A young Dowagiac boys’ soccer team endured some growing pains in the second half of its Wolverine Conference match Wednesday against Vicksburg.

The Chieftains, who have only two seniors, squandered a 3-1 halftime lead and fell to the Bulldogs, 6-3.

“We’re young,” said Dowagiac coach Mike Williams, whose team dropped to 7-2-2 overall and 1-2 in the league. “It’s the mental part. Sometimes, the younger players just don’t understand that their are 80 full minutes. We had a breakdown in the midfield. Vicksburg was allowed to continue to counter attack, instead of let their defense attack up, which we did a better job of in the first half. We wanted to shut their midfield down and try to counter attack and keep them on their heels. That’s how we scored a couple goals in the first half.”

Dowagiac’s second half struggles overshadowed a great performance from senior Craig Zebell. In the first half, Zebell scored twice and assisted on Jose Lopez’s goal. Zebell now has 15 goals on the season.

“Craig doesn’t quit,” Williams said. “That’s the maturity level. He’s a senior. His attitude is continuous. He sticks out no matter who we’re playing. You can see that he’s very important to our team.”

Zebell scored on a penalty kick with 8:30 left in the first half and he scored from 20 yards with 1:21 left in the first half to give the hosts a 3-1 halftime lead.

Dowagiac led at halftime despite being outshot 11-8 over the first 40 minutes.

“We played very well in the first half,” Williams said. “Everything went the way we wanted it to. For 40 more minutes you want the same thing. But that’s harder the next 40 minutes than the first 40.”

Williams was correct in his assessment as Vicksburg rallied behind the right leg of Jesse Boulnemour. Boulnemour scored Vicksburg’s lone goal in the first half and he added three more goals in the second half and an assist. Boulnemour scored twice on penalty kicks in the second half with his second penalty shot giving the visitors a 4-3 lead with 18:59 left in the match.

Boulnemour’s corner kick set up Travis Bush’s header, which gave the Bulldogs a 5-3 lead with 17:23 left in the match. Boulnemour improved his goal total to 13.

“Last year, he was one of the conference’s leading goal scorers,” said Vicksburg coach Tim Hale, whose team improved to 6-3-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference. “He’s something that every coach looks for. He knows how to finish and put the ball in the back of the net. He gets in the right position. He’s big and strong and has great touch and his teammates work really well between him and the goal.”

Dowagiac was outshot, 13-7 in the second half, with the final shot of the match a goal as time expired by Vicksburg’s Cody Getsinger.

“Vicksburg never stopped and was relentless,” Williams said.

VICKSBURG…6

DOWAGIAC…3

Halftime score

Dowagiac 3, Vicksburg 1

First half

D – Craig Zebell (penalty kick) 8:30

D – Jose Lopez (Zebell) 6:01

V – Jesse Boulnemour 5:28

D – Zebell 1:21

Second half

V – Boulnemour (penalty kick) 27:03

V – Boulnemour 20:23

V – Boulnemour (penalty kick) 18:59

V – Travis Bush (Boulnemour) 17:23

V – Cody Getsinger :01

Shots on goal

Vicksburg 24, Dowagiac 15

Saves

Matt Lowes (V) 6, Paul Lamphere (D) 6

Corner kicks

Vicksburg 9, Dowagiac 4

Varsity records

Vicksburg 6-3-1 overall (4-1 Wolverine Conference), Dowagiac 7-2-2 overall (1-2 Wolverine Conference)