By Dale Miller
dale.miller@theindependent.com

Both squads entered the game searching for the first win of the year, adding some extra importance to the early-season meeting.

It was Grand Island Senior High that got that much-desired win.

Alfredo Guerrero and Brad Spencer scored just over two minutes apart in the second half, and the Islanders held on for a 2-1 victory Tuesday at Fonner Park.

GISH coach Jeremy Jensen felt his team came back with a strong effort following a disappointing 0-3 start.

"We gave them Friday off and gave them a long weekend to get away from the game," he said. "We came back on Monday with a real practice and attacked.

"It's exciting to play Northwest. A lot of the guys have friends on that team. They want to beat them."

Despite both teams having solid scoring chances, the game remained scoreless until Guerrero corralled a pinballing ball and scored in the 66th minute. The Vikings had several chances to clear it from the box but couldn't get it out before Guerrero got his shot.

Spencer made it 2-0 in the 68th minute after getting GINW goalkeeper Adam Wemhoff to go down to try and get the ball. That left Spencer with an open net in front of him after he moved past Wemhoff.

"When we play, we have a level of skill from passing and a technical side of things that's solid," Jensen said. "In four years, this is the most technical team I've had.

"We're a little young and some mental lapses lead to an inability to finish. But we do have the ability to play well."

One area that's haunting the Islanders is giving up goals shortly after scoring their own. That struck again when Jason Ogden pulled the Vikings (0-3) to within 2-1 one minute after Spencer's goal.

Benji Flores tapped the ball back to Odgen on a free kick, and he sent a long shot through traffic to get the Vikings back into the game.

"After the second goal, not more than 60 seconds later I looked at the bench and said this is usually the time we've given up a goal," Jensen said. "About that time we pushed the panic button. We still have to figure out the little things."

Northwest had some opportunities to tie it, most notably a long shot by Brandon Kucera that bounced off the crossbar, but couldn't get the equalizer.

That was the story of the match for the Vikings, who had several other shots bounce off the post. Also, a would-be Ogden goal was denied at the last second when Islander defender Derek Beisner kicked the ball away just before it went into an open net late in the first half.

"We had several opportunities that just pounded the post," Northwest coach Roger Doud said. "It was a hard-fought game. It was like two heavyweights testing each other out.

"We had some nice shots. We had some opportunities and unlucky bounces. I'm proud of the boys that when we were down 2-0 they came back and responded."

While the Islanders hope the game is the start of things going in the right direction, Northwest is still left trying to break into the win column.

"We're a pretty good 0-3 team right now," Doud said. "We've had some unlucky bounces, some unlucky breaks. I give Grand Island credit they had opportunities and they capitalized.

"We have to regroup soon. We go from the frying pan into the fire. We have York on Thursday at home, and York is much improved. We get healthy and then we get kids nicked up. We're close to full strength, but we haven't had a full team yet."

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