By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

Published: Friday, November 06, 2009
Updated: Thursday, October 29, 2009 1:07 PM CDT

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Knights were just about out of luck of having a Senior Night when Perryville canceled their Tuesday game due to team illness, but an accommodating Fredericktown Blackcats squad switched their home field status to help out by playing at Farmington’s Haile Stadium.

The Knights finished their regular season at 18-1 with a 10-0 shut-out of the Blackcats in a game which was mainly played on Fredericktown’s end of the field.

Knights goalkeeper John Schnurbusch had to only stop the ball twice in his 50 minutes in the net. Josh Thomas played the last 24 minutes and only made one save. Fredericktown had a total of four shots on goal.

The game, which was shortened by six minutes due to the 10-run lead had chances of being even shorter. Farmington made 22 shots on goal with Fredericktown goalkeepers Tyler Hagy making six saves in the first half, and Zach Proffer making five saves in the second half.

Forward Pete Grindel scored the first goal of the game, taking a passing shot from the right corner by Zach Thomas with only 2:44 run off the clock. Senior Trevor Ratliff scored the next goal unassisted with 33:34 left in the half, and Grindel scored his second goal unassisted three minutes later.

Grindel finished the night with five goals, giving him 38 on the year. Ratliff scored two goals and made two assists in the game.

It would be 11 minutes before the Knights would score again. Fredericktown’s defense stopped them time and time again. The Blackcats were unable to keep the ball away from Farmington’s offense though as the Knights’ defenders stopped the Blackcats from making any threatening run at the goal, and upon procuring it, feeding the ball upfield to Farmington’s forwards. 

 Midway through the half, Drew Fuemmeler made a feed to Zach Thomas who beat the goalie at the left edge of the net to make the score 4-0.

Farmington missed several shots wide of the goal during the middle stretch of the first half, but when a roughing call was made on the Blackcats inside the crease, Coach Rusty Sancegraw asked the players who they wanted to take the penalty kick and they responded from the field “John”, for their goalkeep John Schnurbusch.

Schnurbusch ran the length of the field, and upon setting the ball in place, at the whistle promptly blasted his kick beyond Hagy’s reach into the right side of the net.

Late in the half, the Knights worked a fast break that traversed 70 yard of the field with Grindel taking the ball the last 15 yards and beating Hagy to the ball for the score. 

Twenty second later, the Knights scored on a fast break again, this time on a pass from Ratliff to Grindel for what looked to be a rather easy goal as the two flew past Blackcats defenders on the way. The goal was Grindel’s fourth of the game, bolstering a 7-0 score at the break. 

Grindel scored his fifth goal, again on a pass from Ratliff that split the Fredericktown defenders, making it one-on-one with the goalie.

With 23:49 left in the game, Ratliff scored unassisted on a ball that got away from the Fredericktown defenders, and Ratliff was able to escape a tackle and a trap set by two other defenders to gain an open shot at the goal.

With the score 9-0, the Blackcats faced losing early, and they increased their intensity as they turned back challenge after challenge by the Knights forwards. The Knights tried to get the feed to senior Chris Lutsch for the final scoring play, but Proffer made four straight saves to keep the game going.

With 6:12 left in the game, left-forward Braden Lahay made a spin move and then kicked the ball into the top of the net from 15 yards out for the game-ending goal.

Fredericktown will hold their Senior Night tonight when they are scheduled to play North County at 5 p.m. Farmington will now prepare for district play on Monday, against Saturday’s winner between North County and Fredericktown.