Aug. 27—BEMIDJI — Ashtin Wright needed a second chance.
In the 57th minute, the Bemidji High School boys soccer team's junior forward had a golden chance to score the game's first goal against Section 8-3A foe St. Michael-Albertville. Tied 0-0 against a team the Lumberjacks had never beaten, with scoring chances few and far between, Wright needed to convert.
But STMA keeper Eli Schmoyer had other plans. He made a sprawling save to keep the match goalless at Bemidji Middle School.
Five minutes later, Wright's second chance presented itself. Jackson Heuer kept a run into the attacking third alive by fighting off an STMA defender, but the ball scooted toward the right side of the 18-yard box. Wright corralled the ball and hooked it inside the left post for the game's first goal.
"Ashtin was calm," new BHS head coach Jeff Mitchell said. "He just bent it to that back post and it was a fabulous finish. It was awesome. They worked their keisters off during our tryout week and the last few days of practicing. It was great to watch them celebrate, and it was a good feeling on the sideline.
"Then you look at the clock and see there's a lot of time left. The game's not over. We have to play, boys."
The next 18 minutes were grueling, especially for senior goalkeeper Birk Chaffee, who was in the middle of his first varsity start.
"Those last 18 minutes felt as long as those first 62," he said. "I was terrified, honestly. One mistake and you're back to where you started. But we held it down well. My defenders did great. I'm so proud of the whole team and how we played."
Chafee is right to be proud. In a gutsy effort, the Lumberjacks closed out the 1-0 win and beat the Knights.
"I was optimistic about this being the year we'd pull it out against them," Mitchell said. "This is a very good STMA program, as always. We've got a short bench, and they've got a varsity, JV, B squad and C squad that's just (grades) 9-12. ... For us to do this, it's pretty awesome."
For a match that featured just one goal, it certainly had opportunities for more. But Chaffee stood tall, making eight saves for his first varsity clean sheet.
"I was way more nervous than I should've been," Chaffee said. "I was working myself up and got in my own head. Once I got out there and was able to chill, it felt nice. It felt like I was in my element. I'm glad it was finally my time."
Chaffee patiently waited for his chance to be Bemidji's starting keeper, but he was behind Kellen Heuer, one of the best goalies in program history, until this fall.
"I got my feet under me after that first half," Chaffee added. "I knew what it was going to be like playing (STMA). I finally had that rhythm going of it being just another game. There's nothing that special about it when you start thinking like that. Just because they're a really good team, it doesn't mean we can't beat them. We started to believe that."
Chaffee and the Jacks thwarted the Knights' attempts to break the ice in the opening 40 minutes, but had a hard time breaking through into the attacking third. When the second half commenced, the field opened up for both teams.
Bemidji defenders Kemper Lorentz and Owen Riley halted Femi Omotayo's charge into the box in the 43rd minute. Chaffee got some help from the crossbar on Omotayo's strike one minute later before Rovi Camacho sailed a header over the goal on the rebound.
On the other side of the pitch, Brecken Holte nearly picked the top-right corner if not for Schmoyer's outstretched hands to bat the ball out of play.
In the 55th minute, Riley made a crucial block in the box to prevent a goal, then Mike Folland did the same with Chaffee pulled far out of his net.
"I'm really proud of my defenders, especially Mike," Chaffee said. "Being as young and as — no offense at all — small as he is compared to other defenders, I'm so proud of how he stepped up and how physical he was. He absolutely clamped down on that right half.
"Same with Kemper on the left. He clamped it down and was physical, too, keeping that ball wide and away from me. Owen, my center back, is one of my favorite players. He's always there for me, no matter how tired he is."
Folland was rostered on the varsity team a year ago, but with a senior-laden group of defenders, minutes were hard to come by.
"We threw Mike to the wolves today against a very good team that just ran at him," Mitchell said. "We did well keeping our shape and plugging holes so that when they did beat one of our guys, they didn't have many wide-open looks."
Despite STMA's close calls, Chaffee and the Lumberjacks held on long enough for Wright to give them the lead, which came with an elated reaction on the other side of the field.
"I was absolutely bewildered and happy," Chaffee said. "One thing our team's always struggled with is shooting. To see him get that off, man, it felt amazing. Oh, man, was that great."
When the horn sounded, a series of firsts became official for BHS.
Chaffee recorded his first clean sheet. The Lumberjacks beat STMA, a Class 3A power and perennial section contender, for the first time. Last, and certainly not least, Mitchell notched his first win as head coach.
Thursday was the first game for Bemidji
with Mitchell at the helm
. He replaced 33-year coach Rick Toward. Mitchell, though, is far from a stranger to the program, having served as Toward's top assistant for over two decades and as Bemidji Youth Soccer's club administrator.
Now, Mitchell's son, Logan, and his dad, Barry, serve as his assistants. The Mitchell family has been
instrumental in growing youth soccer in Bemidji
over the last 27 years.
In his first game as head coach, against one of the favorites to win the section, Mitchell and the Jacks walked out of BMS with a win. And they did it with only three subs on their bench.
"Goals are magical," Mitchell said. "We weren't moving real quick, but in those first 10 minutes after we scored, it was like we just started the game. Goals change the games, as cliché as it is. Once you get one, the legs are back underneath you, the adrenaline is flowing. We stood up to the task."
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