Hazelwood West Soccer Pummels Parkway North

CREVE COEUR – The last time most soccer fans had seen backup midfielder Kris Ross, he had quite a scowl on his face.

The Wildcats were putting the over archrival Hazelwood Central last Friday, when a rough play in the final seconds turned into a brief physical altercation between players from both teams.

Ross, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior, who can be a handful to mark for opposing defenses, was right at the center of it, and had to be restrained by several of his teammates, after a particularly questionable play left him in a foul mood.

“I don’t really want to say too much about (the other day),” Ross said. “I try to keep a straight head, but sometimes it builds up and I just lost my head. But that game is over. And I’m just going to keep my head straight, and do whatever I can to help my team.”

And that’s exactly what Ross did on Monday, as he scored an incredible goal late in the first half, that sparked the Wildcats to an impressive 3-0 win over Parkway North.

“He plays hard,” said West head coach Jason Sellers. “Hopefully, he realizes that he’s a key part of the team. Kris is a good kid, and he’s a good player.”

On just about any other team in the Suburban North Conference, Ross would start and likely be the focus of the offense.

But for Hazelwood West, he plays behind dynamic senior Jeff Cameron, a certain NCAA Division-I talent, who came into Monday’s action leading the Suburban North in scoring with 14 goals and 7 assists.

Cameron added to those totals, with two more goals on Monday, but his best play might have been the one he made to setup Ross’ goal and get the Wildcats on the scoreboard with 4:59 remaining in the first half.

First, Cameron stole the ball from a Parkway North player, and then faked out another as he headed upfield.

Then after a nifty bit of dribbling, and with a third defender coming at him, Cameron fired a blistering pass toward the Parkway North goal, where Ross and a Viking defender were jostling for position.

Somehow, Ross managed to get clear and get a deflection on the ball, sending it past North goalkeeper Justin Rosenthal, and into the net for his fourth goal of the season, and a 1-0 West lead.

“‘JB’ made a great play on that,” Ross said. “I was just trying to get there, and he made a great pass, and it hit off my knee and went in.”

Just over a minute later was when Cameron got his first goal of the day, when he deflected a long pass from teammate Joe Withington in the North net to make it 2-0 Wildcats.

Then just after halftime, Cameron finished off the scoring with a long blast that Rosenthal probably should’ve caught, but didn’t, giving the 5-foot-9 West High speedster 16 goals on the year.

Goalkeeper Nick Ehlers got the shutout for the Wildcats, his eighth of the season, as the team raised its record to 10-3.

“Nick’s been the unsung hero of the team all year,” Sellers said. “His confidence and leadership has been everything for us this year. He had a good year last year, but this year, his third on varsity, has been (unbelievable).”

Scoring Summary

Score by Halves

F

Hazelwood West

2

1

3

Parkway North

0

0

0

First Half

HW: Kris Ross (4), assisted by Jeff Cameron; 4:59

HW: Jeff Cameron (15), assisted by Joe Withington, 3:11

Second Half

HW: Jeff Cameron (16), assisted by Joe Withington, 36:15