Wissahickon makes it look easy in rout of Norristown

WEST NORRITON >> Slowly, but surely, the Wissahickon High boys soccer team is coming together.

A relatively young side with a full two-thirds of the roster not yet seniors, the Trojans have been forced to bond as the season unfolds.

Those growing pains were not evident in Monday’s 5-0 rout of host Norristown, but the Trojans are still finding out about themselves and the their teammates.

For example, a suggestion made by senior striker Darien Williams paid off to the tune of a first-half hat trick, as the Trojans ran out to a 4-0 lead at the half, then spent the second half getting those underclassmen some work.

“I had been asking Coach (Stuart Malcolm) about playing on the back line,” Williams said, “and then having our guys play me in.

“What we’ve been trying to do is push the defenses back, and I think that worked today.”

The Trojans not only pushed the Eagles defense back, they pushed them around via an all-out assault that, for all intents and purposes, ended the competitive part of the match rather early.

Meanwhile, the Eagles were never really able to get an attack going as Wissahickon swarmed in the midfield, interrupting Norristown forwards and breaking up thrusts into the Trojans zone before they could get started.

Williams got the visitors going early, converting a feed from Alex Escude before the match was 10 minutes old.

Tom McHale doubled the lead minutes later and Williams got goal No. 2 moments after that.

By the time Williams got a gift when Norristown goaltender Dan Stein and a defender missed communications and gave the Trojans striker a wide-open, near-post gimmie, the issue was no longer in doubt.

“We just didn’t show up,” said Norristown head coach Jared Elias. “I don’t think (Wissahickon) was that much better than us, but we just didn’t show up.”

As for the Trojans, Williams said there’s still a lot more bonding to do, but the pieces are coming together.

“We need to work on our chemistry,” Williams said, “but as the season is going along we’re learning where people like the ball and things like that. So it’s coming together.”

“We’re 4-2 and we only have one loss in league play, and that was against PW (in double overtime), and that game could have gone either way. So we feel pretty optimistic about our chances this season.”

END LINES: Escude completed the match scoring with a bullet that caromed in off the goalpost. … The Eagles remain winless in SOL American Conference play.