Anom's Second Half Strike Gives Tigers 1-0 Win Over Maroons In Senior Night Match, Meet CBC in Season Finale

EDWARDSVILLE - Senior Axton Anom scored the match's only goal on a well-organized play in the second half to give Edwardsville a 1-0 win over Belleville West in the Tigers' annual Senior Night game Thursday night at Tiger Stadium.

In the annual pre-match ceremonies, the Tigers Class of 2023 - Anom, Zach Chitwood, Tyler Dacus, Abe Gianaris, George Gkikas, Owen Logan, Carter McMillan Andreas Pelekanos, Nik Peterson, Sam Reader and Berik Selberg - and their families were honored and thanked for their service and contributions to the TIgers' program. And in the match itself, it was Anom who scored the goal that would prove to be the winner.

"Tyler Dacus played a chipped ball into the path of Axton Anom," said Edwardsville head coach Mark Heiderscheid, "who buried his shot on a well-orchestrated play by Dacus."

The Tigers played well int he first half, having a good deal of the possession of the ball, but had difficulty with the Maroons' defense in finishing attacks that kept the game goalless at the interval.

"The game was tied in the first half, even though we had a great deal of possession," Heiderscheid said. "We had a goal called back for offside, but did not create enough clear-cut opportunities. West was very organized and competed so hard and with so many numbers back, it is just difficult to solve."

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The stalemate continued until Anom's strike in the second half, as the Tigers created more chances around goal and ultimately got the goal.

"In the second half, we started to move the ball quickly," Heiderscheid said, "and the combination play was so crisp that we began to create a number of chances. We were getting around the corners and getting chances from central areas as well. After the breakthrough goal, we continued to press for the second, but it would not happen."

The Maroons are now 5-12-1 on the year, while the Tigers go to 12-5-2 and will conclude their regular season Saturday afternoon with a match at CBC on the road at 12 noon. Edwardsville then takes the next week off to start preparing for the IHSA Class 3A playoffs, which will begin for them with a regional semifinal game against Alton at Collinsville's Kahok Stadium on Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. The winner will play either Granite City, Quincy or the host Kahoks in the final Oct. 22 in a 5 p.m. kickoff. The winner moves on to the Moline Sectional, where they'll play the winner of the O'Fallon regional in the semifinal match at a local site to be announced Oct. 25, with the final at Moline Oct. 28.

The Moline Sectional winner plays the Lockport Township sectional winner in the Bloomington Super-Sectional match Nov. 1 at Bloomington High in a 6 p.m. kickoff. with the winner moving on to the state finals Nov.4-5 at Hoffman Estates High School in northwest suburban Chicago.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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