The Niles soccer team got its new campaign under way as it hosted local rivals Brandywine, Buchanan, and Cassopolis for the annual VanDenBerg Invitational Tournament Saturday.

The Vikings (2-0) found themselves in a unique, and somewhat perilous, position of navigating their maiden voyage into the 2014-15 schedule without their brand new head coach, Daniel Rodts (who was out of town on business) at the helm.

Theoretically, if you combined the absence of its head coach, with the fact that the extremely young Niles’ squad had only been playing together for a grand total of six days, you would not have been out-of-place to assume that the Vikings’ chances of bringing home their fifth consecutive VanDenBerg crown were slim at best.

However, in a dizzying display of ball movement and possession on the pitch, the youthful Vikings both gave credence to the old adage about assumptions, and waltzed away with a championship, which was culminated in a 2-0 victory over the Buchanan Bucks in the title game.

Former Niles head coach Jerry Holtgren manned the reigns for the Vikings in lieu of the absent Rodts, and was seemingly able to marshal the unseasoned teams’ skills and abilities into a subtly potent product on the field.

Holtgren, however, was quick to downplay his role in the Vikings’ success.

“This tournament was really a testament to how Danny (Rodts) prepared his team this week,” he said. “I truthfully didn’t have to do all that much. The guys came out here ready to go; knew what it was they had to do and got it done.”

“I was just along for the ride.”

Niles sophomore Eric Fritz scored both of the Vikings’ goals in the championship match; the offense racked up 12 shots on net and the defense limited the Bucks to just a single shot in the title clinching game.

Despite the outcome, Bucks’ goalkeeper Cade Vargo was by far-and-away the best player on the field Saturday. He made 10 saves, including two in spectacular fashion, in a valiant effort to keep his team’s title aspirations alive.

In first round action, the Vikings defeated the Cassopolis Rangers 9-1, while the Bucks defeated Brandywine 2-1 in a game that, up until the final buzzer, could have gone either way.

The Bobcats defeated Cass 5-2 in the consolation game.

 

VanDenBerg Invitational

At Niles High School

Championship

Niles…2

Buchanan…0

Halftime

Niles 0, Buchanan 0

 

Second half

N – Eric Fritz 39th minute

N – Fritz 44th minute

 

Shots on goal

Niles 12, Buchanan 1