By RYAN WALKER
It only took two full halves, two overtimes, a 45-minute delay, and over three hours to find a winner between Norwell and New Haven Wednesday night.
In non conference regular season matches, the game would have ended in a draw, but considering the implications of a conference game, the two teams played on.
By the end of the long night, the Norwell Knights (3-3-1) were victorious and improved its Northeast 8 Conference record to 2-0. It was all worth it in the end.
“It’s huge. It’s huge,” head coach of the Knights, Kiel Nunn said after the game. “I think the kids are starting to believe it. They were really excited about it. It was a hard-fought win. We’re not out of the woods yet; we’ve got a long season, but we’re certainly getting some momentum and looking for some good things for our guys.”
The Knights got on the board early and looked to perhaps blow out the Bulldogs (0-5-1) right away with a goal by Kyler Morris within the game’s first four minutes. However, New Haven would make stops on the defensive end enough to hold the score at 1-0.
Right near the end of the half, New Haven had a free kick on the far left side of the field. After a kick in the air toward the goal, a Bulldog attacker ran up near the front of the net and scored on a header to tie the game.
By halftime, storms were looming in the tie ballgame and started to rain during the second half. As lightning struck in the distance, the referee blew the whistle to begin a 30-minute delay before both teams could get back on the field. The two teams waited 45 minutes before resuming play.
At the 7:03 mark, the Knights took the lead back with a goal by Kyler Morris from about mid-range.
The Knights celebrated the goal, but not for long.
Less than a minute later, the Bulldogs tied the game with a goal by Bryan Villegas.
“We kind of let down a little bit,” Nunn said. “We got excited. We’re like, ‘Hey, we got the win.’ I think is what that mentality was. They came back around, and they’re a well-coached team. They’re definitely not the same team we’ve seen before.”
The game was tied 2-2 heading into the two seven-minute overtime periods, but still, the two sides didn’t budge.
At the end of regulation and overtime, both teams lined up for five penalty kicks from point-blank distance in front of the goalie one-on-one.
Norwell scored on its first four attempts by Hudson Gerbers, Noah Schamerloh, Eli Randol, and Morris.
New Haven scored on one of three going into the final kick.
Goalkeeper Noah Fromm made the final save to stuff the Bulldogs, ending in a celebration with the rest of his teammates.
Nunn was pleased with the 4-4 effort from his group and the final save from Fromm.
“It was a combination of our guys stepping up,” Nunn said. “We had a good group, and I knew they’d be on the frame and have scores, and Noah, he was just there.”
Norwell will host Bishop Luers next starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7.
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