Panthers boys soccer ends spate of OT games, gets win

Caden Miller

The boys soccer team got a 3-2 win over Hutchinson on Thursday night after senior Caden Miller scored on a penalty kick following Hutch taking down Blake Chadwick in the box. Miller had two goals.

The boys soccer team played in four straight double overtime games against Trinity Academy, Andover Central, Maize and Salina Central.

The Trinity game ended early in the second overtime when the Knights scored, handing the Panthers their first loss.

What was going through your head when you saw the ball go in the goal?

“When the ball was slowly passing that line I was like, ‘it’s game over,’ and we just ended up losing.”

The Andover Central game was an excellent bounce-back because the Panthers won 2-1 on a header by senior Logan Eickelman in the first minute of the second overtime.

What did it mean to you that you scored the game-winning header?

“That meant a lot because I was playing against my friend, and it was a really close game,” Eickelman said.

The Maize game ended in a 1-1 tie after Maize scored early in the game before Derby responded in the second half with a goal by junior Andy Denesongkham.

What did it mean when you scored the goal that saved the game for a tie?

‘I felt unstoppable and really clutch to do something like that,” Denesongkham said. “It was always a dream come true to make a goal like that against a big team.”

The Salina Central game came around, and it was clear the Panthers were tired after playing so many minutes. The game ended in a 0-0 tie, although senior Blake Chadwick scored — as revealed in photos and video from local media — but the officials called it a no goal.

How did you feel when your goal wasn’t recognized by the refs?

I was hurt,”  Chadwick said. “All that hard work was just thrown out the window along with our momentum that we had during that in the game.”