home meet last Friday for their opener with the boys finishing first six points ahead of Monadnock with Conant and Newport trailing and the Conant girls edged Monadnock by 1. The top Wildcat boys runners were David Northcott in second with Ben Tetu finishing fifth. The top Fall Mountain girl was Anna Lloyd in 13th place. Fall Mountain runs a week from today at Monadnock.
Michelle Swift’s volleyballers open their season this Friday at Laconia at 5:45 p.m.
The Fall Mountain football season doesn’t open for another ten days as they kick-off their season hosting Raymond at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 10.
As your daily newspaper, we are committed to providing you with important local news coverage for Sullivan County and the surrounding areas.