Palisade’s soccer team made the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. They played 3rd in 4A; Battle Mountain, losing 5-1, with Senior Jayden Ford scoring the only goal. The Bulldogs were only down by two goals in the first half, but then lost the spark, conceding three more goals in the second half and only scoring once.
Their coach, Cody Klaiber, decided to change the formation from a 4-3-3 to a 5-4-1 so they could have more numbers on defence (5) and concede fewer goals. They also used this strategy to try and get a counterattack and score with the 4 (midfield) helping defense and slightly helping offense (1). The bulldogs kept the new formation till the second half, then they changed back to their old formation. Senior Andrew Dady says, “The new formation was working for the most part; we just made stupid mistakes.” This goes to show that in the first half, the Bulldogs were doing well; they just made two mistakes, which led to two goals. Sophomore Huxley Peak said, “I’m very happy we made the playoffs. If we had just won the games we lost because we weren’t locked in, we would have had a better chance at states.” Peak felt like there were many games they lost that they should have won. Winning more games would give them a higher position, which would make them play worse teams for the playoffs, giving them a better chance at going to states. The Bulldogs’ final rankings are 30th for 4A, and their season ended 5-10-1.
