Holland - On a cool fall evening Springfield played host to the Yellow Jackets of Perrysburg in a battle of the second top spot in the NLL. Sylvania Northview who wrapped up the NLL title with their 2-1 win over Bowling Green gave Springfield and Perrysburg to battle for the top second slot behind the #4 ranked Wildcats - the game started at a frantic tempo with Yellow Jackets senior Derek Zimmer getting a clear shot to goal before senior Blue Devils goalkeeper Jacob Schultz came up big with one of his many saves of the evening. But Springfield would get good opportunities from senior winger Jerome Bernard - one scuffed to Yellow Jackets goalkeeper Kyle Rowan and another that barely went wide to give Springfield an early 1-0 lead; Perrysburg seniors Tyler Wenzelman and Kyle Wyrick saw chances get broken up once again from Schultz and in the 33rd minute Bernard once again testing Rowan and had his shot parried away by Rowan. Controversy struck Perrysburg's way on a free kick from Wyrick that was placed brilliantly past Schultz and was called back due to an infraction before the kick in the 38th minute. Second half was set for a classic ending with Perrysburg once again coming out as aggressors with Wyrick and junior Andrew Bosworth having chances just go wide and saved by Schultz but in the 55th minute Yellow Jackets senior Tom Corcoran would score on a 35-yard half-volley blinder past Schultz to give Perrysburg a 1-0 cushion. Springfield kept knocking at the door with chances from seniors Sean Miller, Joe Yeager and Steven Sekerek - in the 74th minute Nick Yeager delivered a free kick into the box where senior center back Josh Siers saw his header hit the bar but was called offside. Less than 2 minutes after Siers' header off the bar the Devils were given one more opportunity and cashed it in at the right time with Siers breaking free and nicely placing a flicked header past Rowan from Nick Yeager to level the game at 1-a-piece. There were small flurries under 2 minutes to play but both teams would have to leave the field with a 1-1 draw. Springfield first-year head coach Andrew Screptock was very pleased with his boys play "We have played very quality teams at the end of the season to prepare us for a very good Perrysburg side - and we were very pleased with the competitiveness of our boys - our group is very well put together and looking forward to making a run in the tournament" said Screptock. Springfield (10-2-2) will look to rebound after this against Central Catholic in a non-league tilt and finish off their NLL schedule with Maumee. Perrysburg first-year head coach Brandon Decker was pleased but knows what his team is capable of doing - "It took us 40 minutes to string some things together and when you play teams that pressure you (like Springfield) it can throw you off" said Decker "looking at our schedule we have played a lot of teams in the top ten and we have to put the pieces together and we are playing with those teams, if we come out and play 80 minutes we are a tough team and we have seen some tough teams throughout the way (including Springfield)". Perrysburg (7-3-4) will close their season next Tuesday against the #4 ranked team in Division I Sylvania Northview in a highly anticipated tilt.
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