James “The Lawman” Larson continues scoring spree, Pirates diversify offense

POLSON - The good news for the Polson boys soccer team? They just survived a marathon stretch of three games in five days that might break a lesser squad. The bad news? It's going to be a sprint to the finish.

The Pirates have seven games left, and 11 practices before the end of the regular season. Their aim is still to be playing three weeks from now.

Polson started their week off against conference rival Whitefish last Tuesday. The Bulldogs' storied soccer program had no doubt been eye-balling the Pirates on their schedule all year after Polson took home the conference championship last season.

While the Pirates took a 1-0 lead thanks to James Larson's goal in the 24th minute, the Bulldogs tied things up in the 38th minute and took the lead on a penalty kick just before halftime.

"We were able to make good passes through the midfield but we struggled to put our shots in the goal," Polson head coach Jess Kittle said.

Whitefish held the slim 6-5 advantage in shots on goal and the two teams battled to a scoreless second half. Polson took their first conference defeat in nearly two years but only had a day to recover before traveling up to Libby for another conference matchup.

It didn't seem to affect them too much. Larson scored three goals and got an assist as the Polson Pirates upended the defending state champions 6-3 last Thursday night.

Libby got on the board first in the 14th minute, but Polson answered back with goals from Riley Lemm and Larson.

"Libby came out and scored quick but our offense stepped up and answered right back," Kittle said. "Every time Libby scored we would score within the next four minutes."

The Pirates went into halftime with a 2-1 lead, but Libby would even things up early in the 43rd minute. Larson gave Polson the lead again four minutes later thanks to Jon Murphy's incredible throw-in skills.

"James took a long throw-in from Jon and headed it past the keeper," Kittle said. "That was Jon's second assist this year and both have come from long throw-ins to James."

Libby tied things up again in the 53rd minute, but Steven Walk gave Polson the advantage a minute later and Larson got his third goal of the game from a penalty kick in the 66th minute. He had taken the ball into the 18 yard box before the Libby keeper came out and took him down with a foul.

However the best goal of the night, according to Kittle, was the last one.

"Jon Murphy sent a ball over the top to Riley Lemm, who flicked it over his head to Jon Heutmaker, who then headed it right to James. He took it off his chest in the air and flicked it to Riley, who was making a run through the Libby defense. The ball bounced once and then Riley struck a half volley with his left foot and drove it into the far side netting," Kittle said. "The goal was a beautiful demonstration of teamwork."

That score happened before the whistle sounded to end the game in the 76th minute.

Polson went into Saturday's game looking for revenge against Belgrade, a team that had knocked them out of the Class A playoffs last year.

The Pirates struck first in the 36th minute with a goal from Lemm.

"Riley took a long through-ball from Nick Howell and his shot went at the Belgrade keeper but he couldn't catch it and the ball rebounded back to Riley who knocked it into the net," Kittle said.

Belgrade tied the game back up in the 55th minute, and that's how it would stay until the end of regulation. The killer schedule seemed to catch up to Polson.

"We started to get a little tired in the Belgrade game," Kittle said. "The Belgrade keeper is a good keeper, he was all over the box. He wouldn't let us get away with the easy stuff. We just never got into a rhythm as a team and we got frustrated."

Polson got an excellent defensive effort from goalkeeper Peregrine "The Falcon" Frissell, who collected 10 saves.

The Pirates come into next Thursday's game against Bigfork with a record of 2-1-2 and a 1-1 conference record, making their matchup against the Vikings a big one.

"It's vitally important," Kittle said. "We need to get some confidence back in our style of play. We know we've got to step up our game against Bigfork."