Paulo de Tarso Marcilio ’25 in action at Northwood, fall 2023. Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge.
The Prep Premier League regular season campaign concluded last month with the Northwood U19s finishing in second place while the U17s played a pair of friendlies. The league matches have taken place over five weekends, and now the top four teams will be heading into a playoff.
Northwood U19s 2-3 Woodstock
It was a very back-and-forth match on Saturday. Northwood grabbed the first goal on a corner when Mitchell Baker (25’) outreached the goalkeeper for the ball like a giraffe reaching for a leaf, and he touched the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal. Woodstock didn’t take too long to equalize when the ball was trickling away from Northwood’s 18, when Woodstock’s defensive midfielder hit a powerful, but very lucky riser through the crowd just inside the left post. Woodstock gained the lead just before the half off a corner. The first header was won by a Northwood defender, but the ball deflected to Woodstock’s forward who hit a shot that was parried by Elm Pentinat (24’), and the rebound was put in. In the second half Northwood dominated possession and chances as well. The equalizer came from another set-piece and Camilo Pereda (25’) found himself the recipient of a flicked-on header. He took the volley first time on his left and buried it bottom right to knot the game at 2 all. The final goal came from a Woodstock counterattack. The ball was played in behind on the right wing and crossed into the center to finish off the move.
Northwood U19s 3-2 High Mowing
For the past couple of years this fixture has been the Black Rock derby, and once again was an energetic and emotional match. Northwood broke the deadlock early in the first half after Jordan Shullenberger (24’) finished a cross inside the penalty area. High Mowing equalized 10 minutes later on a free kick that was flicked to the back post where a player was waiting to finish the play. Northwood regained the lead when Said El Eyssami (26’) drew a penalty, took it and scored. High Mowing equalized again when the ball was controversially won in the penalty area, and the attacker scored from close range. The second half was controlled by Northwood as well, but the game became chippy. The poor field conditions made the pitch slide-tackler’s heaven. A lot of late challenges were committed, and the game was tied until 5 minutes remaining when Mitchell Baker received a through ball and tucked it past the goalkeeper to end the match.
The win over High Mowing clinched Northwood’s bid in the playoffs.
In the inaugural season, the 19s finished second with a 5-2 record and 15 points. The table is as follows:
- Woodstock
- Northwood
- Kiski
- Phelps
- Hoosac
- High Mowing
- Immaculate Heart
- Western Reserve
The top four teams will be playing in a playoff two weekends from now. The 1st seed Woodstock will play the 4th seed Phelps, and the 2nd seed Northwood will play the 3rd seed Kiski in a much-wanted rematch.
I had a chance to talk to a few players and the assistant coach about the Kiski match:
Q: How fired up are you to play Kiski in a rematch
“On a scale from 1 to 10, 13.5,” said Koah Paye ’25
“I’m hype man,” said Sachiel Ming ’24
“Oh my god, I want to beat that team, man. We won’t make the same mistake of underestimating them this time,” said Coach Kelvin Martinez.
The consensus was that everyone is looking forward to this match.
Northwood U17s 2-2 Vermont Academy U19s:
The first friendly of the weekend came against an older Vermont Academy team. Hamish Riddell ’26 scored both goals in the draw.
Northwood U17s 5-1 Putnam Science:
Goals from Jace Donawa ’25 (2), Trey Franz ’25, Diego Green ’25 and Diogo Charraz ’25.
