By Joshua Staloch
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – Two of the best boys’ soccer teams in the Fox River Classic Conference got together at Green Bay Preble High School Sept. 24.
The visiting Bay Port Pirates recorded a 5-4 victory over the Hornets to claim the conference’s top spot with an unblemished 3-0 record.
“This is a strong group of seniors we’ve got on this team,” said Bay Port head coach Travis Herber. “These kids are hungry and skilled. With the nucleus we have, I wasn’t nervous when we got behind early.”
Preble’s Jackson Schaetz scored early in the second minute of play off a nice header for a 1-0 lead.
Owen Brennan scored three minutes later from the right side of the field to put the home team up 2-0.
Bay Port, not discouraged by the early deficit, went on the attack and broke the ice with a score of its own in the 11th minute on a Justin Howe goal.
Howe was the 2018 offensive player of the year in the FRCC.
The match was back and forth for the next 10 minutes until Bay Port’s Cy Schlueter knocked a shot through for a 2-2 read on the scoreboard.
The teams went into the break tied, but it didn’t take the Pirates long to get back on the attack once play resumed.
Fifty minutes into the evening, Bay Port went ahead 3-2 thanks to a nice header by Payton Schilz on a sideline throw-in from Howe.
Twenty minutes later, Preble answered to tie things up when Jesse Plascencia scored on a kick in front of the Pirates’ net.
Moments later, Howe got a one-on-one opportunity and sailed the ball over the Preble keeper’s hands and into the net, only to have the would-be score called off thanks to a foul.
With the score tied at three, Bay Port’s Brock Freeman bagged his team’s fourth goal of the evening off a throw-in from the sideline during the 80th minute of play.
The Pirates needed four more minutes to score its final goal of the evening as Schlueter got another one past the Preble keeper for a 5-3 lead.
With less than six minutes remaining, Schaetz made it a one-goal game on a penalty kick.
“That was a hell of a game,” said Preble head coach Chris Becker. “In all of my years in soccer, that was one of the most fun, up and down games of competitive play I’ve ever been a part of. As much as I’m disappointed in the loss, I’m positive and optimistic going forward. We had a tough time clearing the ball tonight – that doesn’t ever happen to us. We had a tough time getting the ball out of the box.”