COLLINSVILLE – A record heat wave wasn’t going to stop the season-opener for the Triad High School boy’s soccer team Wednesday evening.
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For the Knights, they’ve been champing at the bit to get back onto the field.
“It’s the anticipation,” Triad head coach Jim Jackson said about the decision to play on, even with a sweltering 104-degree heat index at kick-off.
“We don’t have to play this, but we want to play this. We want to play the best teams. We’re not scheduling teams that we should beat; we’re scheduling teams that are going to make us better.”
Both teams pushed through the intense heat, but it was the Knights who came away with the 4-1 win over the hosting Collinsville Kahoks late Wednesday night.
The opening 10 minutes or so was mostly Kahoks with the momentum. They nearly knocked one into the back of the net in the 6th minute, but Adam Reiniger’s shot went just wide.
A few minutes later Triad broke the tie. Gibson Hunt battled for possession and won the ball at half field before darting out wide and using his speed to beat some defenders. He got enough space to deliver an inch-perfect cross to Wyatt Suter who smashed it home to make it 1-0.
After some dangerous opportunities from free kicks, the Kahoks were gaining some momentum.
In the 18th minute, Collinsville scored on one of the fastest counterattacks you’d ever see.
After Triad had a free kick on net, the Kahoks’ defense quickly cleared the ball up toward the speedy Reiniger. He beat a defender one one-on-one and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to tie the game up.
With both teams growing tired as the game reached halftime, Triad had one more trick up its sleeve.
With just 20 seconds remaining in the half, Hunt delivered another low-driven cross into the 18-yard box, this time met by Landen Travnicek who put it home to go up 2-1.
With nearly 80 percent humidity to start the second half, it began to catch up with Collinsville. Four or five Kahoks dropped to the ground with leg cramps due to dehydration and were forced to be substituted.
Nonetheless, the Knights pounced at the opportunity and put two more in the back of the net for good measure.
In the 53rd minute, Brayden Kelly flicked a header over the keeper to make it 3-1, but the goal of the game was undoubtedly Ryan Kaffer’s rocket of a shot into the far post from right around the edge of the 18-yard box to put the game to bed.
This was the third straight year these two teams met in their season-openers. The Kahoks won last year’s contest 3-2, all three goals being scored by Reiniger. The year before that was a 1-1 tie.
“Adam’s a heck of a player and that was our number one goal, to keep him off the board,” coach Jackson said. “Last year he scored three goals on us in six minutes, so one goal this year, we’ll take it.”
Last year he was Collinsville’s leading goal scorer with 23 goals and four assists.
This time around it was four goals for Triad from four different goal-scorers in a game that Jackson mentioned he was a little worried about.
“We lost what, 75 percent of our offense with Stewie and TJ graduating last year,” he said.
“Collinsville, they have everybody back, the seven or eight guys that have been playing together, starting since they were freshmen. They have a lot of expectations. So, I was a little nervous coming down here. We have a lot of new kids.”
One of those new kids on varsity, Ryan Kaffer, got on the scoresheet.
Somehow, Triad has to replace two of its top three scorers from a season ago as Jackson alluded to.
Tobey Suter (28 goals, eight assists) and Jake Stewart (15 goals, 17 assists) both graduated, but the Knights didn’t seem to miss a beat without them in the lineup.
“This is what we’ve been working for since last May,” Jackson said. “This is a tough place to play with the tradition of Collinsville High School. This is fun, but this is the first game, we have a lot of work to do.”
Triad will take on another tough opponent on Saturday when they host O’Fallon. JV is set to start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity game to follow.
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