Packers’ soccer remains undefeated in region games

Published 2:29 pm Wednesday, March 22, 2023

MOULTRIE, Ga. – After winning their last two region games against Camden County and Lowndes, played Friday and Tuesday night at Packer Park, the varsity Packer soccer team sits undefeated in the region at 1st place with 8-2 overall.  

The Lady Packers are 4-6 overall at 2nd place. 

During Friday night’s game against Camden County, the Packers won 4-0.

“We dominated the possession and had tons of shots,” said Packers head coach Jimbo Jarvis.

Sammy Jimenez scored the Packers first goal midway through the first half. 

In the second half, Bryan Ortiz, Yudi Duvergel Jr. and Giovanni Pascual all scored.

The Lady Packers weren’t as fortunate, losing against Camden County 3-0. 

“It was a difficult night for us,” said assistant coach Carlos Bautista. “However, our girls reported to practice on Monday in good spirits and with our focus on Lowndes. 

Lowndes traveled to Colquitt County Tuesday night. 

The Vikettes took the win against the Lady Packers with a final score of 4-0.

“The girls played hard,” said head coach Colby Simpson. “We got that unlucky first goal against us, and then it was all uphill from there.”  

The ball made it past all 11 Lady Packer athletes twice more before halftime, which paused the game at 3-0.

With 10 minutes left in the second half, the Vikettes scored their final goal.  

The offensive lineup for the Lady Packers only made one shot attempt the entire game as the majority of the game was played on Colquitt County’s side of the field.

This forced the Lady Packers to use many different defensive strategies.  

Ella Lowry, Tatum Salter and Ellis Turnipseed were all using their backs as shields. 

In addition to their backs, Lowry and Turnipseed also utilized the side tackle multiple times.  

Laura Bryan had a phenomenal headbutt right in front of the goal that pushed the ball outside the goalie box and kept the Vikettes from scoring.  

Bryan got injured a couple minutes later after stopping the ball with a high kick and landing funny. She had to be helped off the field, and didn’t play the remainder of the game, though she is reported to be okay by Simpson. 

Though those four goals were scored, that was only a small portion of shots made. Goalie Jacey Wetherington had 21 saves throughout the game.  

“We played better in the second half by linking our passes,” said Simpson. “But more importantly, the girls left the field in a positive manner.” 

Having an opposite night, the Packers almost had a shutout against the Vikings, winning 7-1.

Their game was primarily offensive as goalie Jackson Glenn only touched the ball with his hands three times during the entire 80 minutes.

There were multiple times though where the Packers defense passed the ball to Glenn so he could send it flying up the field with an easy kick. 

Ortiz got the Packers on the scoreboard 10 minutes into the game. It was an easy goal with plenty of time to line the shot up after he received a long pass from midfield. 

The Packers’ second goal came from the result of an indirect kick about halfway between the midline and the goal. Hudson Glenn sent the ball flying and nicked the fingers of the goalie as the ball sailed to the back of the net. 

Two more goals were scored before halftime: one for each team. 

Lowndes’ goal came first with 13 minutes before halftime, but the Packers made them work for it. 

Jackson Glenn stopped the first shot attempt with his palms, but wasn’t able to catch the ball. It landed in the goalie box, and there was a skirmish to try and gain possession. Before Glenn could get his hands on the ball, the Vikings slipped it past the goal line. 

With seven minutes left before halftime, Duvergel Jr. got the Packers back up to a two point lead with a long, softer head-on shot.  

The score at halftime was 3-1. 

“It’s hard to beat them down the middle,” said Jarvis. “We used a lot of energy.” 

Coming into the second half of the game, the Packers got their fourth goal with 27 minutes left in a similar manner to the Lowndes goal. 

Starting with a corner kick, Josue Ramirez raised his hand to signal he was going to send the ball in. With a perfectly executed kick, the ball arced in the air and went straight to Hudson Glenn, who headbutted the ball toward the goal; however the goalie got his fingertips on the ball and sent it back into the goal box. Turner McDaniel was ready with another headbutt, and this time the ball got past the goalie.   

McDaniel recently moved from the JV team to the varsity team. 

Duvergel Jr. and Ortiz both scored a second goal for the Packers during the second half, getting the fifth and seventh goals of the game. 

The last Packer to see a point was Derick Espinoza, who scored the sixth goal with seven minutes left.  

As with the Lady Packers, the Packers also demonstrated several defensive tactics against Lowndes. 

Oswaldo Leon used his back, Hudson Glenn and Luke Brogdon both used their heads and Josue Ramirez utilized the slide tackle. 

Arguably one of the biggest defensive plays for the Packers though came from Iszac Doroteo. 

With only a minute and half lift, the Vikings had gotten the ball down by the Packers goal box. Goalie Jackson Glenn came out to narrow the shot’s angle, however the Vikings passed the ball, which left the goal box wide open. Acting quickly, Doroteo ran to cover, and just managed to use his body as a block to keep Lowndes from getting a second goal. This gave Glenn the time he needed to get back in front of the goal to grab the ball and punt it back toward midfield so the Packers could run out the clock. 

“We played smarter in the second half,” said Jarvis. “We were able to settle down and start playing soccer.”

The Packers and Lady Packers next game will be this Thursday at Tift County.