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Parkersburg South boys soccer falls to Huntington

By Kerry Patrick 5 min read

PARKERSBURG - The creator of 'Running Man' the movie must have had the Huntington boys soccer team in mind.

Thursday night at Erickson All-Sports Facility, the Parkersburg South back line of defense received quite the workout under extreme heat weather conditions as the Highlanders showed a run-and-gun style resulting in an 11-1 win.

At the heart of the Huntington offense was Aidan Garmenstani, who scored two first half goals and left South trailing 5-0 at halftime. The senior then produced a personal two-minute hat trick in the opening portion of the second half before calling it a night with five goals total with 33:34 still remaining in regulation.

"We are a young team - I am playing freshmen and sophomores and there is some learning to do," South coach Rick George said. "Consistency is something we have to work on. The guys are a little too quick when we have those periods of possession. They tend to kind of get shut off and get discouraged.

"When we are playing a more seasoned team like we just did, you have to be consistent. I tell the boys they have to lock in for 40 minutes. We get stretches, so the goal is to just get better as the season goes along."

Despite being shut out by halftime, South grabbed the momentum for a period of time to open the second half. It all started with a corner kick on one side of the field and flipping the field on the opposite sideline for a second set piece off the same sequence.

Junior Ashton Garrett took the second corner kick and found senior Aidan Garrett in the middle of a scrum in front of the net. Aidan Garrett sent a header past the Huntington keeper for the Patriots' lone goal of the night with 38:13 showing on the clock.

"Set pieces are something that we have been working on," George said. "With a young team and being a work in progress, it's kind of like baseball. You have to manufacture runs. And that goes for soccer. Sometimes it's through set pieces.

"We work in practice on set pieces to the point where the boys get tired of working on set pieces. It's paid off. We've scored on set pieces in our scrimmages and in the first couple games of the season. That's a big plus because that was a deficiency in years past."

The temperature at gametime read 93 degrees and felt like 105. However, that didn't deter Huntington from sticking with its gameplan. Multiple through balls equated into breakaways.

While Garmestani represented the head of the monster, he had plenty of teammates to count on. Ashton Schultz and state champion track athlete Bodhi Warner. Both scored a pair of goals. "Our center midfielder made the comment at halftime that he had never been this hot," George said. "He just felt like he couldn't get cooled down. With us being so young and our team being kind of shallow, it was rough trying to compete sometimes.

"It's just we have to get these kids up to speed. Rec soccer like U-15 compared to high school is a huge jump. The speed and the physicality of the game, some of them just aren't ready for it yet. We've got pieces to work with. It is just going to take a little bit of time and some coaching. That's what we are focusing on right now."

For Huntington, coach Thomas Warner made sure to mention his midfielders Eli Estevez and Ansel Meade, who represent the glue to the Highlander attack.

"The heart and soul of our team is the possession game," Warner said. "We just want to keep the ball, and that allows us to kind of suck the opposition into places they don't want to be. Our midfielders dominate play and allow our forwards to have free reign. They make it hard for teams to get the ball."

The mercy rule came into play at the 4:19 mark when Schultz scored goal No. 11 for Huntington and created the 10-goal gap. South slipped to 1-3-0, while Huntington improved to 2-1-1.

"Tonight, I thought we were really good," Warner said. "Our back line is comfortable having the ball, which allows more freedom for everybody. The goalkeepers are also comfortable with the ball as far as handling it at their feet.

"Despite the scoreline, South played better than what was reflected. They ran the whole time and didn't give up. They were classy."

At Erickson All-Sports Facility

Huntington 11, Parkersburg South 1

HHS 5 6 - 11

PS 0 1 - 1

First Half

H: Eli Estevez, 30:25

H: Ashton Schultz, 26:20

H: Bodhi Warner, 23:55

H: Aidan Garmestani, 12:34

H: Garmestani, 6:50

Second Half

PS: Aidan Garrett (Ashton Garrett corner), 38:13

H: Garmestani, 35:02

H: Garmestani, 34:42

H: Garmestani, 33:34

H: Warner, 29:54

H: Jay Tomblin, 29:17

H: Schultz, 4:19

Records: Huntington 2-1-1 (2-1-1 MSAC); Parkersburg South 1-3-0 (1-3-0 MSAC)

Next match: Charleston Catholic at Huntington, Tuesday; Hurricane at Parkersburg, Tuesday

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