Thomas Varnadore cleaned things up.
With Polk County in the first 10-minute overtime period Monday in its home match against R-S Central at Tennant Stadium, Will Garrison played a long ball into the Hilltoppers’ box. The kick sailed past defenders and attackers alike, and couldn’t be collected by the R-S Central keeper, bouncing away in front of the goal.
And Varnadore picked up the trash.
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“Picking up the garbage,” Polk County coach George Alley said. “Being the garbage man down there. Will played a driven ball, and did not give him (R-S Central’s keeper) a chance to come out and get it, because he’s really good back there. And Thomas was right there to clean it up.”
The Wolverines (4-3-2, 1-2) dictated play for the most part, particularly in the second half. After a save by Cade Bright just 30 seconds into the half, most of the rest of the second was played in R-S Central’s half of the field. And Polk County had chances – a shot went wide at the 24-minute mark, a corner kick was unsuccessful 10 minutes later, a free kick couldn’t be converted with right around a minute left.
That brought on overtime, and Garrison and Bright’s connection.
The win could prove huge for the Wolverines’ positioning in Mountain Foothills 7 play. R-S Central dropped to 1-4-2, 0-3 with the loss.
“We had a tough three-game stretch with some heavy competition,” Alley said. “We have a four-game stretch coming up where we feel like we can be a little more competitive. This is huge for momentum.
“We’re trying to work on a little more composure when we’ve got the ball, and possessing it a little more, and I thought we did a little bit better today. I didn’t feel like we gave up too many chances for them, even though they played with three forwards and we played with three backs. I felt like we did a good job of controlling them, and they got some good goalkeeping.”
