Grafton Avoids Disaster
GRAFTON - Coming off a 8-1 thrashing of the Brown Deer Falcons, the Grafton Black Hawks opened up the 2006 WIAA Playoffs Saturday afternoon with a home contest against the New Berlin West Vikings. The Black Hawks, who hadn't played since Monday night's game against Brown Deer, had plenty of time off compared to the Vikings, who beat those same Brown Deer Falcons on Thursday night in the first round of the playoffs to earn a game against Grafton. Conditions for the game made it difficult for both teams to get any kind of footing, due to the wet field caused by rains both during the night and the light rain that occured on and off during the game. Those conditions, along with a strong defensive mentality by a Vikings team that would place six, seven, or even eight players in the defensive third of the field to not allow the Black Hawks to score. West's scheme seems to have worked for the most part this season, with their season high of goals allowed at just 4, which was accomplished by the Wauwatosa West Trojans. Grafton seemed to be unable to create anything offensivly, and survived several close calls on shots or opportunities created by the New Berlin West offense. After an intense and frusterating 80 minutes of playoff soccer, the game would remain scoreless and headed into overtime. A motivational speech from head coach Don Arnold and a reality check later, Grafton exploded out of the gates in overtime, creating multiple chances to score and end the game. The game winning dagger came 2:54 into the overtime period when Brian Galbraith finally finished off the Vikings, ending their season with a shot that was deflected past the New Berlin goalkeeper and 1-0 Grafton victory. While by no means was it pretty, a win is a win and it means that the Black Hawks will move on in the playoffs. Next up for Grafton are the Shorewood Greyhounds, who the Black Hawks will face Thursday night in Grafton at 7:00 in the sectional semi-final. In 2004, the Greyhounds and Black Hawks met up in the Sectional Final to determine who would go to state, and it was Shorewood winning in Grafton and moving on to state at Uihlien that year. This year, the Greyhounds knocked off New Berlin Eisenhower 2-1 on Saturday afternoon to advance to play Grafton.
