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By Jed Blackwell

 

Polk County’s Senior Night soccer match against Chase featured a barrage of scoring chances for the Wolverines from the early going.

When they finally broke through, they broke through in a big way.

The Wolverines used a three-and-a-half-minute stretch in the first half Monday to score three goals on the way to a 4-0 win on a night spent celebrating five seniors who have meant so much to the program for four years.

“They’re just a great bunch,” Polk County coach George Alley said. “And they’re good, too. I’m going to miss them for a variety of reasons. It’s been a good ride with them, and it’s not over yet. We’ve still got a few games and the playoffs left.”

Despite the lopsided final, the Wolverines (10-3-2, 5-2) still couldn’t get started early, something that’s plagued them on occasion this season. There were chances midway through the first half, including an open net at the 22:30 mark, that Polk County couldn’t convert. A shot in the 18th minute, an errant cross two minutes later, and a shot at the 11-minute mark looked like the drought could be trouble for the Wolverines.

“I had my concerns,” Alley said. “Chase (3-13-2, 0-9) looked good. Those few that we didn’t take advantage of, those can hurt you.”

All that changed at the 10:35 mark. Tommy Jackson knocked in a header off a corner kick to put Polk County on the board. Two and a half minutes later, Manny Albarran doubled the lead with a goal, and 50 seconds after that, Wyatt Highsmith ran it to 3-0 to cap a furious few minutes for the Wolverines.

“It was nice to kind of get separation,” Alley said. “A lot of times, we like to get in at speed down the side, but we started talking about how we could score goals in our ‘half-court offense,’ and I thought they did a good job when we got down in the attacking third of combining and getting some chances.”

Highsmith tallied again for the Wolverines, breaking free in the middle and putting one past the Chase keeper for his second goal of the night and the final 4-0 margin.

“Wyatt’s been a reserve for most of the year, and we’re missing two starters with Cooper (Meyer) and Tanner (Osborn) out, and he comes in and scores two goals,” Alley said. “That was huge, and I’m proud of him.”