High school soccer: Halftime talk helps Vikes to key victory

PLEASANT VIEW — Between the end of the second half and the start of overtime of his team's Region 1 contest at Weber High, Viewmont coach Dave Wigham had simple instructions for right midfielder Trevor Evans: Stay further up the field.

Wigham noticed that Weber was only sending one man forward, and he felt defender Mike Holman could handle the player, freeing up Evans.

Exactly three minutes later, Viewmont central midfielder Colton Cook broke forward and slotted the ball through to Evans behind Weber's defense. Evans calmly kicked the golden goal past Weber keeper Lucas Piccolo, lifting the Vikings to a dramatic 2-1 come-from-behind overtime win on Thursday.

Just like you drew it up, right coach?

"Did I think he was going to do that? No, but it makes me look like a genius," joked Wigham afterward.

The win leaves Viewmont tied atop the early Region 1 table with fifth-ranked Layton at nine points. Viewmont and Layton will meet at Layton City's Ellison Park next Tuesday.

Evans' overtime goal capped a fantastic second-half turnaround by Viewmont. Outplayed in the first half and down a goal at halftime, the Vikings roared to life in the second half. Viewmont kept the ball on the ground, got it into wide positions and kept Weber pinned in for almost all of the second half.

"We told them at halftime that we just needed to have confidence in A: their abilities, and B: our style," said Wigham. "We were not doing what we like to do. I don't know if we were feeling sorry for ourselves ... but we just told them at halftime, 'Forget about it, and just play the way we know how. Have confidence. Have confidence that you can make the pass to your teammate. Have confidence that he can do it. Just have overall confidence in yourself and the system and let's go.'

"And," Wigham added, "they did it."

Evans tapped home Tommy Barrettes deflected header in the 56th minute, and he popped up with the game-winner three minutes into overtime.

"Second half, we got it on the ground and kind of got into our rhythm," said Evans. "We were more controlled and steady."

On the other hand, Weber lost for the first time this season and sits at 2-1 in Region 1. Winger Spencer Malan put Weber ahead 1-0 in just the fifth minute, but the Warriors had a tough time coping with Viewmont's increased intensity in the second half.

"They took away a lot of our good options," said Weber coach Kenny Beus, "and we just had to play the ball away into spaces that we weren't able to get to. And (then) they'd send it right back down at us."

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E-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com

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