BY HEIDI ZENEFSKI
Sports Correspondent

When the Montrose Meteors defeated the Mountain View Eagles ending that team’s league 33-game winning streak, most people realized the two would face off again in the playoffs.

The Meteors won the Division Championship game by defeating Lakeland 2-1 on Oct. 18 and were positioned as the top seed going into the district playoffs.

Montrose had already beaten Riverside and Forest City in the first two rounds of Districts; while Mountain View knocked out Old Forge and Dunmore.

The winner of the Meteors-Eagles rematch would go on to play in the District Championship Game.

As with the last time they faced each other, Oct. 28 game was a physical, hard fought match.

Two Mountain View players received yellow cards for unnecessary roughness.

Eagle Aaron Freeman received a yellow card for shoving a Montrose player lined up for a direct kick before the ball was put into play; the other came at the 85th minute as Chris White tackled Meteor Michael Vanness and sent him tumbling to the ground.

Montrose posted the first point of the game, scoring off a corner kick at 10:57.

Ed Bognatz answered for Mountain View, with an assist from Chris White, tying the game 1-1- at the half.

Both teams had several opportunities to score in the second half, but the goalies came up with big saves for both teams. Mountain View sophomore Jesse Gerfin had 10 saves; and Montrose sophomore Brendan Buck had six saves.

The game was sent into a 15 minute sudden death overtime period where the first team to score would claim the victory.

With three minutes left in overtime, Montrose’s Troy Ely had a perfect throw in and, once again, Watkins came up big for the Meteors with a jumping header off the throw in and into the net to earn the victory sending Montrose into the finals.

“Our seniors all had an amazing game; Kyle Watkins with two huge goals, Nick Henry with some great direct kicks, and Troy Ely’s throw-ins. Our goalie Brendan Buck had some amazing saves and stayed tough.” Vanness, a senior and Montrose defenseman said.

Buck believes the Meteors’ success comes from a team effort. “This is my first year playing soccer and I couldn’t have asked for a better season or better teammates. Montrose isn’t known for individual players. We are known as a team and that makes a difference in the way we play. There are no stars on our team. There is no selfishness. That’s the key.”