by Ryan Kohlhof

Last week, on Thursday, May 12, and Saturday, May 14, the Mustangs played both Newton and Gilbert, respectively. The Mustangs lost to Newton, 7-1 on Thursday and 2-0 on Saturday to Gilbert.
For the Newton game, the Cardinals came to play the Mustangs at home. The Mustangs knew they were going to half to fight hard, as last year they lost to Newton 17-1. The first half saw Newton take the lead of 3-0. During the second half, the Cardinals had a couple back-to-back goals in a fairly short amount of time, eventually getting them up to seven. The Mustangs’ lone goal was a fairly impressive ordeal. PCM goalie and senior Mason Burkman blocked a shot, picked the ball up, ran up to the edge of the goalie box and gave it a good boot. The ball soared over the field’s half and took a perfect bounce to go over Newton’s one defender in the area, and then it was that one defender against PCM senior Ryan Kohlhof for the ball. Kohlhof and the defender were arm-in-arm slamming shoulders against one another for the ball, as it continuously made its way toward Newton’s goal. As Newton’s goalie ran out to stop the ball, a few back-and-forth touches from Kohlhof and Newton’s lone defender sent the ball right by the goalie and straight into the goal. After that, the Mustangs rallied but could not get enough momentum to come back into the game.
“I’m very proud of this team,” Head Coach Darrin Telfer said. “They gave a great effort the whole game. We just have to give Newton credit because they are a very solid team, but that didn’t stop us from staying together and fighting.”
The Gilbert game, which was rescheduled multiple times, took place early morning Saturday in practically hurricane-class winds, over on Gilbert’s field. Due to the wind speed, and being on a turf field, both PCM and Gilbert had a rough time offensively and defensively keeping the ball from flying to another continent. Gilbert won the coin toss, so they chose to start the game off with the wind to their advantage. This meant the Mustangs had to keep the ball down on the ground; otherwise, the wind would carry it right back into their laps. The first half was more of a defensive game for the Mustangs, as they weren’t able to get the ball into Gilbert territory all that often. This was bad for the Mustangs, and Gilbert ended up getting two goals in. The second half flipped sides around, but the wind had settled ever slightly posing another conundrum for the Mustangs. This time, neither side had the ball all that often, and it was never really anyone’s game. There were multiple fouls called, and a few yellow cards were given out, and it was obvious tensions were high on both sides of the ball. This played its part, and the Mustangs could not find a score, so when the clock finally stopped, they had lost.
The Mustang boys next have a game tomorrow, May 15, at home against North Polk. Varsity will be the only game that night, starting at 5:30 p.m. This will be their last regular season game, so make sure to go out and support them.