Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
ARGOS - Warsaw dodged a bullet Thursday night in its sectional semi-final soccer match with Bremen at Argos High School. The Tigers reloaded to grab a 2-0 win and a spot in Saturday night's final against Culver Military Academy.
In the 23rd minute, Bremen's Brandon Sauer broke into the open field and put a ball past Tiger keeper Adam Churchill. As the Lions celebrated, the official closest to the play waved off the goal and gave no signal as to what the call was.
"I still don't know what the call is. It could have been a handball. He could have settled it with his hand," said Warsaw head coach Scott Bauer. "That was a scary situation because we certainly had the better play. We had some wide-open sitters that we didn't capitalize on. I just felt fortunate that we got to play on a level playing field again."
Warsaw had the run of the game, spending most of the first half in Bremen's half of the field. In the first 10 minutes, Warsaw nearly headed in two goals on corner kicks, one coming from Tony Perales, the other from Nate Salsgiver.
Eleven minutes into the second half Salsgiver found Drew Miles for a header that finally lit up the scoreboard for the Tigers. Miles drew a yellow card in the first half after being tripped by Sauer and sat the rest of the half.
"I give him limited time up top as a striker," said Bauer of Miles. "And he always takes advantage of that. He has the least amount of time up top, but with that goal I believe he's our leading scorer."
As for Bremen's leading scorer, Sauer, after the early phantom goal, drew Warsaw's attention.
"They came in with a gameplan. They were going to pack it in and they were going to try and counter with Sauer. He turned out to be a better attacker than I had thought. And I had to end up man-marking him in the second half," said Bauer.
Bauer's gameplan worked out, as Bremen's greatest offensive threat was neutralized and a non-factor in the second half. Bremen as a whole looked sluggish in the second half and with the exception of a shot on goal by Sauer in the first minute of the second half, the Lions were tamed.
Warsaw's physical play combined with unmatched speed was too much for a Bremen team that was far more conservative in substituting.
The Tigers, who regularly go deep into their bench, outlasted a Lion bench that goes just two or three deep.
Warsaw's abundance of soccer players has paid off in the playoffs thus far. In the Tigers first game against Plymouth, Warsaw scored three goals in an 11-minute span. Against Bremen, the Tigers scored two goals in a six-minute span.
On the other hand, Bremen didn't draw a shot on goal in the final 25 minutes of the match.
With the win, Warsaw advances to its third straight sectional final, having won the previous two. Last year the Tigers defeated CMA 3-0 to grab the sectional crown. Earlier this year, Warsaw upended CMA 5-0.
The Tigers, 17-0-1 overall, tangle with CMA at 7 p.m. Saturday in Argos.
WARSAW 2, BREMEN 0
(Scoring)
W - Drew Miles (Nate Salsgiver) 51st minute
W - Ben Rice (Salsgiver) 57th minute
Shots on goal - Warsaw 10, Bremen 4
Saves - Adam Churchill (Warsaw) 1, Alex Malone (Bremen) 7
