Rembold, Bulldogs blank PV
Two of the top six high school boys soccer teams in Iowa faced off Thursday at Scott Community College.
Neither fourth-ranked Bettendorf nor sixth-ranked Pleasant Valley could deliver the knockout in regulation, though, forcing two overtimes before Bettendorf senior forward Billy Rembold delivered the left uppercut that scored Bettendorf a 1-0 victory.
The Bulldogs outshot the Spartans 32-15, and PV goalie Jared Dammann stopped all that came his way until Rembold’s shot went into the right corner of the net one minute into the final overtime period.
“In past years, this would have been a conference championship game,” said Spartans coach Greg Fiscus. “The way it was played, it could have even been a state championship game. You can’t really take anything away from either team. I am very proud of our team’s effort today.”
Bettendorf (4-0) had many chances in regulation.
Rembold took one shot-on-goal from point-blank range with 27 minutes left in regulation, but that attempt deflected off Dammann. Another Bettendorf scoring chance was thwarted when PV defenseman Kendall Stelk headed a goal-bound ball away from the net.
Rembold, who was the hero in the first match of the year between the two MAC rivals, gave most of the credit to his team’s defense and junior midfielder Grant Bushman who assisted him on the game-winning goal.
“Pleasant Valley is a very good team,” he said. “We knew that coming in. Our defense kept us in the game and gave us the opportunity to score the winning goal. We know we will face this team again, maybe even in the postseason, so to score this winning goal feels really good.”
Fiscus said his team is looking ahead to the postseason and knows Bettendorf will be part of that road.
“We have a young team, only three senior starters, but these guys really want to get back to sub-state,” he said. “PV has been locked out for a long time, and these guys want to end that drought this year. Dammann will be a big part of that. If he doesn’t win all-state this year, something is wrong. He’s got it all. He’s a great athlete and a great goalie. We are going to get better. This season has just begun.”
Even though the season is young, Bettendorf coach Ben Pennington said Thursday’s win at PV’s home field was a “very big win.”
“Pleasant Valley gave us a great challenge and played very well,” Pennington said. “We had a lot of chances earlier on but just couldn’t get it done.”
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