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Eagles weather the storm, top Freeland in a TVC Red clash

By Jason Paetz

  For the first 59 minutes Monday, Sept. 21, Frankenmuth showed how quickly it could score.

  For the final 21, the Eagles showed how desperately they could defend.

  In a wild, physical Clash for a Cure matchup between two state-ranked rivals, Frankenmuth overcame an early deficit, erupted for three second-half goals and then found itself playing a man down after leading scorer Carter Stapleton received his second yellow card.

Suddenly, an offensive showcase became a test of survival. Frankenmuth passed both.

  The Eagles held off a furious late charge from Freeland to earn a 5-3 victory, remain perfect in Tri-Valley Conference play, and move another step closer to an outright conference championship.

  “The TVC hasn’t been this strong as a conference in a long time, and playing each other makes all of our teams better,” remarked head coach Marcus Baker.

  Monday night provided plenty of evidence. Four of the TVC's six teams entered the week ranked in the state, and Freeland's only two losses had come against conference powers Frankenmuth and Alma. The Falcons were looking to avenge a 3-0 loss to the Eagles in late August.

  Under the lights at Freeland's soccer stadium, with temperatures hovering around 60 degrees and a steady 15 mph wind sweeping across the field, the rematch quickly became something very different from the first meeting.

  Freeland needed less than three minutes to deliver the first punch.

  A Falcon player stole possession and immediately sent a long ball behind the Frankenmuth defense. The pass turned into a foot race toward goal, and Freeland won it, finishing with a low shot to take a stunning 1-0 lead.

  It was the first time Frankenmuth had trailed in a conference match in weeks.

The Eagles' response took less than a minute.

  Sophomore midfielder Jack Muller chipped a ball into space for Stapleton, who collected it with his right foot, shifted it onto his left and sent a bouncing shot toward the near post. The keeper couldn't get there. 1-1.

  Just like that, the match had started over.

  ��oach keeps telling us that we need to take more shots, so I just went for it,” remarked the senior phenom.

  After the frantic opening minutes, the match settled into something much more familiar between these two teams' physical battle for control of the midfield....

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