The wind was a major factor in Saturday’s first round playoff game in Corvallis. Normally the Blue Devils like to defend the north goal and aim for the south goal. But just as the game began, the wind started howling from the west and southwest and made any Corvallis shots very difficult.
“The wind was a constant battle in the first half,” said Corvallis coach Tim Hickey. “We figured flipping it over would kind of even it out.”
Corvallis’ opponent, Billings Central came into the game as the No. 2 seed from the East, while Corvallis was the No. 2 seed from the South. The two teams battled throughout the first half with Corvallis taking a couple more shots on goal than the Rams did.
After reversing the field in the second half, the wind shifted a little too which kept anyone from getting an edge. Billing’s Central’s keeper, Miles Ragar, ranged far out of the box, picking up any balls in his area and sending them back down the field, out of scoring range. Hickey said that was the smart thing for Billings Central to do, to keep the ball out of range of the Blue Devils.
Corvallis’ keeper, Hunter Linnewah, did his job as well, making six saves in the game. Unfortunately, the one goal that was scored was on a break-away by Billings Central. The two worked the ball down the field with only Linnewah blocking the goal until Sam Dull got a foot on the ball and sent it into the net, breaking the 0-0 tie. There was less than three minutes remaining in the game.
“As a goalie,” said Hickey, “the odds are against you with two against one.”
Corvallis would have one more corner kick in the game but the ball went wide and time ran out. Hickey said Billings Central played a really good game. “But, I’m really proud of the guys. We basically went from worst to first. Our conference was really tough this year.”
The Blue Devils took 13 shorts on goal and had four corner kicks. Billings Central took seven shots on goal and had nine corner kicks and one save. Corvallis finished the season with an 8-4-1 record.
In another first round game, Stevensville fell to Whitefish, 10-2, in Whitefish. Whitefish scored early and had two goals in the net before Chance Lester of Stevensville scored in the 27th minute. Lester scored again at 74 minutes. Stevensville took six shots while Whitefish had 21 shots. Ben Schreiber of Stevensville had 11 saves as keeper, while Whitefish had four saves. Stevensville did not have any corner kicks.