No. 4 Decorah Bounces Back

By BRIAN PALS, Courier Sports Writer

WAVERLY - Denied a berth in the championship round of the Waverly-Shell Rock Invitational, Decorah took out its frustration on the hosts.Ranked No. 4 in Class 1A, the Vikings (8-2) were bumped out of the finals by a 3-0 second-round loss to Glenwood, their first loss to a 1A opponent this season. The goals they had been seeking came in bunches in the third-place game, though, an 8-0 romp over host Waverly-Shell Rock.“We’ve got some things to work on,” said Viking coach Kyle Nelson. “I don’t know if the Glenwood game was a wake-up call, but they’re a good team with a really good goaltender, and that showed up in the final score.”


Decorah answered with an offensive onslaught against Waverly-Shell Rock, led by Kellen Sherburne with the first hat trick of his career, while Jason Olsgard and Mitch Cornelius each scored twice, and Andrew Casper added a single goal.Cornelius’ goals gave him four for the day and a team-high 18 for the season.“We didn’t play the best against Glenwood,” Cornelius said. “But it was good to see us come back and respond like that.”The Vikings responded in a hurry, scoring just 1 minute and 20 seconds into the game, when junior midfielder Ben Langholz hammered a sizzling crossing pass for the first of his four assists in the game. Sherburne headed the shot in with no defender between him and Go-Hawk keeper Donnie Soash, and a long game for the W-SR defense was under way.

With his squad visibly worn out after a day of tournament play on top of games earlier this week against Cedar Falls and Waterloo Columbus, W-SR coach Chris Hamilton rested several of his regulars against Decorah.“We were just so tired we couldn’t even take that as a normal game,” Hamilton said. “We had a couple of injuries, so we were sitting some players we hadn’t even planned on. When we play Decorah again , hopefully it will be more of a game.”Decorah goalie Brian Jones recorded his second shutout of the season in a 3-0 first-round win over Spencer. By the end of the Waverly-Shell Rock game, though, he traded jerseys with striker Cornelius, who got his first varsity experience as a keeper.“It makes me appreciate what it’s like a little bit more,” Cornelius said. “It can get boring back there.”Decorah will return to the Waverly-Shell Rock Soccer Complex twice more this season, first for a regular-season rematch with W-SR May 15, and then in a first-round substate action against South Tama May 18.