Meadville-Warren

The whole rival thing began back in 1995 during the first year of travel soccer for the Meadville area. We were scheduled to play Warren twice during the fall and spring season. Instead of splitting up the amount of home games each team had so they would be equal, we made the two hour trip three times a year where they only made the trip once. Only being 11 years old I didn’t mind this at first cause I didn’t have the concerns of an adult like driving there three times in a year, gas prices, ect. This got most of the

With another blow of the whistle the game was back underway. Here again the first five minutes are the most essential in the game. The tone of this half was set once again by Meadville. Great shooting from the forwards, great passing from the midfielders, and great pressure from the defense made it very difficult for the Dragons to accomplish much this half, again.

The first five minutes of each half are the most important in every game and that belonged to us. Controlling the ball, nice crisp passes, and steady movement of the ball up and down the field helped us dominate these crucial opening minutes. Continuous pressure on each of their men held Warren to minimal possession and poor passing which was vital. This team we were up against had sharp shooters and could score from anywhere on the field within shooting range. Since dominating in those first five minutes we set the tone for the rest of the first half. Most of the game went our way but it finally paid off about 15 minutes into the game.

As warm-ups drew to a close and game time quickly approached, our coach gave us our his pre-game speech which was like none other. This was Derrick Taylor’s first year but already he had caught the hatred between the two teams really early in the season. With a red bulled face and spit flying out of his mouth with every word spoken his words reached down deep into each of the players. With the motivation like that of a pissed off rabid dog that hadn’t eaten in weeks we took the field looking for some meat. The whistle blew and we were underway.

Year in and year out not too much changed. When they came to our field a much fairer game was called because the referees here know how to call a soccer game. The same results came out of every game, we would lose to the Dragons. Progressively as time passed, our team started to improve and steadily put up a greater fight against our opponent. Players were lost and others were acquired and slowly we started to build the heart of our team. The brutal rival was carried over into high school soccer and the only things that changed were the intensity of the game and the skill levels of it players.

Some topics in this essay:
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